Faster Production Lines

Improve Productivity

The most common approach when considering how to reduce packaging costs, is to focus on unit price (‘hard savings’), and whilst it is always sensible to ensure you are getting the best price for what you need, this can sometimes lead to compromising on material quality and performance – which can often welcome a new set of headaches!

However, it is also possible to reduce your overall spend without sacrificing on quality – in fact, sometimes even paying slightly more per box can deliver significant savings overall!

The key is in reducing packing times (which we refer to as ‘soft savings’).  By streamlining the packing process, you can reduce labour costs, increase output and overall productivity, but still maintain the packaging quality, thus avoiding increased transit damage or returns.

Improve packaging productivity with packaging materials review

Reviewing your Packaging Materials 

packaging cost reduction to streamline packing processes
operational efficiency packaging to reduce distribution costs

The first step into considering how you can reduce operational activity and packing times is to complete a review of your overall operational process. 

A key part in the process is to identify any packaging that is particularly time–consuming to use or assemble.  An important measure is to consider the true cost of packaging used per order, rather than focusing on the individual consumable unit cost, especially when reviewing items such as void fill, cushioning materials and tape. 

Key Business Benefits

Alongside improving productivity, using the right packaging that is intuitive delivers other business advantages, such as:

  • Cost savings: Minimising the use of secondary packaging offers improved stock management control as well as other indirect operational costs.
     
  • Reduced distribution costs: Custom sizes and void-fill minimisation lowers shipment volume related costs, particularly for air freight.
  • Customer experience: Intuitive processes create consistent customer presentation and product protection, enhancing brand creditability.
     
  • Employee wellbeing: Easier processes improve the work environment by increasing staff morale and productivity.

By synergising packaging and associated operations, your business can save time, cut costs, improve staff morale, enhance customer satisfaction, and reduce your environmental impact.

Packing process improvement to improve packaging productivity

Optimising Your Workflow & Workspace

packing station efficiency for warehouse workflow optimisation

Click on the image to enlarge

Optimising workflows and your workspace is essential for boosting efficiency and improving productivity.  By identifying and eliminating bottlenecks and unnecessary actions or processing steps (those hidden costs), businesses can make better use of available resources and space.

An effective 5S based workspace layout supports free-flowing processes and increased operational stability by reducing unnecessary movement and stoppages. This approach also offers operational agility, giving businesses the ability to react to short term changes in demand.

How you can take steps to optimise your workflow & workspace:

  • Design for efficiency: Analyse processes and eliminate productivity bottlenecks; ensuring last process step pulls from previous steps.
     
  • Maximise stock efficiency: Arrange your warehouse to minimise space waste, placing popular and frequently ordered items as near to packing stations as possible.
     
  • Organise work environment: Keep areas clean, organised and clutter–free to make operational processes faster and more accurate.
  • Set up efficient packing stations: Organise stations to ensure that the most popular used packaging materials can be easily accessed, with intermittently used materials available but not in the way of popular items. Place items rarely used, away from the packing area.
     
  • Double-check orders: Implement quality control to verify items and product condition before shipping, reducing return costs.
     
  • Leverage technology: Use a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to track inventory in real–time and guide your team.
  • Invest in people: Provide consistent training, encourage feedback, and empower staff to suggest continuous improvements.

By optimising your packing processes and workflow, you can benefit from faster order fulfilment, reduced costs, and higher operational efficiency whilst improving your business profitability and brand reputation.