Is your packaging artwork being checked as thoroughly as it could be?

It’s a fact that copy errors cause 58% of all artwork iterations, and as many as 50%* Drug recalls are because of product labeling and artwork mistakes on the packaging.

Some of the most common product labeling errors include:

• Content errors: Major errors in the content of the product artwork could be the incorrect use of a symbol on the label, incorrect nutrition facts, ingredients, or marketing claims.
• Technical mistakes: Functional aspects of the product artwork are incorrect, such as the barcode, die-line, or 2D codes.

It doesn’t matter if you are involved in the ideation, creation, or printing of pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, beverages, or private label retail packaging. One thing is clear. Most packaging errors involve human error. We all make mistakes because we are human.

The packaging copy doesn’t match the approved content brief or spec. The incorrect version of the package art went to print and fulfillment. There is a typo in the nutrition facts or ingredients. The art worker used the wrong barcode. There was a breakdown in the hand-off process between your internal team and multiple vendors and suppliers because we have a hybrid workforce using disparate technologies and techniques.

You get the point, and it costs money and resources to recall and fix errors. What if you could avoid these errors early in the process with the help of technology?

Technology is available to help you mitigate human error by digitally checking artwork iterations for accuracy. That can enable you to quality check your artwork to the approved and compliant internal copy database from anywhere in the world. After finding a critical error, what if you can update all the artwork associated with that error seamlessly to match your copy database? You can.

Are you losing revenue because your product launch got delayed, and you lost precious shelf time? Does the information you share on the digital shelf match the approved packaging copy? Where do all the product and packaging waste end up? As a service provider or brand owner, are you confident that all your packaging was checked as thoroughly as it should be, and do you have an audit trail to confirm it?

Sustainability is a critical environmental movement. Would eliminating waste from packaging errors help you reach your sustainability goals? What does it cost you in time and money for a single product to reprint, repack, and reship with artwork or labeling errors, and you can no longer sell in the market for consumer consumption? What’s the cost to the environment?