When Indofil used manual proofing methods like emails and chats to approve artworks, they experienced indefinite delays because no one knew who was responsible for a specific task.

They also marked the changes on a hardcopy, and not all the changes would be incorporated as some feedback would slip through the cracks.

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Seeing that the manual process reduces their efficiency and increases their number of revisions, Indofil decided to switch to an artwork proofing and management tool that automated the proofing process, improves visibility,  reduces delay, and delivers a uniform brand experience.

Today, if you’re a brand operating in highly-regulated industries like food and beverages, chemicals, or cosmetics, you need to be compliant and reduce delays to stay ahead of competition and scale your revenue.

That’s why you need an artwork and label management system that lets you store, manage, and track artwork assets with ease.

A label management tool can help designers stay consistent with the designs, text, and other elements of the packaging and deliver a uniform brand experience while also letting you stay compliant with regulatory guidelines with its functional features.

So, here are the top 5 artwork management tools that can help you manage your design approval process without any hassle with their amazing features.

1. Artwork Flow
2. Esko
3. Kallik
4. Teklynx
5. Loftware

Here are some features and specialities that each of them provide:
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1. Artwork Flow

Artwork Flow is a simple and fast artwork management solution and online proofing software that offers end-to-end management of artwork design and approvals. Its flexible pricing system and robust features help brands in regulated industries stay compliant and reduce delays. Here’s how:

• Track accountability: Establish accountability with the e-sign feature by asking members to upload a signature when the task is done and learn who’s responsible for a task instantly with workflows.
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• Eliminate manual proofing: Use online proofing tools to check dimensions, catch typos, and weed out inconsistent brand colors.
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• Centralize artworks: Artwork Flow acts as a Digital Asset Management (DAM) tool and allows you to store all artwork-related assets like briefs, drafts, and final label versions.
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• Stay compliant: Doubles as regulatory artwork services and checks if your artwork is compliant with regulations laid down by the FDA and other regulatory bodies for various industries.
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• Collaborate seamlessly: Collate and track feedback from different teams in a single place with the annotation and markup features.

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2. Esko

Esko web center digitizes the artwork management process from start to finish and improves packaging workflow for faster and smoother artwork approval. Here’s how it helps different industries:

• Track feedback easily: Multiple teams can work together, share feedback and comments on the artwork, and review it simultaneously on the platform.
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• Work efficiently: Manage and reuse the content used in packaging labels without manually copying it to save time.
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• Define roles and responsibilities: Assign tasks, upload information, and clarify deliverables for each project so members have clarity on the goal.
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• Maintain regulatory compliance: Standardize information in the packages and use automated quality control tools like spell check to stay ahead of compliance.
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• Make packaging pre-press easily: Automate mundane pre-press workflow tasks and execute more tasks easily.

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If you have a limited budget and want an artwork management software without the bells and whistles, Esko might not be suitable for your business.

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3. Kallik

Kallik is a cloud-based artwork and labels management software that aims to provide a platform that can manage the entire lifecycle of designing and approval of artworks specifically for regulated industries.

• Collaborate easily: Get multiple stakeholders from various teams to collaborate on the artwork easily and reduce speed-to-market time with real-time collaboration tools.
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• Stay ahead of compliance: Generate updated artworks and check label compliance automatically.
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• Eliminate inconsistency: Ensure visibility across the entire supply chain.

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While the platform allows collaboration and partnership, some features are a bit complicated for new users. Understanding their working takes substantial time and hands-on training internally in the organization.  Their manufacturing print module also needs to develop its operational aspects to perform better.

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4. Teklynx

Teklynx helps small and large businesses manage the entire label management process centrally, from designing to printing. Here are some useful features of the software.

• Integrate with important software: Connect with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other business systems to enhance performance.
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• Simplify the printing process: Access and control of all the plants and printers from a central location or the headquarters and also connect it to the supplier.
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• Manage assets easily: Use ‘label archive’ to refer back to older versions and reprint labels easily.  
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The only downside of using Teklynx is that it doesn’t have exclusive features that help a business stay compliant with regulations.

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5. Loftware

Loftware is a powerful cloud-based platform that helps mid and small-sized businesses streamline the entire artwork management process and stay compliant. Here’s how it’s benefits clients:

• Communicate effectively: Improve collaboration, increase visibility, and improve efficiency with an organized approval process.
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• Take control of workflows: Streamline  projects and ensure external and internal stakeholders can add feedback in a single place.
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• Reduce revisions: Shorten time to market by instantly showing reviewers the correct artwork version.

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While Loftware is among the first of its kind, the migration of artworks from the old system to the new one can create an issue sometimes. Another downside can be that some of the barcode parameters are not accessible or explained.

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Wrapping Up

An artwork management system is crucial in effectively handling the packaging and labeling of artworks. Especially when errors in packaging and labels can cause heavy fines, costly product recalls, and judiciary actions against a brand. An artwork management system not only makes managing designs and approvals easier but also helps avoid such errors.

Choosing the right artwork management system is crucial to make artwork management efficient and hassle free. You need a system that aligns with the requirements of packaging for your industry and helps you stay compliant.

For Indofil, choosing Artwork Flow as their artwork management software helped them reduce their approval time by 50% and reduced the edits cycle to three from five. It meant better visibility of the progress, an organized feedback loop, better digital asset management, and effective collaboration.

Among the five tools we’ve listed above, Artwork Flow has the features that makes it one of the best label management software. It manages all digital assets on one platform as well as helps you stay compliant with its AI-based tools, checklists, and workflows. It allows you to proof your artworks with its robust tools and helps you collaborate with stakeholders easily using annotations. So, get a demo today and make your artwork management process seamless.