Change Management for Packaging Artwork: How to Get Team Buy-In

The packaging landscape has become highly competitive. As new trends and regulations emerge, brands are compelled to make changes to packaging design on the fly. Those who can keep up with the latest product packaging design trends experience sustained growth and revenue - those who cannot risk being ousted. 

If you want to keep up with new customer expectations and compliance requirements, you must reimagine your change management stance. Read on to unearth how a robust change management approach can help integrate changes easily and overcome resistance to new processes. 

Understanding the Packaging Artwork Landscape‍

The packaging environment is constantly evolving, defined by: 

• A dynamic market where new design trends, market regulations, and customer expectations are constantly evolving. With intense competition, companies must embrace technologies like AI and automation to streamline packaging lifecycle management, from initial design to final approval, reducing errors and speeding up time-to-market.
• Evolving regulations where every brand is compelled to ensure packaging artwork complies with diverse regulatory requirements across products and regions. In pharma packaging especially, brands must provide the necessary information, including ingredient lists, health warnings, etc. 
• Fluctuating customer expectations, requiring brands to create eye-catching limited edition and seasonal packaging designs to capture consumer interest. Customers also expect brands to tailor packaging to suit individual consumer preferences and create a more personal and relevant connection. 

Why Change Management is Critical

Every change made to packaging artwork – no matter how big or small – must undergo a comprehensive review and approval cycle.

• Meet customer needs: Customer needs constantly change, and to keep up with these changes, companies must establish a strong change management strategy. Such a strategy ensures packaging artwork is tailored to meet the unique sustainability needs of enterprise clients while helping businesses seamlessly transition current operations to a more efficient, digitally managed system.
• Ensure regulatory compliance: Robust change management allows companies to manage packaging design changes in compliance with necessary legal and regulatory requirements. By assessing the impact of changes on compliance posture and evaluating risks, change management can empower businesses to take proactive measures to avoid violations. 
• Maintain a competitive edge: Change management fosters a culture of continuous improvement, enabling stakeholders to incorporate feedback constantly. This feedback can be used to refine processes, ensure optimal resource use, and adapt to shifts in market conditions. By rapidly responding to new packaging trends and opportunities, businesses can stay ahead of competitors.
• Avoid waste: Businesses' ability to manage change effectively helps minimize waste and keep costs in check. Since change management systems often include version control, they ensure only the latest approved artwork version is used in production. This prevents incorrect copies from being designed, which would otherwise lead to waste.
• Minimize delays: Change management also allows businesses to thoroughly assess the potential impact of changes before they are implemented. This helps identify potential risks, empowering teams to take necessary action to minimize production delays or compatibility issues and improve time-to-market. 

Streamlining Change Management

If you want to simplify packaging artwork lifecycle management and get products to the market faster, and be compliant with emerging labeling regulations, you must streamline your approach to change management. Here are some things to bear in mind: 

• Opt for a dedicated account manager: A dedicated account manager can help simplify and standardize change management. The manager can help onboard new users, provide necessary material and training sessions to existing users, and educate and guide users on how best to handle change. Possessing an in-depth knowledge of how to streamline change management, a manager guides you on what changes to make to existing workflows or implements additional workflows if required. 
• Invest in a quality management system: Investing in a quality management system is a great way to initiate artwork revisions and ensure efficient artwork proofing. Teams must also integrate this QMS with a robust artwork management platform to streamline sharing change control numbers and other relevant details for the best results. 
• Leverage the power of AI: Automating the monitoring of changes using AI can help the team stay ahead of the latest revisions. AI can offer several predictive capabilities, helping teams identify patterns and trends and prevent potential obstacles. It can identify inefficiencies in current workflows and optimize processes, facilitating smoother transition to new trends and requirements. 
• Automate version control: Automating version control can help teams track every individual change and prevent conflicting work. Such automation ensures modifications made by one team are visible to other teams while also ensuring everyone is working on the latest version of the packaging copy – thus reducing errors and recalls. 
• Standardize audits: Standardizing audits can help maintain logs detailing who performed what action and when. Comprehensive audit trails can enable teams to track all alterations made to packaging content, ensuring necessary transparency and accountability throughout the project lifecycle. 

In Summary

In the world of packaging artwork, change is constant. To keep pace with new trends and demands, you must strengthen your change management stance. 

ManageArtworks has over a decade of experience assisting companies in delivering their packaged products as quickly as possible while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Offering capabilities that address common packaging pain points, ManageArtworks is the ideal tool for growing businesses and enterprises. 

Whether you're ready to move on from your siloed systems or you're fed up with your inflexible project management software for managing packaging artwork, ManageArtworks can offer all the support you need to manage change and overcome resistance to new processes. 

Contact us today to learn more!