diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 8e5439631f24f8db2a236b43e3dc29eae6ab2418..a1424cdd1fce46db75cb6108df52a651f4c94965 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,8 +2,43 @@ FROM node:18-slim
 
 WORKDIR /usr/src/app
 
-# Install system dependencies including Chromium
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# Configure a shared Puppeteer cache so build (root) and runtime (appuser) see the same Chrome
+ENV PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR=/usr/local/share/puppeteer
+
+# Install system dependencies required by Chrome/Chromium
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+  ca-certificates \
+  fonts-liberation \
+  libasound2 \
+  libatk-bridge2.0-0 \
+  libatk1.0-0 \
+  libc6 \
+  libcairo2 \
+  libcups2 \
+  libdbus-1-3 \
+  libexpat1 \
+  libfontconfig1 \
+  libgbm1 \
+  libglib2.0-0 \
+  libgtk-3-0 \
+  libnss3 \
+  libnspr4 \
+  libpango-1.0-0 \
+  libx11-6 \
+  libx11-xcb1 \
+  libxcb1 \
+  libxcomposite1 \
+  libxcursor1 \
+  libxdamage1 \
+  libxi6 \
+  libxrandr2 \
+  libxrender1 \
+  libxss1 \
+  libxtst6 \
+  wget \
+  curl \
+  xdg-utils \
+  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 RUN npm install -g pm2@latest
 
@@ -13,19 +48,23 @@ COPY package*.json ./
 # Install production dependencies
 RUN npm ci --production --unsafe-perm
 
+# Ensure Chrome for Puppeteer is downloaded into the shared cache
+RUN npx --yes puppeteer browsers install chrome@stable
+
 # Now copy actual app code (after user creation)
 COPY . .
 
 # Create non-root user
 RUN useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash appuser
 
-# Set permissions for app directory
+# Set permissions for app directory and puppeteer cache
 RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app/data \
  && touch /usr/src/app/data/blacklist.json && chmod 666 /usr/src/app/data/blacklist.json \
  && mkdir -p /usr/src/app/allImages \
  && mkdir -p /usr/src/app/uploads \
  && chmod 755 /usr/src/app/uploads \
- && chown -R appuser:appuser /usr/src/app
+ && mkdir -p "$PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR" \
+ && chown -R appuser:appuser /usr/src/app "$PUPPETEER_CACHE_DIR"
 
 
 EXPOSE 8097
diff --git a/utils/pdfGenerator.js b/utils/pdfGenerator.js
index 75685feaaf02872ce109df674ca7bc433d5bafd4..2597f8b9f2ed6e803883f2cc3fa229067b9ca396 100644
--- a/utils/pdfGenerator.js
+++ b/utils/pdfGenerator.js
@@ -19,7 +19,13 @@ const findChrome = () => {
     }
   }
   
-  // If no Chrome found, return null to use Puppeteer's bundled Chromium
+  // If no Chrome found, return Puppeteer's bundled Chromium path (if available)
+  try {
+    const bundled = puppeteer.executablePath();
+    if (bundled && fs.existsSync(bundled)) {
+      return bundled;
+    }
+  } catch (_) {}
   return null;
 };
 
@@ -48,12 +54,10 @@ const htmlToPdf = async (html) => {
       ]
     };
 
-    // Only set executablePath if Chrome is found
+    // Prefer system Chrome; otherwise use Puppeteer's bundled Chromium if resolved
     if (chromePath) {
       launchOptions.executablePath = chromePath;
       console.log(`🔧 Using Chrome at: ${chromePath}`);
-    } else {
-      console.log('⚠️  Chrome not found, using Puppeteer bundled Chromium');
     }
 
     // Launch browser
@@ -117,12 +121,10 @@ const htmlToPdfFile = async (html, filePath) => {
       ]
     };
 
-    // Only set executablePath if Chrome is found
+    // Prefer system Chrome; otherwise use Puppeteer's bundled Chromium if resolved
     if (chromePath) {
       launchOptions.executablePath = chromePath;
       console.log(`🔧 Using Chrome at: ${chromePath}`);
-    } else {
-      console.log('⚠️  Chrome not found, using Puppeteer bundled Chromium');
     }
 
     // Launch browser
@@ -186,12 +188,10 @@ const htmlToShippingLabelPdf = async (html) => {
       ]
     };
 
-    // Only set executablePath if Chrome is found
+    // Prefer system Chrome; otherwise use Puppeteer's bundled Chromium if resolved
     if (chromePath) {
       launchOptions.executablePath = chromePath;
       console.log(`🔧 Using Chrome at: ${chromePath}`);
-    } else {
-      console.log('⚠️  Chrome not found, using Puppeteer bundled Chromium');
     }
 
     // Launch browser