Reduce overheads and improve operations

Cost and efficiency savings make sense for any business in any economic climate.

A review of your packaging offers a solid opportunity for improving profitability, but material costs are only part of the picture. Automating your packaging can offer an array of benefits for businesses of all sizes.

Below are a few key areas where you can look to potentially automate:

Storage
Space currently used to store bulky packaging can be released for holding stock of the products you sell. Automation allows rationalisation of consumables (e.g. fewer box sizes), as well as a just-in-time creation of voidfill and cushioning (e.g. inflation of air cushioning at packing station).

Workflow
Packing and shipping areas can be streamlined to improve workflow efficiency, reducing the space and number of people required to pack products.

Volume Handling
The ability to handle spikes in demand is vital for fulfilment of customer expectation. Automated packing can release bottlenecks inevitable when the process is manual.

Pack Optimisation and Consistency
When introduced as part of a full packaging review, automated delivery can deliver pack optimisation, ensuring the right type and level of packaging is used every time. This will guarantee adequate product protection and reduce transit damage rates.

Distribution Costs
Product protection is key; however, given the cost of packaging and shipping, no one wants to pay for more than is necessary for an order.

End-user Satisfaction
Increasingly, customers are resisting messy or environmentally unsound packaging. Automation can offer neater, greener solutions which optimise the customer experience and allow easy recycling.

If you would like to discuss how to use automation in your packaging operation, contact Macfarlane Packaging today.