Ravenwood Packaging tackles the multi-SKU headache

In an era of hyper-personalisation and expanding product ranges, food manufacturers are facing an increasingly complex challenge: managing a massive volume of stock keeping units (SKUs) without sacrificing production speed.

Ravenwood Packaging, a leader in sustainable labelling, has unveiled how its linerless technology is helping brands navigate this complexity by streamlining the labelling process for multi-SKU production lines.

The shift toward diverse consumer preferences has forced manufacturers to move away from long production runs of a single product. Instead, modern facilities must frequently switch between different labels for various flavours, sizes, and dietary versions of the same product. This “multi-SKU” environment traditionally leads to significant downtime and logistical bottlenecks.

The primary drain on efficiency in a high-SKU environment is the “changeover” — the time taken to stop a machine, remove old label rolls, and thread new ones. Ravenwood’s linerless labelling system, centred around its flagship Nobac 5000 applicators, is specifically engineered to minimise this friction.

Because linerless labels do not have a silicone backing paper, each roll contains up to 40% more labels than a traditional self-adhesive roll. This immediately reduces the number of times a machine must be stopped for a roll change. Furthermore, Ravenwood’s technology allows for faster reel changes and more consistent tension, ensuring that switching from a “Spicy” SKU to a “Mild” SKU happens in a matter of minutes rather than half an hour.

Ravenwood highlights several key ways linerless technology simplifies the management of complex product inventories:

• Reduced storage footprint: managing multiple SKUs requires significant warehouse space for label inventory. Because linerless labels are thinner and lack backing paper, they take up roughly half the storage space of traditional labels, allowing manufacturers to keep a wider variety of SKUs on hand without expanding their footprint.
• Sustainability meets scale: high-SKU production often generates vast amounts of waste in the form of backing paper. By eliminating the liner, Ravenwood helps brands maintain a diverse product range while simultaneously meeting aggressive ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets.
• Precision and compliance: in a multi-SKU environment, the risk of mislabelling increases. Ravenwood’s systems integrate with advanced coding and verification software, ensuring that the correct data — from nutritional information to barcodes—is applied accurately to every different SKU on the line.

The rise of “limited edition” runs and seasonal SKUs shows no sign of slowing down. Ravenwood argues that for manufacturers to remain competitive, they must move away from the one-size-fits-all labelling mindset.

“Managing multiple SKUs shouldn’t be a headache for production managers,” the company stated in its latest technical insight.