Handling packaging and labeling reviews across 1,200+ products

Growing portfolio leads to a higher risk of missing packaging errors

The artwork development teams were responsible for updating packaging across 1,200 SKUs and developing artwork for new products. With that workload, manual proofreading was becoming unsustainable.

Dr. Max Pharma is a leading private label manufacturer with a full range of pharmaceutical and OTC products sold in 6 Central European countries.

Artwork Development teams create labeling and packaging for each product. Every SKU needs at least two artwork elements, such as labeling, outer packaging, blister packaging, and inserts.

With translations into up to 6 languages required for most of the products, the review process had multiple steps:

•  translation of master files
•  creating PDFs for translated packaging
•  running compliance checks at national or regional level, and
•  final proofreading and verification.

As their teams’ workloads grew, Lucie Blažek and Jarmila Sáňková realized that they needed an automated solution to reduce the risk of missing errors across those steps. Their main goal was to prevent deviations and easily track versions across different steps.

Using TVT to shorten the review cycle — in just 2 weeks

After learning about TVT from a colleague on the Regulatory Affairs (RA) team and trying out the software, Lucie and Jarmila presented a business case to their managers and got approval to buy licenses.

After setting up a TVT demo, the teams tested it for a month. Once proofreaders confirmed they were interested, Lucie and Jarmila got their managers’ sign-off to move forward.

Since some team members had used TVT previously, the rollout moved quickly. In just two weeks, they felt confident enough to remove the now redundant step of sending artwork to Regulatory Affairs for proofreading.

The Artwork Development teams complete checks faster, and the RA team saves at least two hours on each review.

Artwork checks done in minutes instead of hours, with new ways to use TVT added across the workflow

Faster packaging content checks aren’t the only benefit of using TVT. From uncovering errors introduced in printer’s proofs to helping flag changes in regulations, they are finding new ways to use it daily.

After implementing TVT for reviews of translated packaging materials, the teams started adding new ways to use TVT.

One of the first was using it to check printer’s proofs for format and layout changes. As it turned out, some of the manufacturers were making small but unacceptable changes like changing the logo size on the packaging.

Internally, TVT is used to help RA see what exactly has been changed in regulatory documents — without having to go through the document line by line. Given that Dr. Max Pharma operates in 6 countries, this can save a lot of time.

The last, unexpected, outcome of using TVT was a boost in team morale: the proofreaders feel appreciated and supported by management and excited to use a tool that makes their work easier.