For years, food and beverage brands have tried to manage product development across a maze of disconnected systems: formulas in R&D spreadsheets, packaging specs in shared drives, artwork approvals buried in email threads, and finished goods documentation scattered across supplier folders and co-man environments. Every change, every iteration, every update depends on manual handoffs, interpretation, and hope that nothing slips through the cracks.
But as innovation cycles accelerate and compliance expectations tighten, hope is no longer a strategy.
This is the environment Packaging Specification Management was built to fix.
The reality today: Scattered specs, manual handoffs, constant risk
Most teams aren’t struggling because they lack talent, discipline, or process. They’re struggling because their systems weren’t designed to work together.
Formulas evolve in one place. Packaging components are managed somewhere else. Artwork moves through its own workflow entirely. Meanwhile:
And when something goes wrong?
Re-prints, relabels, delays, wasted runs. Sometimes worse.
The industry has been managing pieces of the puzzle, but never the whole. That changes with TraceGains’ Packaging Specification Management.
Meet PackMan: The hero of connected product development
Packaging Specification Management introduces a new, connected approach — one where formulas, packaging specs, assemblies, and artwork approvals all live within a single, auditable lifecycle.
We call that connected intelligence PackMan, the new superpower inside the TraceGains ecosystem.
Instead of treating packaging as an isolated activity, PackMan brings structure and clarity to every layer of the packaging process:
- Automated relationships that keep everything aligned when change happens
- Primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging specifications
- Raw material and component-level specifications
- Assemblies linking multiple components into a single packaging system
- Finished goods specs that unify product, packaging, and artwork
It creates a Packaging Specification Management environment where every spec lives in context—connected, not copied—across the full development lifecycle.
No more manual stitching.
No more version guessing.
No more “Did packaging know about this formula update?”
PackMan keeps everything connected from the start.
From fragmented records to a connected spec ecosystem
The breakthrough isn’t just digitization; it’s connection.
Traditional tools digitize documents but still leave relationships scattered across email threads and shared folders. PackMan does something fundamentally different: it establishes defined relationships between spec levels, packaging assemblies, and finished goods, so the system understands how everything fits together.
Update a packaging spec? The related finished goods spec reflects that relationship.
Change a formulation? Linked packaging elements can be reviewed in context.
Need to prove compliance across a product lifecycle? The audit trail is already there.
Everything traces back to one connected source of truth; not a collection of artifacts teams have to interpret after the fact.
Where artwork fits into the story
One of the biggest gaps in the industry has always been the disconnect between packaging specifications and artwork workflows.
Packaging changes.
Artwork changes.
But not always together.
And that’s where risk multiplies, especially when artwork approvals live in siloed tools and inbox threads outside the product development environment.
With Packaging Specification Management, artwork is no longer an afterthought in the process. It becomes part of the same connected lifecycle as product and packaging specs, and that connection becomes even more powerful through our native integration with Esko WebCenter Go.
Esko + TraceGains: A stronger path to artwork alignment
Esko has long been the industry leader in artwork management and approval workflows. TraceGains has built the strongest ecosystem for specifications, ingredients, compliance, and product development collaboration.
Packaging Specification Management is where those worlds come together.
Through an integration with WebCenter Go, finished goods in TraceGains can be linked directly to artwork projects managed inside Esko, enabling visibility into artwork approval status from within the Packaging Specification Management environment.
That means:
- Teams can see which finished goods have approved or pending artwork
- Artwork changes can be flagged in sync with product or packaging updates
- Change management becomes traceable instead of manual
- Specs and artwork finally move together, not in parallel silos
This represents more than workflow optimization; it eliminates one of the most persistent failure points in product launches.
Why connected packaging spec management is critical today
Innovation cycles are shorter. Supplier networks are more complex. Regulatory expectations are rising.
And yet, too many teams are still relying on spreadsheets, disconnected tools, and tribal knowledge to manage the most critical data in their business.
Packaging Specification Management gives them something better; a way to:
- Work from one connected spec ecosystem
- Reduce risk from version confusion and missed change alerts
- Improve collaboration across R&D, Packaging, FSQ, and Operations
- Build audit-ready documentation as part of the process, not as rework
- Launch products with greater confidence and predictability
With PackMan, product and packaging connection becomes simpler, clearer, and truly integrated.
Explore Packaging Specification Management
Ready to see how PackMan brings formulas, packaging, assemblies, and artwork together in one connected lifecycle?
Learn more about Packaging Specification Management.
