ODIN™ – Automated Die Imposition Nesting
What is ODIN and imposition planning? When you place a label order with multiple products in different quantities, you are probably thinking about artwork, turnaround, and price. What you are not thinking about – but what determines all three – is imposition planning, and that is where ODIN™ comes in.
Imposition planning is the process of working out how to arrange your labels across a cutting die to fulfil every item in your order in the fewest possible press runs, with the least possible material waste. On a simple single-SKU order, this is straightforward. On a complex order with eight different label designs, each required in a different quantity, sharing cutting dies with a fixed number of lanes – it becomes a combinatorial optimisation problem that does not yield to intuition.
ODIN™ – Optimised Die Imposition and Nesting – is our proprietary system for solving that problem. It was developed in-house by our Technical Director, Pete Howells. No other UK digital label manufacturer operates anything like it.
What Imposition Planning Actually Involves
The Problem Most Suppliers Do Not Talk About
We manufacture labels in ultiple “lanes” at the same time. A cutting die has a fixed number of lanes – channels that run across the web of material. When the press runs, all lanes print simultaneously in what is called a spin or imposition. The planning challenge is this: which label designs go in which lanes, and for how many spins? The goal is to fulfil every item’s required quantity exactly, using the fewest possible spins, with the minimum possible waste.
The number of possible arrangements grows explosively with the number of items and lanes. A typical multi-SKU production order cannot be reliably optimised by judgement alone and it cannot be ‘brute force’ solved as there are more combinations than atoms in the universe (we did the maths!).
How It Was Done Before ODIN™
The Old Way Before ODIN™
Before ODIN™, imposition planning at Positive ID Labels was done manually by experienced production staff. The process could involve up to four members of staff and take hours per order. Results were inconsistent – quality depended entirely on who was doing the planning and how much time was available. At quoting stage, conservative estimates were used to account for that uncertainty, which meant customers regularly paid for more material than their order actually required.
ODIN™ – Accurate from the First Quote
The most immediate commercial benefit of ODIN™ is one most customers do not expect: it changes your quote.
Because the system calculates the optimised material requirement before a quote is issued – not after the job is planned – the price you receive reflects genuine, efficient material usage. Not a conservative estimate with padding built in. Where competitors estimate, we calculate. Material efficiency is not an afterthought at Positive ID Labels – it is engineered into every quote.
ODIN™ at Order Processing — Under 10 Seconds
ODIN™: From Order Confirmed to Press-Ready Plan in Seconds
What previously took up to an hour and multiple staff members, ODIN™ resolves in under 10 seconds. The complete imposition plan – which item goes in which lane, for how many spins, across every cutter in the order – is generated automatically and fed directly into our prepress workflow, ready for press without manual intervention. The process takes seconds and is automated into our workflows for maximum benefit in both time and materials.
The system handles orders with multiple cutter types simultaneously, achieves up to 100% material utilisation on typical orders, and includes an automated verification layer that confirms every item’s required quantity is fulfilled before the plan is accepted. Errors are caught before the press runs, not after labels have been produced.
ODIN™ and the Human Experts Who Work With It
ODIN™ handles 95% of imposition planning automatically and does not replace our experienced production team – it makes their expertise go further. Where business context, physical constraints, or edge cases require human judgement, planners can make targeted adjustments through a drag-and-drop interface while ODIN™ recalculates in real time. Machine speed and consistency, with human expertise where it genuinely matters.
What This Means for Your Orders
Accurate pricing from day one. Because material requirements are calculated precisely at quoting stage, the price you receive is based on what your order actually needs – not a conservative overestimate.
Faster turnaround. Imposition planning that took hours now takes seconds. That saving flows directly into production, which is part of why 80% of our orders despatch within five working days.
Fewer errors, fewer reprints. The automated verification layer confirms every quantity before the job runs. Customers benefit from guaranteed accurate production and fewer production delays as the artwork is ready within moments of your order being confirmed in our system.
Scalability without compromise. As your product range grows – more SKUs, tighter quantities, mixed cutter requirements – ODIN™ scales without any degradation in plan quality. There is no order too complex to plan efficiently.
Less waste. With up to 100% material utilisation on every order, there is less substrate waste, optimised and reduced production costs compared with our competitors, and a more sustainable operation – savings that are passed through in competitive pricing.
The Only System of Its Kind in UK Digital Label Manufacturing
ODIN™ was developed in-house and is operated exclusively by Positive ID Labels. No other UK digital label manufacturer runs an automated imposition system of this complexity. For businesses managing multiple label SKUs, variable quantities, or frequent product range changes, this is a genuine and measurable operational advantage.
Call 01332 864895 to discuss your label requirements. If your order involves multiple products or variable quantities, we will show you exactly what ODIN™ delivers on accuracy and turnaround. Use the enquiry form to start the conversation, and we will follow up the same day.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does ODIN™ stand for? ODIN™ stands for Optimised Die Imposition and Nesting. It is a proprietary automated imposition planning system developed in-house by Positive ID Labels’ Technical Director Pete Howells and operated exclusively by us. The name was chosen for two reasons – it does what is says and ODIN was the Norse god who sacrificed an eye for wisdom and could see across all realms – which is a direct analogy for what the software does, because it looks at all the solutions available to select the correct one.
How fast does ODIN™ generate an imposition plan? Under 10 seconds for a complete production order – of any complexity. Before ODIN™, the same planning process could take hours and involve up to four members of production staff. Put simply, it is faster and better than anything we had before and any competitor has as of today.
How does ODIN™ affect the price of my labels? ODIN™ calculates exact optimised plans to fulfil your mixed SKU, mixed quantities order at quoting stage, so the price you receive reflects genuine material efficiency – not a conservative overestimate. Call 01332 864895 and we can walk you through a quote on your specific order.
What material utilisation does ODIN™ achieve? It depends on your order specification – sometimes, there will always be waste due to physical constraints, but your account manager will guide you to maximise the value for money. This is a key reason we can offer competitive pricing alongside fast turnaround because we focus on quality, value, service and speed.
Is ODIN™ fully automated? ODIN™ handles 90-98% of planning automatically, including an automated verification pass to confirm every item quantity is fulfilled. For the remaining cases where experience and judgement matter, our production team can make targeted adjustments through a real-time interface while the system recalculates. Call 01332 864895 if you have an unusual requirement.
Which orders benefit most from ODIN™? ODIN™ operates in conjuntion with our LabelHub software on our Xeikon and Screen presses and is most effective for multi-SKU orders with variable quantities – the more complex the order, the greater the advantage over manual planning. Single-SKU orders benefit from the same accurate quoting and verification, just with less visible contrast to the old way.