Des Plaines, IL - Schawk, Inc., a leading provider of brand point management services enabling companies of all sizes to connect their brands with consumers to create deeper brand affinity, announced today that it has introduced the next generation of global workflow and collaboration technology with the launch of version 3.0 of BLUE, its brand management technology software. The newest version of BLUE includes numerous enhancements that help brand owners compete more effectively in fast moving and highly regulated industries.

BLUE, Schawk's marketing-friendly, proprietary, enterprise brand management technology software, is the only graphics lifecycle management technology to be developed and implemented by a company that is fully immersed as an active participant in the global processes required by brand owners to bring new products to market. This powerfully differentiates BLUE from other Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems that seek to manage what they may not fully understand.

Scott Strong, senior vice president and managing director of Schawk Digital Solutions, said, "This release of BLUE highlights how Schawk is uniquely able to respond to the technology needs of brand owners. Our role in helping companies create compelling and consistent brand experiences for consumers gives us a depth of insight into their business requirements which other technology providers simply don't have. Schawk's intimate knowledge of these requirements, honed over the last 50 years, informs the development of our software solutions."

Added Strong, "Not only do we know where process bottlenecks and breakdowns occur, but Schawk understands the complexities behind the 'whys' and all the opportunities and consequences associated with the 'what ifs'? This is key to creating technology solutions that enable brand owners to be more agile in a fast-changing world while ensuring compliance is achieved in an increasingly hyper-vigilant world."

Mark Bradford, senior director, global product strategy and development for Schawk Digital Solutions, stated, "Schawk's BLUE 3.0 offers brand owners a workflow engine that is as flexible as it is robust. It sets a new standard in the ability to meet the stringent requirements of the most complex global brand workflows, while offering the same level of flexibility for smaller, regional workflows. The new on-the-fly 'what if' reforecasting of schedules functionality is an example of this."

Added Bradford, "All of the new features present in this release of BLUE are designed to help companies make more informed decisions related to bringing new products to market more quickly, efficiently, consistently and sustainably while complying with regulations. Additionally, we've enriched the user experience by adding features that display and interpret information visually, allowing users to analyze results and impact more rapidly and easily."

New features present in BLUE 3.0 include:
- Open standards to simplify integration with complementary enterprise applications such as SAP
- Richer, more flexible visual process modeling that simplifies the ability to reforecast schedules when key dates shift and to create alternate 'What if?' scenarios
- Data warehousing that allows access to customized Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports
- A project dashboard that provides an at-a-glance visual snapshot of project performance and a richer Gantt Chart view
- Custom, configurable user views for quicker access to items of greatest interest

Concluded Strong, "Marketers also appreciate BLUE's simple, 'Google-clean' interface. It was designed to present robust technology in a manner that would visually appeal to its key users, marketing, branding and creative professionals who are typically more visual than technical by nature. The visual simplicity of BLUE's graphical interface creates an environment that invites users in instead of intimidating them. This also helps an organization achieve a successful implementation."

Schawk supplements its brand management technology with consulting, installation, training and maintenance, and can provide on-site manpower when required. BLUE is comprised of five web-accessible modules that include digital asset management, copy management, workflow management, online proofing (which includes annotation and comparison tools) and key performance indicator reporting. These modules integrate seamlessly with each other and with company-wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) or PLM systems such as SAP. They are also capable of responding to the complexities and unique requirements that regulate packaging in ways that broad-based ERP/PLM systems do not.