ePS (eProductivity Software) has launched CommandCore, a unified operational platform designed for packaging manufacturers. The platform aims to consolidate functions spanning production, planning, quality, and sustainability – areas the company says have long been managed across disconnected systems – into a single architectural foundation.
Packaging manufacturers typically run critical operations, from ERP and manufacturing execution to quality, scheduling, and sustainability, through separate tools. According to ePS, this fragmentation limits real-time visibility, obscures profitability, slows modernisation, and leaves businesses unprepared for evolving regulatory and customer requirements.
“For decades, packaging manufacturers have achieved operational excellence despite their software solutions, not because of it,” said Doug Braun, chief executive officer at ePS. “They’ve been told fragmentation is inevitable and modernisation requires compromise. CommandCore was built to challenge that assumption.”
The platform is said to unify eight operational areas on a single database: ERP functions covering estimating, quoting, order and production management, inventory, tooling, and costing; manufacturing execution including shop floor tracking, trimming, conversion, and resource optimisation; control systems for machine data capture and process control; operational excellence tools for workflow design, audit trails, and scenario planning; scheduling with capacity constraints and KPI reporting; quality and compliance covering NCR management, preventive actions, and regulatory disclosure; sustainability functions for carbon accounting and environmental compliance; and supply chain tools including customer portals, supplier management, and procurement alignment. Rather than linking standalone modules through middleware, the company states that data flows in real time from estimate through production and accounting within a single connected system.
ePS describes CommandCore as ‘packaging-native’, meaning it is built around packaging-specific considerations such as substrate complexity, makeready processes, waste factors, finishing operations, and sustainability reporting, rather than being a generic ERP system adapted for manufacturing.
“Our customers don’t manage integrations, they manage their business,” Braun added. “With CommandCore, they make better decisions at every level of their operation.”
The platform supports modular adoption, allowing manufacturers to implement individual components based on immediate operational priorities and expand over time. The company says this approach enables phased modernisation while maintaining a single source of operational data across the organisation.
“Our platform was designed around packaging-native features, and the modular nature was part of that thought process,” said Craig Tait, chief product officer at ePS. “It provides manufacturers and converters the flexibility to achieve operational excellence in their current and future state. Unified doesn’t mean all at once – each company has their own timeline, and now, we can truly help throughout their journey.”