The beverage industry is at a crossroads. Sustainability targets, operational efficiency demands, and rising consumer expectations are converging to create unprecedented pressure on manufacturers. However, unique challenges in this sector, including high-speed production, complex packaging formats, and fragmented regulatory landscapes, mean change often meets resistance at the plant level. Even when solutions promise significant savings, teams hesitate because new processes add workload, disruption, and complexity.
Yet while concerns regarding operational upheaval are understandable, the reality is that the market is changing fast. Unique, data-rich 2D codes powered by GS1 are delivering tangible benefits, including enhanced traceability as well as next generation data variability and consumer engagement. Existing solutions need to deliver results with minimal disruption, allowing beverage manufacturers to support sustainability goals, streamline compliance to global regulatory change and improve operational efficiency.
With GS1 preparing to eradicate 1D codes within a couple of years, Russell Wiseman, Head of Global Beverage Solutions, Domino Printing Sciences explains why now is the moment to act and begin the journey towards smarter, more sustainable beverage production, reducing waste, cutting costs, and future proofing the brand in the process.
Sustainability Challenges Facing High-Speed Beverage Manufacturing
Beverage manufacturers face mounting pressure to meet ambitious sustainability targets. Between 2030 and 2050 a raft of regulatory change is set to come into force, including the EU DPP (Digital Product Passport) and CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) for waste reduction, circularity, and transparency, PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation), and national DRS (Deposit Return Schemes). Alongside this regulatory change for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies, both retailers and regulators are demanding greater transparency and traceability across supply chains, intensifying the need for precise, accessible product data.
Yet strategic sustainability ambitions often collide with operational reality. High-speed production lines, running at up to 120,000 cans per hour, leave little room for error or additional processes. At this scale, even the smallest problems or yield issues quickly spiral into significant costs. Mislabelling and rogue products can trigger costly recalls, quarantines, and contingency budgets that run into millions.
As a result, it is no surprise that plant teams remain cautious about even small adjustments to tried and tested, efficient processes. The challenge is to determine how best to make the transition to a more sustainable, traceable, and transparent model while also ensuring the required accuracy and efficiency that high-speed beverage production demands.
How GS1 2D Codes Cut Waste, Prevent Errors, and Strengthen Traceability
2D codes powered by GS1 are emerging as a game-changer for beverage production. Used in conjunction with a high-speed vision system, GS1 codes provide greater manufacturing traceability, allowing faults to be eliminated more quickly, reducing the cost of errors, and preventing rogue products from reaching consumers. This will not only prevent damaging brand reputation, but also cuts rework and recall costs and supports sustainability objectives by minimising waste. Complete, end-to-end traceability throughout a product’s lifespan also supports global (DRS) requirements, enabling beverage companies to quickly respond to different schemes without incurring additional costs. Furthermore, with the majority of countries now accepting online recycling identification information, the ability to remove this information from the pack and store it in the cloud can streamline compliance with local recycling identification demands.
Boosting Flexibility and Multi-Market Compliance
Beyond traceability, 2D codes introduce far greater agility in managing multi-market compliance. Dynamic, data-linked codes allow organisations to share detailed ingredient or regulatory information digitally rather than on-pack. This relieves the real estate pressures on packaging, reduces the need for market-specific artwork, and helps streamline SKUs – supporting more sustainable production and packaging operations. The adoption of integrated solutions, including Beverage Empty Can Coding Systems (BECCS) delivers further benefits. By combining coding, vision, and data management in a unified solution, beverage companies can further enhance sustainability by preventing the filling of faulty or incorrect cans, preventing wasted product. Add improved coding quality to enhance yield and higher line efficiency, and beverage manufacturers can gain measurable performance improvements whilst also meeting strategic ESG objectives.
Driving Consumer Engagement, Brand Protection, and Accessible Information
2D codes also unlock powerful opportunities for consumer engagement and data-driven insights. Dynamic QR codes are inspiring innovative promotional activity as companies tap into new opportunities for loyalty programs, gamification, and personalised content. This new level of engagement is creating deeper connections with consumers and providing companies with new data on consumption patterns, geographic trends, and product lifecycle. With every scan, companies are gaining new insights into consumption and consumer behaviour that is providing actionable insights for better decision-making.
Critically, the adoption of new processes enabled by 2D codes allows enhanced engagement to be achieved at a lower cost than current models. Promotions can be moved into the cloud, allowing the company to improve customer engagement without requiring expensive, non-standard runs. Successful promotions can be extended remotely, requiring zero changes to the production line; while less successful activity can be swiftly removed, ensuring any business impact is minimised.
The benefits continue. Serialisation strengthens brand protection against counterfeiting, a problem now estimated to be worth around £1.2 billion globally in alcoholic drinks alone, according to a report by the OECD and the EU’s Intellectual Property Office. Furthermore, dynamic 2D codes can support companies’ inclusivity objectives. Visually impaired customers can use innovative technologies such as NaviLens, which uses a mobile phone to scan supermarket aisles for specific products, including by size and flavour. A similar approach can be used to flag allergy information, helping customers instantly avoid any product they cannot safely tolerate. Again, any changes or updates to such information can be made to the cloud-based information linked to the 2D code, avoiding any need for product recalls.
Conclusion
2D codes are the foundation for a more efficient, sustainable, and digitally-enabled beverage supply chain. However, timing is critical. With GS1 working hard to ensure 1D barcodes are eradicated by 2027/2028, manufacturers should begin developing a transition strategy now. Missing compliance deadlines and relying on last minute retrofits is not only costly, but it also adds enormous operational risk. There are significant opportunity costs when innovative brands step in and gain market share – particularly with retailers already investing in technology to support 2D codes. At the same time, businesses face limitations and rising costs from systems that cannot handle future requirements. How long can the business afford to delay? What is the potential impact on brand reputation when the rest of the market is achieving the next level in customer engagement?
Successful transitions require clear timelines and a deep understanding of both strategic opportunities and operational implications. While every beverage manufacturer will prioritise these drivers differently, the commercial and environmental opportunities of early adoption are tangible. Companies gain the advantage of an industry-leading position. They also establish a foundation for a more sustainable operating model that leverages digital capabilities to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving market.
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