Arden Software has unveiled its AI-powered features within its flagship packaging design software, Impact, during a showcase at the Hybrid Fusion Packaging Summit in Amsterdam.
The ‘Shape Similarity’ tools being developed within Impact will transform packaging and tooling design workflow, and the exclusive preview at Hybrid Fusion generated widespread interest from industry leaders looking to harness the power of AI.
Taking centre stage at Hybrid Fusion was a first look at ‘Design Similarity’ – the inaugural feature within the new Shape Similarity suite of AI-powered features, set to launch as part of the upcoming Impact 2025 software release later this year.
Design Similarity allows Impact users to effortlessly locate existing design matches within their database, delivering valuable time and cost savings by reusing previous designs. Using a highly trained machine learning (ML) model, the system can search across even the largest design databases in seconds, returning accurate results based not just on similar design profile, but also configurable differences in scale and proportion.
This intelligent search functionality can be further refined by customer, naming conventions, board material, creation date, or any combination of advanced database fields within Impact’s customisable design database.
Matt Hewitt (pictured above), Technical Director, Arden Software, said, “The level of interest and engagement we saw around Shape Similarity at Hybrid Fusion was incredibly encouraging – it’s clear there’s real demand for intelligent, AI-driven tools in packaging and tooling design.
“Design Similarity is just the beginning. By bringing AI into the heart of our CAD/CAM software, we’re helping our users work smarter, faster, and more competitively. For die-makers, designers and converters alike, this feature has the potential to transform everyday tasks, whether it’s quoting more accurately, checking for existing tooling, or learning from past manufacturing layouts.”
“As part of Impact 2025, Design Similarity will become a core capability within the software, and we’re especially excited about where it’s heading next. With R&D already underway, we plan to expand similarity-driven intelligence into a series of design and die-making processes. This includes future tools for Waste Area matching, which will be especially valuable for die-makers, unlocking even more opportunities for automation and optimisation.”
Thanks to its full integration within Impact and its database, the Design Similarity technology can automatically fingerprint every existing and newly created design, making them ready for similarity-based searching upon upgrade to Impact 2025, with no third-party services or usage-related costs required.
