There are many kinds of co-pack services, including those offered by packaging suppliers such as Crown Speciality Packaging North America, a subsidiary of Crown Holdings that designs and produces custom metal tins. In addition, customers can opt to have the company co-pack products including pre-bagged treats, coffees and teas, gifts and numerous other items.
There are benefits in such arrangements, including added production capacity and supply chain efficicency, and to make sure brands hear of those benefits — and teh very existence of such services — Crown, like anyone offering co-pack services, must know how to communicate its capabilities. Toward that end, the company has done a good job of thinking through its value-added business model.
The company's list of “Five Tips to Maximize Success with a Co-Packing Partner,” below, "can apply to a variety of co-packers," says Sheila Heath, director of marketing. The company has crafted each tip to address needs it can meet, and presents specific examples of how it can do so when presenting its services to brand-owners.
Tip 1: Look for a one-stop-shop to simplify logistics. Many co-packers can go beyond packing your products. They can transport your goods to other locations, work with other vendors to consolidate packaging efforts and streamline processes. This way you only have to deal with one partner while several others work for you behind the scene.
Tip 2: A co-packer must have the expertise, resources and staff in place to streamline logistics and get products to market faster. By working with an experienced partner, you have the peace of mind that due-diligence is being conducted and if issues arise they can help identify next steps to reach a solution.
Tip 3: Your chosen co-packing partner needs to be able to make recommendations to improve efficiencies during the packing process. The project cannot be a one-way street, where you provide directions and the co-packer conducts the tasks. There needs to be dialogue between you and your partner. This way, efficiencies can be put in place at the beginning or in the middle of a project.
Tip 4: Sometimes, your co-packing partner can even function as an extension of your business. It can take on additional responsibilities to assist in different steps of the packing supply chain.
Tip 5: An extra perk of working with a co-packer is that it should be able to provide logistical support. This way there is no need to ship anything back to your facility before your product reaches store shelves or commercial distribution centers.
Specific examples
These tips have broad appeal, especially to those catering to the gift and holiday market. But to drive the points home to Crown Specialty’s business, Heath provided specific examples for each. For instance, Tip 1 — providing a one-stop-shop — might seem counterintuitive when the packaging format is strictly tins. But for those who want tins, the sky’s the limit in terms of the range of products accommodated, and, Heath explains: “We can expedite shipping to several locations of a client’s choice.”
Regarding Tip 2, production and co-packing are co-located at the same plant in Belcamp, MD, which streamlines processes and improves efficiency.
Similarly, regarding Tip 3, she says evaluations and “tweaks” are made as needed to keep work on target.
For Tips 4 and 5, she says Crown “can work with other vendors to source any additional required packaging materials,” and on the downstream end, can “transport product to distribution centers or directly to specific retail locations, reducing freight.”
These tips and examples are based on "our more than 20 years’ experience as a co-packer," says Heath, who shared these tips to "help guide brands in their search to find the right partner at the right time." She can be reached via email, here.
