Industry Talk

Regular Industry Development Updates, Opinions and Talking Points relating to Manufacturing, the Supply Chain and Logistics.

How Do You Keep Pace with an Ever Changing Regulatory Environment?

Businesses face a paradox: they must abide by stringent regulations in order to stay in business, yet those same regulations can present challenges to operating efficiently. Regulations affect many facets of the supply chain, including your labeling. If a carton or pallet label doesn’t comply with regulations, your package won’t make it to market. That costs you money and time, as well as reputational damage.

How can you conquer regulatory labeling challenges? The right Enterprise Labeling Solution allows you to navigate industry issues, emerging markets and ever-evolving regulatory environments.

What Are Some Industry Issues Facing Organizations?
Certain industries are more heavily regulated than others. For instance, the chemical production industry falls into that category. The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS for short) specifies what information must be displayed on labels and how it must be displayed. If labels don’t meet those standards, your chemicals may be rerouted, confiscated or destroyed, depending on the specific region.

Another strictly regulated field is the medical device industry. The FDA has its Unique Device Identification (UDI) system, and the EU just put its Medical Device Regulations (MDR) and In Vitro Diagnostic Regulations (IVDR) into effect. Those laws create an added compliance burden for manufacturers.

How does an Enterprise Labeling Solution help you navigate these issues? It standardizes and centralizes enterprise labeling to ensure accuracy, consistency, and above all, regulatory compliance. Cloud-based capabilities make it easy to deploy and extend labeling across your organization, so you can eliminate disparate, disconnected labeling systems.

The Eaton Corporation, a multinational power management company, implemented Loftware’s Enterprise Labeling Solution in part to meet regulatory requirements. The company has noted that Loftware helps them avoid fines because it can now comply with labeling requirements.

Emerging Markets and Ever-Evolving Regulatory Environments
In addition to dealing with regulatory burdens within the U.S., companies that wish to enter emerging markets must be aware of what’s happening there as well. Places such as Brazil, China, and India represent enormous economic opportunities. At the same time, laws in those countries continue to evolve – what was acceptable last year might not be this year.

Those laws affect labeling requirements, too. For example, medical devices in Russia must have labeling in the local language along with specially registered markings. How do you overcome these challenges while staying competitive and expanding into new markets?

An Enterprise Labeling Solution clearly helps. This software integrates directly with your sources of truth (which could include a compliance regulation database). You no longer need to rely on spreadsheets or the “file drop” approach, which is highly problematic in the face of ever-changing regulations.

In addition, the right labeling solution provides support for multiple languages right out of the box. You don’t have to worry about creating labels in Portuguese for Brazil – the tools are right at your fingertips. It’s also easy to apply business logic (i.e., if this, then that), automating label variations to ensure accuracy and reduce the number of templates without involving IT.