Partnering with an Artwork Management System (AMS) has a number of advantages, including making the process more efficient, getting your product to market faster and dramatically reducing packaging errors. But partnering with BLUE, the experts in artwork management, can actually have some surprising consequences; it can be considered a growth strategy. That’s good news for your company, and it can benefit you personally too. If you work in pre-media and your job is to manage artwork, BLUE is the perfect solution to iron out the flaws and frustrations in your current workflow. Or maybe you work in IT or you’re an executive leader and you want to invest in a system that will grow with you long-term without becoming out of date or obsolete in the next couple of years. Make no mistake, BLUE is a long term partner.
So how does excellence in artwork and labeling result in a growth strategy? In a nutshell, it removes the obstacles that block or slow down revenue streams. We’re not simply talking about a system that will save you money due to minimal support costs, we’re talking about getting your artwork and labeling process working at maximum efficiency, while becoming significantly better at reducing risks, empowering your team and giving you visibility over the entire process.
A good measure of efficiency is whether or not you’re getting your products to market on time. You’re probably aware of how critical it is that you hit ship dates, and that one of the most critical issues in the packaging industry is getting your product packaging 100% correct. Once you accomplish that, you’ll have essentially accomplished addition by subtraction. By subtracting the costs and headaches associated with ship date variance, you will have added more revenue and efficiency. Because before you get your product to market on time, you have to tackle a few other things first.
Does your company need to reduce cycle times and the number of cycles? Are you able to notice patterns in why artwork and labels get rejected? Are there individuals in the process who tend to let things sit for a while before they approve or reject them? Getting your product to market on time requires maximum visibility over the entire process, including what might be causing snags and bottlenecks. Clarity of what needs to be done yields the insight of how to speed things up. To help you get started and move forward, we developed an Artwork Management Maturity Model. This model will help you assess where your company is and cast a vision for where you want to be.
The first step is to ensure that your process is Repeatable. What are the important processes that you need in place every time you start production on labels and artwork? Things like making sure that you’ve got a GxP compliant process in place, and documented approvals at key points of control are components that should be in place every time you begin the process.
The second step is getting to the Defined level of capability. At this point executives within the company recognize what the key benefits of working with BLUE are, you’ve got an activated sponsor team dedicated to the care and development of a sustainable solution and you’ve gained centralized access to real-time stats.
Managing your process is the third step. Your process must be developed and codified. At this point users will be able to complete tasks remotely from laptops, iPads, wherever it is convenient. Your company will now be tracking KPIs in order to continue improving.
Finally, there’s the Optimized status. Being Optimized means that your broader organization is using the system in some way and that your company is constantly reviewing success metrics using dashboards. When you reach this point, you will be able to execute 100% accurate labeling data to partners, suppliers and other key stakeholders. You will be working at maximum efficiency!
The long term financial health of your company not only depends on the money you earn, but the money you save and can reinvest by eliminating needless costs. Missed ship dates and recalls caused by shipping errors are a symptom of using an antiquated way of managing your labeling process. BLUE represents a modern alternative that helps you move faster, with more effective safeguards in place to avoid these dangers and steer your company towards smooth financial waters.
For a more in-depth look at these topics, read our Vice President of Global Client Services, Phil Mueller’s article “Artwork Excellence as a Growth Strategy” today.
