CERM is expanding its software portfolio with the AI agent Lexis, additional quality assurance and traceability functions, and the O2 cloud platform. Announced for LOUPE Americas 2026, the solutions address several stages of business operations: order intake, production planning and manufacturing documentation. The Belgian MIS provider is pursuing different development priorities for its established software and its new cloud platform.
Based in Oostkamp, CERM develops management information systems (MIS) for the label and packaging industry. According to the company, it has more than 40 years of industry experience, and its existing CERM7 system is used by more than 500 companies worldwide. The MIS connects commercial and production functions, covering customer management and estimating through to production, inventory, shipping and invoicing. Production-cost-based estimating and shop floor data collection are among the core features of the industry-specific system.
CERM develops standardised interfaces to connect upstream and downstream processes. Its partner network includes Esko, Hybrid Software, A B Graphic International and Screen. These integrations cover areas such as prepress, printing, converting and inspection, as well as material supply and logistics. The network is also intended to support the further development of the cloud offering.
Lexis processes orders received by email
Order entry is a focus of the latest product announcements. Printers receive orders in various formats: email text, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets and scanned forms. The information they contain must be linked to the correct customer, checked against existing records and transferred to the MIS. CERM has developed its cloud-based AI agent Lexis for this task.
Lexis reads emails and attachments and converts their contents into structured business data. An API connection allows the system to check the information against the CERM database in real time. If a sender’s email address can be linked unambiguously to a customer, the assignment is made automatically. Where several matches are possible, an employee selects the appropriate record. Lexis then captures details including the purchase order number, products, quantities and delivery information. A confidence score indicates how reliably the information has been identified.
According to CERM, the functionality extends beyond extracting individual order lines. Lexis can check prices and purchase order numbers, create new products and delivery addresses in the MIS, and manage attached artwork files. Customer-specific rules accommodate typical order formats or additional requirements, for example. A CERM user must review and approve the data before the sales order is created. An automatic order confirmation can optionally be sent to the customer once the order has been entered.
Following its presentation at the CERM User Group Days 2026 in Paris and Dallas, Lexis was in use at 20 customers at the time of the company’s press release dated 10 September. CERM cites Australian print service provider Onpack as an example: by that point, the company had processed 260 orders containing more than 3,500 products through Lexis. According to Onpack managing director Michael Nankervis, the time required to enter larger orders fell from two to three hours to less than one hour.
Global release as part of the CERM Extensions portfolio is scheduled for 15 September. According to the company, further applications are in development, including processing requests for quotations and dispatch notifications received by email, and using up-to-date inventory data during order intake.
Quality records linked directly to production jobs
In manufacturing, CERM is extending quality management with digital checklists linked directly to the relevant production job. These are intended to bring inspection records together in a central quality record. Paper records can thus be replaced with digital entries linked to individual jobs. CERM aims to support consistent inspection procedures and reduce the work involved in documentation and audits.
The provider is also expanding traceability. The MIS already records machine and operator time, material consumption and the creation of product variants. The extension logs additional events during production, such as when a new production input is scanned or started, an operator change takes place, or a semi-finished product is completed. Records include timestamps, duration and details of the unit, image, product list and pallet.
A summary report presents the recorded activities as a production history. This allows users to trace information associated with a job when investigating deviations. According to CERM, the additional traceability function is intended for sheetfed offset, wet-glue and RFID labels, and folding carton production, as well as narrow-web label production.
The existing software also includes changes relevant to multi-stage manufacturing. With version 7.35, CERM has revised the splitting of semi-finished products, for example when a wide web is printed and subsequently converted into narrower webs. Users receive a graphical representation of the printing forme; based on the selected slitting layout, the system automatically assigns products to the resulting semi-finished products. Administrators can also make custom fields mandatory, for example to record the cause of a complaint or required information in material master data.
For production planning, CERM is presenting the next generation of its rules-based scheduling system, Tempo. According to the company, the expanded scheduling functions are intended to improve machine utilisation and enable faster adjustments to changing priorities. Smart BI Enterprise addresses data analysis: its new architecture allows the Smart BI data model to be combined with external data sources. Further additions include new standard reports and automatic translations of the data model.
O2 launches with a limited initial scope
With O2, CERM is introducing a new browser-based cloud platform alongside its existing product line. Its official launch is scheduled for 15 September at LOUPE Americas. The acquisition of Omikai in 2025 brought additional cloud technology and development expertise. CERM identifies a redesigned user experience, automation and industry-specific functions as key priorities. Its API-first approach makes interfaces a fundamental part of the architecture.
At launch, O2 is intended to cover selected use cases for small and medium-sized converters. CERM does not plan to replicate the full functionality of CERM7 immediately. The first release focuses primarily on label printers. Specific functions for flexible packaging and folding cartons are due to follow in a second phase. Over time, the platform is intended to support increasingly complex production environments and workflows.
For packaging printers, this rollout sequence matters: O2’s announced focus on multiple packaging segments also describes a development roadmap. Meanwhile, development of CERM7 continues. Managing director Jan Heyse explains that a dedicated team is developing the new cloud MIS while work on the established product suite continues.
CERM will present these developments at booth 3419 at LOUPE Americas, held from 15 to 17 September 2026 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The presentation will therefore cover both specific extensions to existing workflows and the gradual development of an additional MIS platform.
