Give suppliers direct access to approved templates to eliminate local copies and simplify label changes
A manufacturer uses a label specification to define the required output. Each supplier turns the specification into a print-ready label and maintains a local version, leaving the manufacturer responsible for many copies when the standard changes.
Loftware Connect replaces the local-template arrangement by giving partners access to approved templates and data from the manufacturer. Suppliers can print the required label without recreating it in a separate system, which reduces their template-maintenance burden while the manufacturer manages any updates across its supplier relationships.
A specification describes the required label, but someone at the supplier interprets the fields and builds or updates a local template connected to shipment data. The manufacturer cannot inspect the printed label until the supplier sends a sample or the goods arrive.
Downloads, file shares, and email can distribute a current specification. After downloading the document, the supplier works from a copy. A regulatory requirement, redesign, or customer-standard change forces the manufacturer to send another version and determine which suppliers update their local templates.
Suppliers that serve many customers with different labeling requirements may need to maintain separate templates for each customer. After approving a network change, manufacturers follow up with individual suppliers.
Loftware Connect instead gives suppliers and contract manufacturers access to approved templates and data through shared workspaces. The manufacturer maintains the label definition, while the supplier uses the content made available for the shipment and prints the label onto the goods before shipment.
Loftware Connect removes customer-specific template construction from the supplier's task. Suppliers produce labels from content the manufacturer provides for each shipment, without maintaining a local template that can fall behind the approved version.
The Loftware Connect workspace gives each supplier a consistent governed onboarding model. The manufacturer avoids a separate template-building project for each partner, which reduces the steps between supplier setup and the time to a partner's first compliant print. The shared onboarding model gives the manufacturer a consistent basis for managing supplier participation. Manufacturers can compare time to first compliant print across partners without treating each supplier as a separate implementation project.
Supplier adoption may also require a bit of change management. As the manufacturer is asking suppliers to change an established process, it may require reinforcing the benefits of a manufacturer/supplier network in terms of time and speed to execution with each partner.
The organization introducing the program acts as an anchor tenant. The anchor tenant generally has a large supplier network or purchasing influence to establish the new labeling process. Since commercial relationships differ across the network, manufacturers may need different approaches for different supplier groups. Programs that span many suppliers or regions may involve a global systems integrator or channel partner to help communicate the change and manage participation.
After onboarding, manufacturers use the supplier network to manage new label versions. Based on product specifications, the manufacturer posts revisions to the network for its supplier partners to access in Loftware Connect.
This means Loftware Connect is a “publish-once” model. The manufacturer can release a labeling change in one action to connected supplier partners and view adoption across the network. Managers can then focus their follow-up on partners that have not adopted the change.
The elapsed time between approval and network adoption gives the manufacturer a direct measure of change performance. Supplier managers can identify missed revisions before labeled goods arrive.
Supplier labeling requires manufacturers and partners to exchange information. Manufacturers provide approved templates and data, while partners can return shipment information through defined fields that avoid manual re-entry from free-form attachments.
Loftware Connect can also support artwork for customer-facing applications. A manufacturer in the middle of a supply chain can manage the labels expected from suppliers and the information its customers expect to see on outgoing goods. Each company applies the model within its direct partner relationships.
Supplier Label Compliance explains how the collaboration model addresses labeling beyond the manufacturer's facilities.
Why does acknowledging a standard fail to prevent a wrong label?
An acknowledgment only confirms that the supplier received the requirement. If the supplier builds and maintains its own local template, it may preserve an interpretation error or miss a revision until the manufacturer reviews the output or receives the goods. Without a fully connected environment, suppliers remain at risk of falling out of compliance with current requirements. |
What changes for a supplier that uses Loftware Connect?
Loftware Connect removes the need for suppliers to construct and maintain their own templates. Suppliers can print shipment labels using approved content shared directly by the manufacturer. |
How can a manufacturer measure supplier onboarding?
“Time to first compliant print” measures the period between bringing a supplier into the program and receiving the supplier’s first compliant production output. This activity-based measure confirms that the supplier is using the approved templates provided by the manufacturer. |
What helps suppliers adopt a new labeling process?
Supplier adoption depends on effective change management and the manufacturer’s influence within each commercial relationship. An anchor tenant needs sufficient purchasing influence or authority to establish the process, while programs spanning many suppliers or regions may use a systems integrator to help manage participation. |
What happens when an approved label changes?
The manufacturer can publish the change to connected partners and monitor adoption of the current version across the network. Suppliers access the newly published content without rebuilding their own copies of the label. |
