How Amtech Software Is Using AI and Digital Transformation to Reshape Corrugated Manufacturing

As corrugated packaging and label manufacturers face rising operating costs, margin pressure, workforce challenges and increasing demands for productivity, digital technology is becoming an increasingly important part of the industry's growth strategy.

For Amtech Software, these challenges are creating opportunities to combine its established ERP and MES capabilities with artificial intelligence and automation. Purpose-built for the packaging industry, Amtech serves both corrugated manufacturers and label converters, including through its Label Traxx solutions. Across these markets, the company is particularly focused on helping manufacturers improve estimating, production planning, order intake and overall operational efficiency.

As Amtech expands its presence in the UK and wider EMEA market, it is also building its technology capabilities in India through a rapidly growing Bengaluru operation.

As part of its Leadership Insights series, Pulp & Paper Chronicle spoke with Ewan Thomas, Director of Sales at Amtech Software, about the company's UK and EMEA market strategy, the role of AI in packaging manufacturing, its Bengaluru innovation hub, the future of the Indian market and how manufacturers can unlock additional growth from existing capacity.

Building on a Strong Corrugated Market Position

Amtech's core business is focused on the corrugated packaging market, while the company also serves folding carton customers in North America and, following its acquisition of Label Traxx, customers in the label and flexible packaging sectors.

The company's offering is designed around an integrated order-to-cash workflow, covering activities from inquiry and estimating through production, scheduling, shipping, invoicing and cash collection.

According to Ewan Thomas, one of the important differentiators is the scalability of the platform.

Rather than requiring every customer to purchase a full suite of advanced modules, Amtech provides a broad baseline of functionality and allows manufacturers to add enhanced capabilities as their operations grow.

This approach is particularly relevant in the corrugated sector, where manufacturers can vary significantly in size and operational complexity.

A smaller sheet plant, for example, may not immediately require a fully automated planning system, while a larger manufacturer with more machines and production requirements can adopt additional planning and scheduling capabilities.

The model allows the technology to scale alongside the manufacturer rather than requiring the same technology investment from every customer.

A Strategic Approach to the UK Market

Amtech's move into the UK represents an important step in its broader EMEA expansion strategy.

Rather than entering multiple European markets simultaneously, the company has taken a market-by-market approach.

Thomas explained that entering a new country requires much more than simply making the software available. Language, sales capability, implementation, customer support and documentation all need to be considered.

The UK therefore represented a logical starting point.

Before beginning the sales push, Amtech carried out market research, identified the product development and localization requirements and invested in regional support and implementation capabilities.

The company established support and implementation resources in the UK before adding customers, giving it a foundation from which to build the market.

For Thomas, the objective is to ensure that Amtech enters a market with the product, people and infrastructure required to support customers properly.

Why UK Manufacturers Are Looking at Technology

Thomas sees several factors creating an opportunity for Amtech in the UK corrugated sector.

Manufacturers are facing higher costs but cannot always pass the full increase on to customers. As a result, maintaining or improving margins requires greater operational efficiency as well as the ability to win additional business.

According to Thomas, Amtech looks at both sides of that equation.

The company works directly with manufacturers to identify areas where technology can generate measurable improvements. If a manufacturer is already operating at a highly efficient level and Amtech cannot demonstrate a tangible return on investment, the company is prepared to walk away from the opportunity.

The focus, therefore, is not technology for its own sake but identifying specific operational problems that can be addressed through digital tools.

AI Moves From Concept to the Estimating Department

One of the most significant areas of Amtech's AI development is estimating.

Traditional estimating processes can involve large spreadsheets, manual data extraction and repeated entry into estimating systems. Another common workflow begins with an email containing a drawing, which may then need to be reviewed by an estimator and passed to a design team before a quotation can be completed.

These processes can consume significant amounts of time.

Amtech has incorporated AI technology into its estimating capabilities through what it now refers to as Amtech Intelligence.

The technology can use large language models to extract information from spreadsheets and bring that information into the estimating system. This allows estimates to be generated much faster than through traditional manual workflows.

For manufacturers, speed can have a direct commercial impact.

The ability to respond to a quotation or tender quickly can improve the opportunity to win the business, while reducing the amount of manual work required from estimating teams.

Giving Design Teams More Time for Higher-Value Work

AI can also change how design resources are used.

In a conventional quotation process, an estimator may receive a customer inquiry and drawing, manually interpret and enter the relevant information, and then send the request to the design department, where a designer develops a CAD drawing before the information returns to estimating.

Thomas highlighted that this can consume a substantial proportion of a design team's working day.

Amtech is using technology to streamline several parts of this process. Its new Email Intake Agent, embedded into Amtech Quick Quote, can read incoming quote-request emails and attachments, identify key information such as dimensions, board, style and quantity, and draft the specification lines an estimator needs to get started. Quick Quote can then use parametric and geometric libraries to generate the required information without relying on the traditional workflow for every quotation.

The objective is not simply to reduce headcount.

Instead, Amtech sees an opportunity to reduce repetitive administrative and design work, giving estimators and designers more time to undertake higher-value activities, such as working with sales teams and customers or developing new opportunities.

In this model, AI becomes a tool for changing the nature of the job rather than simply eliminating the role.

Moving Production Planning From Reactive to Proactive

Production planning is another area where Amtech sees significant potential for automation.

Even manufacturers using digital planning boards may still rely heavily on planners manually moving jobs around based on experience and knowledge.

Amtech's advanced planning board combines algorithms and AI with customer-defined rules and scoring systems.

Different parameters can be used to determine the priority of jobs and generate a production plan.

When an urgent order enters the schedule, the system can rerun the plan rather than requiring a planner to manually move multiple jobs.

More importantly, the system can identify the consequences of those changes.

A planner can see which jobs may become late and evaluate possible solutions, such as adding a shift or outsourcing work.

This provides management with a more structured decision-making process, including the potential cost of different options.

The result is a shift from reactive scheduling toward a more proactive approach to production management.

AI as an Integrated Business Strategy

As AI becomes increasingly accessible, manufacturers can adopt individual tools to address specific problems.

Thomas believes the bigger challenge is ensuring that these tools work together.

A manufacturer could automate production planning, for example, but if that system is not connected with shipment planning and other areas of the operation, the result can remain a collection of individual point solutions.

There is also an ongoing cost associated with implementing and maintaining technology internally.

Amtech's approach is to integrate AI into the broader manufacturing workflow rather than treating it as a standalone technology.

The company's proposition is therefore based on combining industry-specific software with AI capabilities and the existing operational processes of the manufacturer.

Bengaluru Becomes Part of Amtech's Global Technology Strategy

Amtech's expansion is not limited to the UK.

The company has also established a rapidly growing operation in Bengaluru, India.

According to Thomas, the Bengaluru centre has developed into a mixed-function operation covering development, support and implementation.

The centre had reached approximately 50 employees at the time of the interview, reflecting the speed at which the operation has grown.

Development work is shared between Bengaluru and Amtech's US headquarters, while the Indian team also provides support and implementation capabilities.

The location is strategically important as Amtech looks to support customers across different time zones and expand its operations across EMEA, India, Southern Africa and APAC.

India: A Future Market, Not Yet a Current One

While Amtech now has a significant technology presence in India, the company does not yet have an established Indian customer market.

Thomas explained that India is nevertheless expected to be an important future market for Amtech.

Before entering India commercially, the company intends to follow the same disciplined market-entry process it has used elsewhere.

Localization will involve much more than currency.

The company will need to consider taxation, local requirements, implementation processes and other factors that could affect the deployment of its software.

The Bengaluru operation therefore provides an existing foundation from which Amtech can eventually develop its Indian market strategy.

Agentic AI and the Road to 2030

Looking towards the next several years, Amtech expects agentic AI to become an increasingly important part of manufacturing software.

Thomas distinguishes between simply applying a large language model to a database and embedding AI agents directly into business processes.

Amtech is exploring how agentic AI can support areas such as estimating and order intake.

The broader objective is to allow manufacturers to accomplish more with the same workforce.

Rather than viewing AI purely as a labour-replacement technology, Amtech sees it as a way to reduce repetitive manual work and allow employees to focus on decision-making and higher-value activities.

Thomas also expects human decision-makers to remain important.

AI can generate information, identify options and automate processes, but people will still need to evaluate those outputs and make business decisions.

Creating New Revenue Opportunities Through Contract Packing

Digital transformation is not only about reducing costs.

Amtech is also looking at ways its software can help corrugated manufacturers create new revenue streams.

One example is contract packing.

Corrugated manufacturers are increasingly being asked to do more than produce boxes or point-of-sale displays. Customers may also want products packed and prepared as part of the overall service.

Amtech has developed a contract-packing module with a North American customer.

The module connects contract packing with production scheduling and provides manufacturers with tools to calculate the costs associated with the activity.

This can allow manufacturers to consider contract packing as a new commercial service rather than simply an additional operational burden.

For Amtech, this represents another way in which software can help manufacturers identify and pursue opportunities beyond their traditional product mix.

Growth Without Immediately Adding Physical Capacity

One of Thomas's key observations about the UK corrugated market is that manufacturers do not always need additional physical capacity to grow.

In many cases, the challenge is winning more orders.

A manufacturer may already have sufficient machine capacity to increase revenue if it can improve its quotation win rate and make better use of existing resources.

Technology can contribute by helping manufacturers respond to quotations faster, improve production planning and reduce operational inefficiencies.

Thomas believes that manufacturers able to combine these capabilities could potentially increase revenue before making major investments in additional physical capacity, although additional shifts or capacity will eventually be required as operations approach saturation.

Consolidation and the UK Market Opportunity

The UK corrugated market is also experiencing consolidation, with larger groups acquiring and consolidating plants.

However, Thomas does not see consolidation as eliminating the opportunity for Amtech.

While the company has a significant base in North America, its presence in the UK is still growing, leaving a substantial number of potential customers to address, including independent sheet plants.

The scalability of Amtech's software is particularly relevant in this environment.

Smaller manufacturers can begin with the core platform and add enhanced modules as their operations become more complex.

This allows Amtech to address companies across different stages of development rather than focusing exclusively on the largest manufacturers.

Looking Ahead

For Amtech Software, the next phase of growth combines geographic expansion with deeper technology development.

The company's UK strategy is built around localized support, implementation and a product tailored to the needs of the market. At the same time, the Bengaluru operation is becoming an increasingly important part of its global development, support and implementation capabilities.

On the technology side, AI is moving from an emerging capability into specific manufacturing workflows.

Estimating, quotation, production planning and order intake are among the areas where Amtech sees opportunities to reduce manual work, improve responsiveness and help manufacturers make better decisions.

For the corrugated industry, the broader opportunity may be less about replacing physical manufacturing capacity and more about making existing people, machines, data and processes work more effectively.

As Amtech continues its expansion across new markets, including its potential future entry into India, the company is betting that the combination of industry-specific ERP/MES, automation and agentic AI can help corrugated manufacturers improve productivity, protect margins and find new avenues for growth.