EFI has released the EFI Packaging Suite 4.0, the company’s latest ERP-based suite of software solutions for packaging enterprises. The Suite includes an expanded offering of certified integrations aimed at optimising business and production operations for label and packaging converters. EFI showed its new packaging ERP platform for the first time at drupa 2016. The 4.0 release expands EFI’s offering to include 20 certified workflows for business and production automation geared toward real-world label and package converting environments. Each certified workflow combines the core EFI Radius ERP solution with modular, integrated components from EFI’s portfolio, as well as with key third-party technologies, such as Esko’s Automation Engine. Packaging operations can configure their individual Packaging Suite workflow to address the specific production management needs for products they offer such as folding cartons, labels, shrink sleeves, in-mold labels, flexible packaging, and blown film extrusion products. David Taylor, general manager enterprise segment at EFI Productivity Software, says, “The Packaging Suite takes complexities out of the software implementation process, improving the day-to-day experience for users in their end-to-end label and packaging converting workflows. “Converters and the brands they serve will benefit from key advancements in customer engagement and management, order acquisition, scheduling production, data collection and financial and business reporting.â€
Out of the box thinking: the EFI Packaging Suite 4.0, the company’s latest ERP-based suite of software solutions for packaging enterprises.
He says that the EFI Packaging Suite drives higher levels of efficiency and cost optimisation, improving label and package converting operations by: giving users visibility across the business so they can make informed, proactive decisions; providing robust, real-time scheduling that can maximize productivity by efficiently responding to process changes and interruptions across the enterprise; delivering out-of-the-box, end-to-end optimized business and production workflows; integrating and automating EFI software solutions across users’ administrative and production environments; maximizing profits from existing jobs while supporting the development of new revenue streams. EFI list key features among the advancements in the new, upgraded Packaging Suite as: Award-winning EFI Dynamic Intelligent Estimating and Planning component with advanced CRM and job-planning capabilities for folding cartons. The component’s intuitive, browser-based interface and flexibility to match equipment and processes make it fast and easy to implement and use for fast, accurate and consistent estimates regardless of the user’s experience level. It also delivers smart, automated production planning using the most cost-efficient job path. Significant workflow enhancements for film extrusion and flexible packaging converting, including enhanced support for extrusion and lamination processes with better recording and tracking of weights throughout the core Radius ERP component. Role-based widgets for estimators and customer service representatives in a new Packaging Suite Workbench – a centralized collection of role-based widgets that are defined by user type with an interface that helps estimators and customer service personnel achieve maximum productivity. Packaging converters’ workflows also gain the benefits in easier implementation in upgrades with the Suite, thanks to synchronized delivery of validated and certified software updates. Taylor adds, “In the past, adding or upgrading a business workflow usually meant packaging converters had to endure a significant amount of custom IT work, slowing implementation, and – in some instances – limiting use of features they had purchased “Our synchronised delivery framework gives converters a faster route to success, and a greater ROI as they expand and customize their workflows to address new markets or tackle important business challenges.â€
