Ask yourself these 5 questions to accurately assess your needs.
Are you packaging your product the same way that you always have? Greg Alvarado, a packaging engineer at Millcraft with more than 10 years of experience, likes to meet with his customers at least once a year for a timely assessment of their needs. Here are five questions he asks customers in order for him to help identify the packaging needs to be addressed:
- What changes are you seeing in your business? Do you see a trend developing? Are your customers’ expectations changing? Do you ship more individual orders rather than bulk orders? Your actual business transactions should dictate how you package.
- What sort of bottlenecks do you run into on a regular basis? If you’re not getting shipments out as quickly as you need to, where is the process bogging down? Are you able to ship as quickly as your competition? You must first identify the obstacles before you can remove them.
- Have you considered the benefits of automation? When you automate your processes, you may be able to reduce labor costs and handle repetitive tasks more efficiently.
- How many suppliers do you have? Are you moving toward a reduced JIT (just in time) inventory, which would eliminate a large inventory for packaging? It’s important to know the who, what, and when of your process.
- Does your company have any green initiatives or incentives? Are your customers requesting more eco-friendly options? Changes in consumer preferences might warrant using different packaging materials.
By Lorrie Bryan
