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More lessons learned

PW asked for your packaging advice, and more than 440 shared their wisdom and insights.

Pw 8383 Eureka 2007

Early last year, a Packworld.com survey solicited its audience on packaging lessons learned. More than 150 respondents took the time to craft stories of their experience (see www.packworld.com/view-21145). We had thought that response was pretty good.

We went back to the well this year, again asking about packaging experience, and to relate any “eureka” moments where ingenuity or resourcefulness may have kept a project on track and saved the day. This year’s response, with 444 survey takers, should be considered truly amazing. Respondents included vendors, contract packagers, consumer packaged goods companies, and others. Some of the more than 100 CPG employees who participated included representatives from General Mills, J.M. Smucker, M&M Mars, Nestle, Schering Plough, and others.

What you shared this time ranged from the obvious and general to the illuminating and specific, and much more than could be used in this report. We hope, this collection of observations and insights, edited for clarity, will make all of us wiser and perhaps save you and your company some frustration, effort, and money on your next project.

Communications counsel

The responses were all over the board, though a number have learned and recognized the importance of communications, in its various forms, as a crucial ingredient for success.

“The best way to ensure success is to have a clear and constant communications with all team members at all levels of the organizations as the project progresses—and even more as it runs into unpredicted issues or outcomes,” wrote one respondent.

Wrote another: “Personnel [should] develop an intimate understanding of the packaging equipment, and the interactions of product and people, noting the limitations of each and opportunities for improvement.”

Another admonished managers to “get out from behind your desk and your e-mail. Go onto the manufacturing floor and talk with production personnel. Production personnel are a wonderful asset, so be sure to include them in your projects.” Another echoed the same thought: “The best way to understand something is to get out on the frontlines and witness it firsthand.”

Wrote another: “Lots of little ‘discoveries’ usually come from asking questions and truly listening to answers.”

Several have discovered the benefits of brainstorming, including this manager: “Several times someone in a brainstorm session suggested a solution so simple that we all wondered why no one had thought of it before.”

There are those who have learned that project success can result as much from arranging who should be at a meeting—and who shouldn’t. “Many years ago we had a project to pack cheese into a tub with a gas-flush. The residual air had to be under 1%. Getting close to that was easy, but the last little bit was tough. Finally, we sent the boss and the customer on a long lunch so we could concentrate on work. Once it was quiet, we could think, and by the time they came back from lunch, were at 0.7%.”

A number keyed in on product variability, which should be taken into account even during package development. Wrote one manager, “You need to know the product going into the packaging and its requirements before designing the package.”

Echoed another respondent, “every product is different and variable. If you don’t know and can’t control the variability in your product, you won’t successfully package it.”

Write a third, “every item is different, and the more different they are, the harder it is to efficiently pack them.”

Package design advice was also shared. Several of these respondents such as this one noted the importance of package mockups: “Always make a mockup of your packaging. You may think you have all the graphics in the right place until your supply arrives. It doesn’t hurt to make a ‘mini’ so that you can see where you are headed.”

Wrote another, “A picture is worth a thousand words, so mockups will save you time and money.”

Plant floor machinery problems were also addressed—as were assumptions.

“If a machine that has just had work performed by the maintenance department is not working correctly, check for setting errors,” wrote this supervisor. “Don’t accept assurances that it has been done according to the manual.”

The related topic of center-lining equipment was chronicled several times. One manager noted a problem with a cartoner that would not consistently pick properly, and kept dropping the cartons. “The hopper was not center aligned. It was a simple fix that took six hours to find. Duh.”

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