Amtech and Label Traxx grow with PE investment

Amtech Software is acting on its vision to become the leader in technology and software for the packaging industry.

Founded 44 years ago, Amtech historically provided software for corrugated and folding carton companies. The business expanded into the labels and flexible packaging space last year by acquiring Label Traxx. Amtech now offers
ERP, MES and CRM products for corrugated packaging, folding carton, label and flexible packaging companies.

Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm, acquired Amtech earlier this year, further advancing the software company’s
growth. With this new backing, Amtech plans to increase its staff by 40 percent and expand globally over the next year, including with a new center in India.

Label Traxx position

Label Traxx was founded in 1993 as a business management system for label converters. The company has since grown, expanding into flexible packaging and offering a wider breadth of software capabilities.

Label Traxx has more than 500 clients in North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and Australia. Its offerings now include Siteline, a customer portal and light CRM; Batched, an automated planning and scheduling application; and Cloud API, which allows customers to interact with Label Traxx data and integrate with external tools.

‘It’s really an ERP that has grown and modernized over the years with the advent of digital printing, pre-press automation and industry consolidation,’ says Rob
Mayerson, Amtech vice president and former Label Traxx president.

As the original founder approached retirement, he and the other investors in the company sought to find a buyer
for Label Traxx that would allow the company’s products to continue and grow and would provide a secure future for both employees and customers.

Amtech seemed like a good fit as the company was remarkably similar to Label Traxx. ‘Amtech Software was, in a lot of ways, like a bigger brother, a more mature version of Label Traxx,’ Mayerson says. ‘It’s very similar in that they’re serving in a niche manufacturing industry.’

Mayerson continues: ‘It just felt right. It was a pretty easy choice.’

Amtech enters labels and flex pack

While Amtech provided Label Traxx with a buyer that would support its mission, Label Traxx offered Amtech a chance to broaden its offerings.

‘We saw a lot of opportunity in labels,’ Amtech CEO Chuck Schneider says. ‘There are a lot of label manufacturers in the world. Also, labels in general are ahead of the corrugated market in their adoption of digital printing. We’re starting to see more and more digital print in our corrugated customers, so we felt there were some things we could learn from Label Traxx.

‘Flexible packaging is also growing,’ he adds. ‘If you looked in your pantry five years ago, your protein powder came in a big, plastic tub. Everything was that way. Now you look, and you see pouches of all kinds. You see the packet of protein powder, nuts, everything. So flexible packaging is another specific but growing market that we want to be able to support.’

For Amtech, Label Traxx stood out for several reasons. Schneider says: ‘Label Traxx had a dominant position in North America. It had a great product that was easy to use. It did an excellent job supporting smaller customers. One of the philosophies around Label Traxx is to make it easy to use and easy to train people. But Label Traxx also made a conscious strategic effort to expand upmarket. It added enterprise capabilities so it could pursue the largest label manufacturers on the planet. We want to be the global
leader in technology and software for the packaging industry; therefore, it is a great fit for our mission. And also, as we examined Label Traxx further, we found that the culture of the people there aligned closely with Amtech.’

Label Traxx was about a quarter of the size of Amtech, which greatly expanded the company. Label Traxx also brought a more robust global client base, including around
80 clients across Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Asia Pacific.

Label Traxx developments

Many of the significant changes that Label Traxx has experienced since the Amtech acquisition have been behind the scenes, including adopting Amtech’s best practices, such as in software development, product management and customer service.

“Amtech Software was, in a lot of ways, like a bigger brother, a more mature version of Label Traxx. It’s very similar in that they’re serving in a niche manufacturing industry”

Label Traxx is currently developing new capabilities, including enhanced track and trace features, as well as expanded enterprise technology to better manage multi plant organizations. This capability has become especially important with the label industry’s significant M&A activity.
This enterprise technology simplifies workflow software for multi-plant converters, offers an opportunity to centralize key functions and allows organizations to share resources and better manage capacity, in addition to achieving associated IT savings.

One of Label Traxx’s new functionalities is a data visualization tool called Visual Analytics, launched at Labelexpo Europe 2025, which allows customers to create interactive dashboards and reports using Label Traxx data. Label Traxx has also recently improved its shop floor data
collection system.

Looking toward the future, Amtech’s top priority with Label Traxx is to develop cloud-native technology. This will decrease cybersecurity costs for clients, increase software accessibility and ensure that clients maintain the current version.

Being on the cloud will also simplify the integration of AI functions into Label Traxx. For instance, a client with its ERP on the cloud could integrate its own version of ChatGPT and ask it questions. 

Vista Equity acquisition

For the past four years before the Vista Equity acquisition, Amtech had been owned by Peak Rock Capital, an Austin, Texas-based PE firm.

Schneider joined Amtech in 2022, intending to grow and then sell the company. He wanted Amtech’s next owner to support the company’s mission, have experience with software companies and help Amtech expand globally.

‘When I looked at those three priorities and started lining them up, Vista was perfect,’ Schneider says. ‘Vista only works with software companies. They’ve done, I think, over 100 software investments. They’re really good at it. They have best practices for everything you’d want to do, so in terms of us scaling and avoiding mistakes, they’ll help us there. They believed in our vision. They looked at it, and they said: “There’s a great market for packaging out there. We want you to be the best at packaging, and so we’re going to invest in that”. They’re great at going into new markets. They’re great at M&A.’

With Vista’s backing, Amtech has already been able to hire new staff, with plans to grow the team by 40 percent in the future. In addition, Vista’s portfolio of software companies has experience moving technology to the cloud and working with AI — experience that Amtech can leverage.

Mayerson says of Vista: ‘They’ve made it clear, and they’re already showing with actions, the investments being made in the product and how we go to market. The strategy that they’ve put forth is to invest in our products, which will fuel growth, and hold the investment for a significant period.’

Global expansion

Amtech plans to use its Vista Equity support to grow globally. Having a greater presence in time zones outside of the US will allow Amtech to support customers around the world more easily.

For example, the company’s plans for its expanded team will include a larger global sales staff, particularly in geographic areas where Amtech plans to grow, such as Europe and Latin America.

Additionally, Amtech is opening a new Center of Excellence in Bengaluru, India, and hiring new staff there. This new center will initially serve as an R&D facility and eventually expand into other functions. Amtech is opening this facility in 2025.

‘This is another thing that’s part of the Vista best practices,’ Schneider says. ‘They look at your global expansion and how you support customers and where you can have access to really good talent. They’ve got a person on staff that just helps figure out, “Hey, what technologies do you use? What customers do you serve? What industries are you in?” And they’ll look across the globe and say, “Here’s where you should be.”’

Vista identified Bengaluru as the location for this facility for several reasons. The city has a significant number of software and ERP companies, providing a source of skilled professionals with ERP experience. As a major city, Bengaluru is also accessible for travel. Amtech has also
already hired someone based in the city to serve as the site leader and chief human resources officer.

“We saw a lot of opportunity in labels. There are a lot of label manufacturers in the world”

Amtech had been growing globally before the Vista acquisition, but with Vista’s support, the company can expand much more rapidly. Vista is also looking for companies that would be a good fit for Amtech to acquire, such as companies that bring new product capabilities or help Amtech enter a new market.

Growing leadership team

In October, Amtech announced several new appointments to its leadership team as the company works to grow.

This includes Vinod Kumar, who joins as chief people and culture officer, a position in which he will lead global talent strategy. He will also oversee Amtech’s operations in India.

Kostas Vassilakis is Amtech’s new senior vice president of technology. His work will focus on advancing technological innovation, cloud migration, security and AI capabilities.

Amtech appointed Cory King as senior vice president of customer operations. King will oversee Amtech’s customer operations framework and grow a dedicated customer success group.

The company also welcomed Joe Buckley as director of strategic programs. He will lead strategic initiatives to help Amtech scale effectively and deliver outcomes.

Implementing AI

Vista Equity Partners owns a significant number of software companies, giving Amtech and Label Traxx a deep well of knowledge to draw from when it comes to technological advancements, such as AI.

Schneider notes several ways that AI could benefit Amtech and Label Traxx. One is by making documentation more accessible, so that clients can more easily find answers to questions about how to use the technology.

Another is in data analysis: collecting the data that’s available in the workflow technology and having AI glean information and patterns from it. AI could also help with schedule optimization.

Amtech is also using AI in its own operations to increase efficiency within the company. It has already begun piloting AI capabilities to assist in code writing, with the goal of increasing software developer productivity. For its sales team, Amtech is using AI to help identify potential customers.

Overall, Schneider is looking forward to the developments that will take place at Amtech under Vista.

‘I couldn’t be more excited about Amtech’s future right now with Vista,’ Schneider says. ‘Part of it is, when I look across a lot of our competitors and suppliers in the industry, I don’t see anybody stepping up to make the level of investment Vista is making, and us bringing new and better products to market. I’d say the world’s our oyster. There’s so much opportunity out there. We are well-positioned.’