Today’s business owners are faced with many different challenges. The push to remain competitive and streamline operations to reduce costs is constant. One way to address both of these objectives is to evaluate your packaging process and budget.
Though packaging is a segment of logistics that is projected to grow considerably in the coming years, taking a good look at your costs is one of the easiest ways to impact your bottom line.
There are many options available to optimize your packaging materials and operations that can result in substantial savings. With the holiday shipping rush right around the corner, now is an excellent time to evaluate your costs. In this article, we’ll take a look at ways you can save money, whether your business manages a large or a small production.
Human Labor vs. Machinery
One of the biggest factors to consider is the size of your production. Don’t make the mistake of over or underserving your line. Large productions that are relying heavily on human labor can benefit from automation in significant ways. Smaller productions can save by cutting expensive and unnecessary machinery.
For large productions, ramping up to prepare for the holidays can result in costly overtime labor fees. By implementing mechanical automation, large productions can yield more products with fewer errors in a shorter amount of time. And of course, reducing labor costs while selling more product boosts profitability.
Making the transition to automation is expensive, however, so if your production is small, this up-front cost might not be a smart investment. Human labor can also scale in ways that machinery cannot – being able to multitask and complete more than one specialized function benefits smaller lines.
Stretch Wrap and Shrink Wrap
Though these are both used to contain products, these two types of wraps are not the same and are not interchangeable. Shrink wrap, or shrink film, is used to wrap individual products like food and consumer goods by heating the material with a heat gun or heat tunnel. Stretch wrap, or stretch film, is used to wrap pallets of products to keep them in place during shipping – this is known as load containment.
Consider the type of shrink wrap you’re using for your product. The lighter films in use today offer the same strength with higher footage per roll. Most companies are using 45 gauge shrink wrap for their products, but you can save a decent amount of money by switching to a lower gauge. Before making the switch, be sure to explore the effects a lower gauge could have on your products and production line. Reviewing your film width can result in additional savings.
If you’re shipping a high volume of products using human labor and a stretch wrap dispenser, you might consider purchasing an automated or semi-automated stretch wrapper. In addition to saving money, automated wrappers often result in better load containment.
Warehousing
A streamlined warehouse is a must for cutting costs. First, review your layout. Are there items that can be grouped together? Are your packaging items stored in an order that makes sense? Are you taking up more space than necessary, resulting in higher overhead? If your warehouse isn’t running as efficiently as possible, you could be wasting money unnecessarily.
If you’re unsure how to set up your warehouse efficiently or reduce your costs associated with packaging and shipping, working with a professional 3PL partner experienced in those areas can help considerably.
Gorgo Group’s team can help with both. Not only do we have knowledge and understanding of successful warehouse management, but we also work with the best packaging manufacturers in the industry. Plus we sell and service all machinery for stretch film, tapes, and airbags.
Contact us today to find out the various ways we can help reduce costs for your business just in time for the holiday rush.