Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for pharma packaging manufacturers.
A checklist built from how pharma packaging manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Customer codes and artwork versions
- Proof approval
- Press jobs and changeovers
- Board, foil and ink stock
- Inspection and reject control
- Counting and bundling
- Dispatch and invoices
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For plant heads
- For pre-press staff
- For press and converting operators
- For quality inspectors
- For dispatch and accounts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Jobs by press with reconciled and open counts
- Reject sheets by cause, code and press
- Proofs awaiting customer approval, by age
- Artwork versions released and superseded
- Board, foil and ink stock by grade and lot
- Destruction records by date and witness
- On-time delivery by customer
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Accounting export
- Barcode labels
- Pre-press file store
- Press counter export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can the press operator see only the approved artwork?
- How does count reconciliation work?
- Can destruction of rejects be recorded?
- Is line clearance enforced?
- Can customers sign proofs inside the system?
- Do you track foil as well as paper board?
- Can it print delivery notes with counts and lots?
- How do we load our existing jobs and codes?
- What shapes the quotation for a printer like us?
- Who maintains inspection plans later?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Artwork versions sit in several folders
- Printed counts do not reconcile
- Rejected sheets are not controlled
- Press changeovers skip clearance
- Colour and varnish approvals are unrecorded
Prefer to talk it through? See the pharma packaging manufacturers page.