X-Rite and Pantone Publish Digital Maturity Model for Brand Packaging

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., February 6, 2018 – X-Rite Incorporated, a global leader in color science and technology, and its subsidiary Pantone LLC, along with MediaBeacon, Esko and AVT released a new white paper, “The Digital Maturity Model for Brand Packaging,” highlighting the levels of digitization within the brand packaging process.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies experience continued pressure to produce new and more products quickly. This forces them to assess the current capacity and capabilities of their consumer packaging processes, including packaging workflow, color management, digital printing and coding. Senior leadership at many CPGs are adopting digital technologies and implementing digital automation to cultivate packaging as a core business capability.

“Brands understand the benefits of streamlining processes in order to increase speed to market for their products,” says Cindy Cooperman, Global Director, Brand and Packaging at X-Rite. “Our digital maturity model allows CPG brands to identify their current capability level in developing packaging. It’s also a valuable framework for defining the future strategies, processes, and digital tools required to more effectively address color requirements, drive revenue and improve operational efficiencies across the packaging value chain.”

The “Digital Maturity Model for Brand Packaging” defines five levels of maturity: Reactive, Organized, Digitized, Connected, and Intelligent. In the white paper, each of the five stages is clearly described, as well as 14 dimensions that comprise the maturity levels. For each level, there are descriptions of what motivates a business to level-up their capabilities. The five main levels of the maturity model are listed below:

REACTIVE: Manual, offline tasks and processes are triggered by external pressures.

ORGANIZED: Tasks are triggered for established stakeholders by defined processes, timelines and physical quality measures using basic computerized tools.

DIGITIZED: Projects, tasks and processes are increasingly completed and measured digitally using configured hardware and software.

CONNECTED: Packaging software and hardware is continuously integrated with other business processes and systems of record.

INTELLIGENT: An integrated ecosystem of full product information and imagery automatically improves and synchronizes across internal and external interfaces.

“Many brands identify with aspects from multiple stages of the maturity model, and that’s ok,” says Adrián Fernández, General Manager of Pantone. “Our hope is that the model provides these companies a framework to simplify their processes and raise the level of conversation and cross-collaboration between departments such as design, marketing and package printers, while suggesting specific ways to take current processes to the next level.”

To read more about the model and gain context as to where your business fits, visit: http://bit.ly/2DYVRpN.

About X-Rite
Founded in 1958, X-Rite Incorporated is a global leader in the science and technology of color and appearance.  With its wholly owned subsidiary Pantone, X-Rite employs more than 800 people in 11 countries. The company’s corporate headquarters are located in Grand Rapids, Mich., with regional headquarters in Europe and Asia and service centers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. X-Rite Pantone offers a full range of solutions used by manufacturers, retailers, printers, photographers and graphic design houses to achieve precise management and communication of color and appearance throughout their processes. X-Rite Pantone products and services are recognized standards in the printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles and medical industries. For further information, please visit www.xrite.com. For the latest news, information and conversations, connect with X-Rite on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

About Pantone
Pantone, a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated, enables color-critical decisions, from inspiration to realization, for brands and manufacturers. Over 10 million designers and producers around the world employ Pantone Products and Services to communicate through color, and control consistency across various materials and finishes. Pantone offers designers, brands and consumers, products and services through three unique business divisions: Pantone Standards, which includes digital and physical workflow tools and the quintessential Pantone Color Language; the Pantone Color Institute™, which provides trend, brand identity, and color assurance consulting services; and Pantone Lifestyle, the consumer products division that brings color and design together across apparel, home, and accessories. More information is available at www.pantone.com.

- # # # -

©2018 X-Rite, Inc. All rights reserved. X-Rite is a registered trademark of X-Rite, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. PANTONE® and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. © 2018.  All rights reserved.