Overview

In 2023, a social media influencer slammed Cadbury’s for its misleading labeling information on its popular energy drink, Bournvita. Having highlighted the high sugar content in the drink, the company faced extreme backlash and was forced to reduce the quantity of added sugar by a whopping 14.4%

In today’s digital era, organizations are under the continuous scrutiny of customers and regulatory bodies alike. Therefore, organizations, especially in highly regulated industries like CPG and pharma, must comply with a growing list of labeling  regulations. From providing order of ingredients, declaring allergens to following specific font types and sizes – companies that experience non-compliance in their artwork face several far-reaching consequences. These include but are not limited to, delayed time-to-market, poor customer satisfaction, mounting non-compliance fines, diluted market reputation, and more.

Reducing costs and mitigating risks requires a robust and efficient approach to labeling and packaging artwork management. Read on as we discuss the benefits and ROI of effective labeling and packaging artwork management.  

The Consequences of Incorrect Labeling ‍

Companies in industries like pharma and chemicals operate under extreme regulatory compliance. Labeling in these industries demands meticulous attention to detail and compliance with various regulatory guidelines. For example, Pharma companies must get a pre-market approval from their regulatory agency before releasing the product to the market.

Creating, approving, and managing artwork, including labels,, and promotional materials, is extremely time-consuming, error-prone, and resource-intensive. Pharma companies know this best as they go through constant labeling changes due to safety related changes.  

Poor labeling management is a global challenge that can lead to numerous repercussions. The inability to get the labeling right the first time snowballs into bigger problems that can impact the bottom line. Let’s look at the top cost and risk implications of poor labeling:

• Mistakes in labeling , if not spotted early, can lead to a huge inventory of wrongly printed labels in the warehouse whose cost will have to be written off eventually.

• Iterations due to incorrect labeling  could result in a delay in shipping the products to the market, leading to reduced customer satisfaction and loss of competitive advantage. 

• If products with the incorrect labeling  reach the market, it could induce recalls and result in a negative brand reputation.

• Mislabeling of crucial components and elements can lead to hefty fines by regulatory bodies.

• Failure to complete regulatory submissions within the specified time frame can result in penalties that may rapidly accumulate for each product.

• For companies operating in multiple countries, local regulatory agency reviews of labeling can cause additional delays in the go-to-market process.

Beyond bringing these efficiencies and helping in cost saving, let us take a look at how a robust artwork management solution can influence the top line and unlock untapped revenue streams.

The Role of Effective Labeling Management in Reducing Costs and Mitigating Risks ‍

Effective labeling management plays a pivotal role in highly regulated industries. Let’s look at some benefits:.

• Communicate essential information: Effective labeling management helps communicate essential information to consumers and regulatory bodies. For example, correct labeling helps convey several crucial details, such as medicine composition, dosage instructions, safety warnings, manufacturing, and expiration dates, etc.

• Ensure regulatory compliance: Pharma and CPG companies operate under strict regulations from agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Effective artwork management can ensure compliance with labeling and packaging regulations, minimizing costly delays and product recalls.

• Maintain brand reputation: Accurate labeling via right packaging artwork helps reflect a company’s brand identity. Consistency across products and geographies can help maintain a cohesive, recognizable, and strong brand image, instilling trust and reliability in consumer minds

• Expand market share: Proper labeling also enables companies to bring their products to the market in time, much before their competition. Such a first-mover advantage can lead to higher sales, better customer satisfaction, and a stronger market share.

How Cloud-Based Artwork Management Systems Fit the Bill  

Traditional artwork management tools and processes involving Excel sheets, emails, and Google files often lead to the aforementioned challenges. They make it difficult – if not impossible – to keep up with the evolving regulatory landscape and ensure compliance with various regional and global requirements. For companies with complex SKUs and operations in multiple countries, traditional approaches make managing multiple versions of artwork across different product lines and markets extremely error-prone, leading to confusion and discrepancies.

If you want to streamline coordination and collaboration for artwork approvals among multiple stakeholders, improve the quality and accuracy of labeling, and minimize regulatory challenges, you need to invest in a modern cloud-based packaging and labeling management system. Such a system can help introduce efficiencies in every step of your artwork's journey - right from collating content and designing the artwork to review by internal and external stakeholders and release into the market.  

Cloud-based artwork management systems enable organizations in regulated industries to:

• Customize templates for various SKUs and components, reusing existing specifications and collaborating with suppliers.

• Reduce labeling reworks and approval times, achieve compliance, and substantially lower time-to-market.

• Adapt to frequent label changes arising from regular updates in regulations and avoid the implications of non-compliance.

• Effectively manage changes in pack inserts or medication guides and get alerts if there is a change that affects multiple SKUs.

• Streamline the artwork approval process by getting all stakeholders on the same page, minimizing labeling errors, and launching faster.

• Leverage AI-powered proofing tools for artwork review and manage artwork revisions within the DAM to minimize errors and enhance accuracy.

• Maintain brand consistency across all products and markets and reduce the risk and cost of recalls.

Boost Your Right First Time  Rate with ManageArtworks ‍

If you operate in an industry where accuracy, compliance, and efficiency are paramount, investing in a cloud-based packaging artwork and labeling management system like ManageArtworks is vital to improving your first-time-right quotient.  

Such a system can help streamline the highly complicated artwork processes, reduce lead times, and improve collaboration among packaging and labeling teams, graphic designers, regulatory managers, etc. It can help minimize errors, ensure compliance, and ship products faster. It can also aid in enhancing brand reputation, allowing you to meet market demands more effectively and boost revenue and customer satisfaction. Get a demo today!  

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