5 creative ways to cut 1/3 of your packaging costs

So, you're an Indian SME owner. Or a sourcing lead at a major MNC. Optimizing your product’s package is probably the one thing you could change to net tremendous savings. You can redesign the products primary packaging, secondary packaging, or even the way the boxes are stacked within one another! such reconfiguration will allow more packages to fit on a pallet and you can save big bucks on shipping costs!

Here are 5 ways to reduce your packaging costs!

1. Research Your Options
With innumerable packaging options available today, get online and start researching the latest in packaging materials, designs and technology. Following aspects should be considered

• Total cost of materials
• Durability of transport
• Resistant to pests/environemtn
• Ease of handling
• Aesthetics
• Government regulations

2. Determine Necessary vs. Unnecessary Costs

What may have been useful yesterday does not imply it is so today. Ask yourself the following questions after calculating the per item cost of your packaging.

·         Does your product require an inner carton and an outer carton?

·         Is the information printed on the box necessary? Limit it to essential info only.

·         Is full color printing worth the expense? Can you get away with black and white only?

·         Does the package need a clear viewing window? Can you get by with a photo on the box?

·         Can you save money by taking off the label and printing information directly on the box?

·         Can you reduce the ‘heavy duty’ precautionary measures taken at the beginning?

-         Inner carton dimensions

-         Outer carton dimensions

-         Carton dunnage needed

-         Carton stacking configuration on pallet

-         Container loading configuration

3. Investing in Testing
The packaging will travel thousands of miles via truck, shipping vessel, rail, air, maybe truck again. It’s going to go through a variety of environmental conditions. It might be subjected to some extremes in temperature. There could be some people who don’t handle your packages with the same loving care that you would. But when you open the package, you want that product to come out as flawless as when it went in. Come up with testing guidelines and procedures and recheck the following requirements

·         Compression - the weight of load, both static and dynamic (load under vibration).

·         Vibration - the constant movement or motion from a various modes of transportation.

·         Shock - either drop or impact, rotating, free fall or on an incline.

·         Atmospheric - Constant/cyclic changes in temperature, humidity and pressure

4. Lean Inventory
Keeping inventory low helps in better cash flow- and this is especially helpful if your company is procuring tubes and cartons together, along with outer shipping boxes. PRP has become a one stop shop for labels, tubes, cartons, rigid boxes etc. and a hassle free customer experience is guaranteed as both tubes and cartons are received by you in a single go, increasing your throughput as per Eli Goldratt’s The Goal.

5. Jolly Green Packaging
PRP has recently introduced a seed paper carton box- which can help you create a niche product with higher value. Else, going for a plastic box for dispatch to enable an inventory system is the best option as you can save on the outer shipper cost which generally goes to waste!.