Re:Pack Mumbai focuses on smart packaging and AI adoption
Re:Pack Mumbai, organised by Esko, was held at St Regis, on 21 November, which followed discussions around smart packaging, FMCG design and Esko’s report launch - Packaging at scale: 2026 insights for growing brands.
24 Nov 2025 | 96 Views | By Sai Deepthi P
Rakesh Edavalath, director of product management, Esko, opened the day by shedding light on smarter packaging with AI: What the next 12 months will bring.
He said, “Brands entering new markets or launching new products, this has almost doubled in the last five years. In order to cater to a wider customer base, brands are launching fast.” Edavalath highlighted AI in packaging design. It empowers in generative packaging concepts and creative explorations, and generating dynamic concept boards.
He spoke about Esko's new AI-powered tool, Comply, which uses customisable rules and AI to validate critical components of product packaging and promotional materials. Using AI in packaging artwork review can reduce the launch cycle from three months to one month.
Brands entering new markets or launching new products, this has almost doubled in the last five years
The next session was focused on the art and discipline of FMCG design. Arjita Kulshreshtha from Esko, spoke to Ipshita Choudhury, design lead, ITC Limited. Choudhury said, “Packaging design is not artistic, it is more logical, and a lot of thought goes into the design of a package.”
She shared how collaboration across design, marketing, and sales becomes crucial, especially during fresh launches. Different teams bring different priorities, and designers often spot issues long before they surface.
When it comes to discovering insights, she believes it is a mix of intuition and structured observation. Social listening, lifestyle tracking, and watching cross-category trends help decode what young audiences care about. Anime, for instance, has surged in popularity in spaces where it was not traditionally present.
She also spoke about the realities of packaging workflows. Designers sometimes review over 1,000 artworks a month. The challenge is balancing creative vision with compliance. Here is where AI steps in, not as a replacement, but as a tool. It speeds up the first visualisation and frees designers to focus on intent and impact.
Arjita Kulshreshtha agreed and spoke from her personal experience that what once took a week of refinement can now reach its first draft in hours. But the designer’s eye still shapes the outcome.
Arjita Kulshreshtha from Esko, spoke to Ipshita Choudhury, design lead, ITC Limited about the art and discipline of FMCG design
The day was concluded with a report launch by Tabrez Shaikh director of sales and customer success, Esko on Packaging at scale: 2026 insights for growing brands. He spoke about the dire need for artwork management in packaging.
Packaging teams today are stretched thin, juggling regulatory checks, multiple SKUs, and intense review cycles. Yet most workflows are still fragmented across email, drives, and chat groups. Only 17% of brands use dedicated artwork management tools, and a small 18% spend more than USD 2,500 annually on such software. This signals one thing: there is no standardised system for artwork management.
Most errors occur in text, which could easily be avoided with the right proofing and checklist tools. But with siloed processes, typos and missed information delay launches and complicate operations.
AI can change this with spell checks, language polishing, barcode validation, and regulatory compliance checks can significantly reduce risk. Today, only 13% of packaging teams use AI, while 29% are exploring it. A majority 58% still don’t.
Platforms like WebCenter Go attempt to bridge this gap by digitising workflows, centralising assets, and introducing AI-backed compliance checks.
As complexity increases, adopting structured artwork systems with checklists, annotation tools, and version control is no longer optional; it is the only way to ensure speed, accuracy, and consistency in packaging processes.
Esko introduced their solutions for brands: WebCenter Go, WebCenter Enterprise, Comply - their AI-led artwork compliance solution for quality check, Cape Pack, Artios CAD, Studio, and store visualiser.
Tabrez Shaikh director of sales and customer success, Esko