The British food sector retailer has adopted Pantone’s cloud-based service to standardize color reproduction on its packaging.
Asda, one of the largest chains in the UK (573 stores, 180,000 employees) and owned by Wal-Mart, will implement the cloud-based service dedicated to color PantoneLIVE™within their global supply chain. PantoneLIVE will enable Asda to standardize their processes into a single platform and to govern digital access, thus facilitating communications regarding color and packaging as well as between suppliers, thereby improving the efficiency of its operational processes. The UK distributor will begin using PantoneLIVE for private labels Smart Price, Chosen by You and Extra Special.
«The intention – says Asda print manager Andy Wilson – was ambitious: we were looking for a solution that not only helped assess the quality of printing on all the packs made by different suppliers, but that would also provide technical data on the color in an easy to understand format. Considering that most print validation systems on the market today are designed for printers and not for brands, finding the right partner was not easy. The X-Rite Pantone solution (brand of Danaher Corporation) provided the best answer to our needs».
Benefits in a cloud The PantoneLIVE suite provides Asda with a cloud based color data collection system which allows brand managers to communicate the specifications of various shades along the entire supply chain, validate compliance and monitor the activity of suppliers on a global scale.
«Having printers available capable of validating their own output in real time means that PantoneLIVE has really changed the rules of the game», adds Jason Gilmartin, Asda’s senior print manager. «Thanks to it we can manage the packaging print process in all its phases, from concept to production, with much greater ease and speed. The reduction of wastage has been remarkable, as well as the improvement of brand image; now there is also no longer any need for the approval of the brand manager at the end of each print operation».
