The packaging specification market is expected to grow to around $1 trillion by 2020, according to the research firm, Smithers Pira (smitherspira.com), making up around 200-plus million packaging SKUs around the world. With 60 million in the U.S. alone this number is growing daily, as is the complicated process of sharing specs and managing them, both internally and externally. This growing complexity impacts the entire value chain.
Today, there is no common method, technology solution or platform for handling packaging specifications and they typically end up being managed through disparate systems and solutions, such as emails, spreadsheets, binders and ERP systems. ERP & PLM systems are not built for SKU and specification management and specification repositories, generally PDF-based, are not comprehensive enough or allow intelligent data analysis.