In a world of growing demands, increased competition, and expansion of product lines, labeling is much bigger than sticking a piece of paper on a box.

Product labeling is crucial for maintaining accuracy, compliance, and a seamless journey for your products from manufacturing to the consumer's hands. This entire process can be tedious when you work with multiple teams, suppliers, and numerous labels at the same time.  

But imagine where you don't have to scramble for outdated symbols, worry about label compliance, or spend time on manual processes. That’s where enterprise labeling enters.  

Here, we'll dive deep into this powerful solution, unpacking its functionalities and why it's essential for your business.

What is enterprise labeling?

Labels convey crucial information such as product details and regulatory and safety

information to customers. You have to ensure you send out the right labels. But with a growing range of products, expansion in the supply chain, evolving regulatory requirements (e.g., the recent MOCRA updates), and never ending labeling demands of your clients, it will be difficult to pay attention to labels in detail.

Enterprise labeling is the perfect solution in such scenarios. It allows your team to flexibly adapt to these changes and address the increasing complexities of labeling.

Enterprise labeling allows you to streamline the entire labeling process, integrating seamlessly with your existing business systems. It's not just about printing labels; it's about creating a centralized system for managing all aspects of labeling, from design and collaboration to proofing and compliance. Enterprise labeling software is useful, especially, in a complex labeling environment.

Reasons your business needs to consider enterprise labeling

A label management software is essential in every organization handling the labeling process. However, as your business grows and labeling demands multiply, a basic software might struggle to keep pace with challenges like scalability, rapid changes, and the need for consistent, accurate labeling across your products.

Let’s understand these challenges in detail here. 

1. Inconsistent labeling

Labels might be designed with different specifications and incorrect branding across departments and the brief might change when you transfer tasks from one team to the next. Likewise, manual data entry, printing errors, and back-and-forth email communication on multiple labels can result in an inaccurate set of labels. 

Enterprise labeling can automate such manual tasks and minimize errors by centralizing your label management process. It saves you resources and allows your team to focus on bigger challenges.

2. Complex supply chain management

With the expansion of the supply chain, it is important to gain real-time visibility into your labeling processes. You will communicate with stakeholders, distributors, and manufacturers on a global scale. To save extra costs and remain efficient while expanding, you need a siloed solution like enterprise labeling. It helps you to,

• Communicate smoothly with third parties and avoid relabeling tasks.
• Ensure the data is secured and accessible to a specific set of users.
• Inform everyone of the same sets of requirements, rules, and templates bringing uniformity. 

3. Evolving labeling regulations 

When you expand to new markets, it is crucial for you to ensure that your labels adhere to the local regulatory requirements. But it doesn’t end there. Standards and regulatory guidelines keep changing especially when you’re in food and beverages, cosmetics, chemicals, or pharmaceuticals. 

Manually ensuring compliance across all labels can be challenging. However, AI-powered compliance software like Artwork Flow automate compliance, saving you time, reputation, and money. So you don’t have to worry about outdated labels or missing allergen warnings on labels!

4. Limited scalability

When your business expands and your product lines evolve, your labeling needs will too. Manually managing labels becomes increasingly difficult with larger volumes. Enterprise labeling offers a scalable solution that can handle numerous label requests and support multiple users from various locations. 

5. Delayed product launches

Manual labeling processes can slow down product launches due to delays in reviewing and approving labels. Enterprise labeling helps you meet tight deadlines by facilitating a smooth approval process through automation and workflows. This lets you deliver high-quality products with accurate labels. 

Learn how 3 fast-growing brands streamlined label management with Artwork Flow

6. Endless client requests

While working on a label project, your client’s feedback is just as important as the project manager’s or designer’s. Your designer will have to come up with variations as per your client’s review and the feedback can take days or weeks, or even months. Enterprise labeling helps you manage these variations and streamline the approval process faster.

Also read: 10 Tips to Build a Recall-proof Label Review System 

Features you need in enterprise labeling software 

It is crucial to consider features that address your specific needs. While choosing an enterprise labeling software, here are some key functionalities to look for:

1. Centralized label management

Keep a single source of truth for all your labels and their changes. This feature allows you to store, organize, and access all your label templates and data in a central location. It eliminates the need for scattered files and versions, improving efficiency and reducing errors.

Also read: How to Drive Digital Transformation with Strategic Label Management

2. Streamlined compliance and barcodes

Not only do you have to follow regulatory guidelines but also keep up with the changing rules and updates. Enterprise labeling software like Artwork Flow can run compliance checks. The software ensures your labels meet industry standards and legal requirements by highlighting any discrepancies before printing. 

In addition, an ideal enterprise labeling software should have a barcode scanner for quick barcode scanning to ensure the right information is provided on your labels.

3. Workflow management

Set up and customize your workflows for the entire label management process in your organization including reviewing and approving labels. You can brief and assign tasks to distinct users and track the progress of each label project. This ensures a smooth labeling process and avoids delays. 

An enterprise labeling solution like Artwork Flow provides Gantt charts and Kanban boards to track progress, pinpoint bottlenecks, and ensure transparency.

4. Label proofing

Catch errors before they cost you a fortune. Label proofing allows users to preview labels before printing, ensuring all information and formatting are accurate. This helps identify and rectify any mistakes before labels are launched. 

Artwork Flow, again, has an online proofing feature that is AI-driven and lets you annotate directly on label designs and accept or reject specific parts of it. This creates accuracy in sharing feedback leading to a quicker review process. 

5. Version control and audit log

With version control, track entire edits made to a label template. This ensures you don't accidentally publish an outdated label. Meanwhile, audit logs help you see who has edited and approved each label version. This maintains data integrity and prevents potential security breaches.

6. Integration capabilities

Look for software that easily integrates with your existing systems. This allows you to automatically pull product data from these systems for label management projects and reduce manual data entry and errors.

Also read: 10 Best Tools to Use in Combination with Esko WebCenter

Top 3 enterprise labeling software in the market

1. Artwork Flow

If you’re constantly dealing with manual proofing and compliance blunders in this AI era, Artwork Flow is an ideal enterprise labeling software you look at. Its AI-powered platform comprises features that smoothly facilitate your labeling and compliance needs. 

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Key features

1. Smart compliance check: Save your brand from costly product recalls with ComplyAI. Instead of manually checking whether your labels are compliant, fix your preferences to run through various guidelines set by regulatory heads such as FDA, EU, FSSAI, etc. 
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   That is, fix your rules on labeling contents including serving size, allergens, expiry date, logo, and more, and let AI do the screening for you to point out even the tiniest of labeling mistakes.   
   
   Also read: Introducing AI-powered label compliance with ComplyAI

2. Label checklists and templates: Streamline label management by creating label checklists and workflow templates, and inspect your print labels effortlessly. 

3. AI-enabled label proofing: Speed up the label approval process with smart proofing, version control, markup tools, and dynamic feedback. 

4. Smooth briefing/transfer of spec details: Using Artwork Flow Docs, add your packaging copy briefs and spec sheets and easily convert these into rules on ComplyAI to automatically review your labels and save tons of time. 

5. Customizable workflows: Build your workflows, keep track of your tasks using Gantt charts, automate approval and review tasks, and get real-time updates on your labeling projects.

6. Barcode reader: Scan barcodes on labels to ensure you’re sending out the right products and their labels. 

2. Esko

Esko provides packaging and label artwork management solutions for enterprises to manage their packaging projects. From facilitating label creation to distribution, Esko is designed for industries such as CPG, technology, retail, and life sciences. 

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Key features

1. Project management: Track your projects, work with the latest label versions, and ensure multiple teams are in the loop with important updates in a label management project. 
2. Review and approve: You can review, annotate, compare different versions, and approve, or reject any artwork to ensure high-quality labels are going out.
3. Reporting: Get statistics to learn the progress of each task and find out loopholes in the project.
4. Maintain compliance: Share accurate labels by adhering to FDA, EMA, and other regulations related to auditing, e-signatures, and documentation.
5. Repurposing content: Avoid creating content from scratch by reusing the content used in packaging labels.

3. Loftware

Loftware is a label management system that helps businesses of all sizes scale their global label operations. It is easy to use and has a suite of features for designing labels.

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Key features

1. Centralized content management: Manage, store, and search label data, images, and translations in a single repository.
2. Real-time insights: Use reports and analytics to find how efficiently the resources are being used and track user activity. 
3. Optimized print performance: Print your label with Loftware regardless of the printer brand or model and get the highest quality with minimum print streams.

How can an enterprise labeling software like Artwork Flow help packaging teams?

Labeling regulations are an increasing concern for industries such as Food & Beverages, chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and more. Here, packaging teams are often at the forefront of ensuring product labeling is accurate. However, with challenges such as the rise in customer preferences (for e.g., sustainability in packaging), limited packaging raw materials, and unclear briefs it's difficult to adapt to constant changes, particularly with a large team, and to ensure the accuracy of every label or barcode. 

Let’s look at two instances here and understand how an enterprise labeling solution like Artwork Flow benefits packaging teams.

Instance A: A popular local organic food brand was merged with a global-level business. With this vast change and expansion of the supply chain, it was overwhelming for the former to cope with the recent changes, especially when their label management process was largely manual. The expansion requires communication with several departments, more external parties, numerous briefings, and maintaining compliance with local regulatory requirements. It ultimately leads to confusion, resulting in inconsistencies in branding, nutritional errors, and delays in packaging launches and production. 

How can Artwork Flow help?

1. With Artwork Flow Docs, the organic food brand can manage packaging specifications and briefs on a single platform which is accessible to the teams involved in the packaging process. 
2. Users can ensure label compliance by setting up rules for the regulations they need to comply with on the ComplyAI rulebook. The platform then runs AI-powered label compliance checks to identify any incorrect or missing information, images, or typos on the food labels. This ensures that the brand’s packaging complies with local regulations in new global markets.
3. ComplyAI eliminates separate checks for brand compliance by letting the marketing team add mandatory branding elements to the rulebook to check creatives against.
4. Additionally, Artwork Flow simplifies communication between internal departments and external vendors here by automating artwork review and approval with approval workflows. The tool also notifies every stakeholder about each update speeding the packaging review process and helping them launch the packages on time. 

Also read: Understanding the FDA Food Labeling Guide: A Comprehensive Overview

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Instance B: A cosmetic brand launched a new line. They learned that the new MoCRA guidelines have been issued and should be implemented within each timeline. With so many things on the plate and outdated packaging software, the brand needs to update each existing and new packaging label that should also comply with the new Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) guidelines. 

How does Artwork Flow help?

With ComplyAI’s rule-building and smart proofing features, run automated checks on cosmetic labels. All parts of the inner and outer containers can be accurately inspected and checked for compliance with FDA regulations and recent MoCRA guidelines. Be it identifying ingredients in cosmetics formulations or flagging missing fragrance allergens or domestic telephone numbers, Artwork Flow can help the cosmetic brand solve all the issues.  

At the end of the day,  Artwork Flow allows you to focus on more strategic tasks and contribute more effectively to the overall success of product launches and ongoing labeling and packaging operations.

Also read: The 2024 Guide to FDA Labeling Requirements for Cosmetics Packaging

Conclusion 

Enterprise labeling software streamlines labeling processes, minimizes errors, and ensures label compliance. Investing in enterprise labeling software can help you gain a major advantage in today's competitive landscape. It helps your packaging teams work smartly, improves operational efficiency, and gets your products to market faster.

Artwork Flow provides a powerful label management solution for industries such as Food & Beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, wineries, and more. With top brands like Home Chef, LesserEvil, and Vita Coco using it, Artwork Flow provides AI-driven solutions like label compliance, proofing, automated workflows, smart tags, and more for growing brands across the globe.

If you would like to learn more about how enterprise labeling can help you, book a demo with Artwork Flow.

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