Loftware launches Connect for global supply chains

Loftware has launched Loftware Connect, a platform designed to link organisations with trading partners across global supply chains.

Described by Loftware as the biggest technology launch in its history, the product focuses on product identification, covering how goods are labelled, authenticated and tracked as they move between suppliers, manufacturers and distributors.

Supply chain operators have long relied on a patchwork of internal systems, email exchanges and local processes to manage labelling and related product data. That can create problems when companies operate across multiple regions, face changing regulatory requirements or depend on large networks of suppliers and co-packers.

The new platform is intended to replace that fragmented approach with a network model that gives companies a structured way to connect with trading partners. In turn, organisations should be able to oversee how product identification requirements are shared and followed at different points in the supply chain.

In practice, the system is built around connection management and shared workspaces. Companies can invite suppliers into the platform through a formal onboarding process, monitor that onboarding in real time, and allow suppliers to register and participate directly.

The shared workspaces are designed to let companies distribute standardised printing instructions in a controlled setting. Under the model outlined by Loftware, each connection point in the supply chain can publish its identification and labelling requirements to the network, while authorised trading partners subscribe to those instructions without direct access to label templates or core systems.

That arrangement is intended to reduce manual coordination, particularly email-based exchanges, while maintaining tighter control over how information is distributed. It should also make it easier for companies to revise requirements without disrupting suppliers.

Loftware framed the launch against a backdrop of growing supply chain volatility. Errors in product identification can lead to rejected shipments, production delays, recalls and regulatory penalties, particularly in industries where labelling accuracy and traceability are tightly regulated.

As supply chains become more distributed, those risks can multiply. A single weak point in a supplier network can interrupt the movement of goods across borders or into production lines, while businesses are under pressure to respond more quickly when market conditions, trade rules or compliance demands change.

Jim Bureau, Chief Executive Officer at Loftware, said the new platform is meant to address those weaknesses at network level rather than within a single company's systems. "With Loftware Connect, we are building the infrastructure of trust for modern global commerce."

"For decades, product identification has been managed within the four walls of the enterprise. But goods move across borders, through suppliers, co-packers, and distribution centres, creating costly unknowns like a mislabelled component delaying an assembly line or triggering regulatory fines. The future requires fast and seamless collaboration. Loftware Connect ensures that every partner, every process, and every product identity is aligned, so when disruption occurs, our customers stay ahead of it. With Loftware, it's all right there," said Bureau.

Industry Shift

The launch also reflects Loftware's view that product identification is shifting from an enterprise software function to a broader inter-company process. That would place more emphasis on governance between organisations than on how each company manages labels and data on its own.

Michelle Northey, Chief Product Officer at Loftware, described the move in those terms.

"Loftware Connect represents a category-defining shift for our industry. We designed this product solution to validate the core features of a connected trading partner network: secure connections, governed collaboration, and controlled information distribution. This is the beginning of a broader journey toward intelligent and network-driven supply chain coordination that will continue to expand to address our customers' largest supply chain challenges," said Northey.

Loftware said the platform could help companies reduce rejected shipments, lower compliance and operating costs, and process orders more quickly. It also argued that standardising how suppliers receive identification requirements could improve consistency across global operations and cut downtime linked to labelling errors or delays.