Custom packaging artwork print release software

The same look, a different pack size

Imagine a manufacturer preparing packaging for two sizes of the same product. The client approved the new artwork for the larger box. The smaller one is still being corrected. The buyer receives a message that the new design is ready and starts preparing an order covering both sizes.

In the proposed workflow, the buyer sees the file set for each product separately. They can order print for the approved larger pack, and for the smaller one see who is handling the correction and what is still awaited. The person responsible for releasing materials names the files that go to the printer with this order. Later work on the next edition does not change the content of a set already handed over.

What the company counts as a set also matters. It may include the box and an insert, or several files for different sides of the pack. When an order covers only part of the materials, the employee should be able to choose the agreed scope without marking the whole product family as ready. The person who prepares orders for the printer today explains these dependencies best.

The team stays responsible for the content and the assessment of the materials. The software helps decide what can be handed over, to whom and for which product. It replaces neither specialist design checks nor the assessment of labelling requirements.

Comments on a PDF may already be enough

Adobe Acrobat lets you add comments to a PDF and reply to them, also on a marked part of the document. The options to edit and delete comments depend on the role. It is a specific feature to use if the biggest difficulty is a scattered discussion about the artwork.

Before ordering software, check the system you use to manage artwork, products or orders. It may already store packaging sets and let you share them. The administrator or the vendor should show the work on the product family from the example, with one variant ready and the other waiting for a correction.

If the current tool handles comments well, you can keep it and commission only the link between the approved set, the product and the order. A custom workflow is worth considering when these links follow a fixed layout specific to the company and people regularly reconstruct it from file names and messages. When you compare offers, also include the client's and the printer's part: how they get access, the plans available and help for occasional users.

Moving over without mixing up running orders

Above all, move the materials already handed to the printer and the open corrections into the new workflow. For each running order, the team should be able to find the agreed set. Older projects can stay in a searchable archive if current work does not need them.

Decide who maintains the connection to the product catalogue and the orders, and who helps when a recipient cannot open the materials. An export should keep the links between files, the product and the print release. Access to data, code and documentation matters if another team later takes over the support.

Talk to Syntalith about your packaging artwork workflow. One set sent to the printer lets us decide which part of the work is worth linking to your current tools and what a custom application would cover. A custom application or automation at Syntalith costs from €3,000 net (pricing).

What it costs

Where to start

In the free review we choose one process and count the volume and the team's working time, and within 2 working days you receive a written summary with a price. We build the automation as part of AI automations, from €3,000 net.