When it comes to packaging products for sale, every single dollar matters. Spending too much cuts into your profit, while cutting corners can cause disaster for the end-user and the stores they purchase from.
Finding the precise shipping materials, vendors, and processes that hit your business’s sweet spot is a journey of continuous improvement. It’s also about more than dollar signs and shipping schedules. Those might be important, big-picture metrics, but many underlying variables affect these numbers.
For example, your packaging might do a great job regulating the temperature of a perishable product. However, the shape of the packaging doesn’t stack well and it can’t hold the weight of other units being layered on top, all of which will likely increase your shipping and storage expenses.
Enter the Packaging Process Review
A packaging process review is a thorough, end-to-end review that includes everything from where boxes are ordered to the end-user experience.
Here are some examples of things that Lawrence Co Paper inspects:
- Pallet configuration & stacking
- Truck-loading
- Weight of materials used
- Overall size of packaging
- Shipping & storage
- Cost & effectiveness of graphics
- Box closure methods
- Assembly
Throughout this process, you’re looking for areas of opportunity, areas where you’re either above or below that sweet spot that we talked about earlier.
Potential Areas of Opportunity
Two of our favorite areas of opportunity include:- Light-weighting - Using a lower grade of combined board that still protects the product
- Right-sizing - Using less material to reduce costs
Why You Should Prioritize A Packaging Process Review
Whether you begin with a suspicion that there are opportunities for improvement or plan to address a specific problem, you’ll want to begin this review process by setting clear objectives. Ask yourself and your team: What is the end goal that we’re working towards? (e.g. 15% reduction in packaging costs) A great packaging provider will be able to help you with this.
By conducting a thorough packaging process review, you’ll have the hard data that you need to initiate real change. Sometimes, these changes require an investment up-front, and this evidence will support your request for additional resources. The data also gives you a clear starting point from which you can track your progress.
If you don’t have the expertise or resources in-house to conduct a review of this nature, you may want to reach out to your packaging provider. If they can’t help you, Lawrence Co Paper would be happy to step in. As an end-to-end packaging solution, we can help you identify opportunities for improvement, quantify the impact they’re having on your bottom line, and propose solutions.
Meet Lawrence Paper Company
When it comes to design, packaging and fulfillment of your valuable products, Lawrence Paper Company offers innovative, custom designs in boxes that protect and promote from the loading dock to the shopping cart.
Lawrence Paper Company quality comes in any quantity. That’s right, any and all. From a single box to millions and more, we can deliver any number of units – quickly and economically.
