Discover your next big idea at PACK EXPO Las Vegas this September
Experience a breakthrough in packaging & processing and transform your business with solutions from 2,300 suppliers spanning all industries.
REGISTER NOW & SAVE

The Need For Speed

A new study offers advice for leveraging co-packers in ‘quick-changeover' tactics that answer retailer and consumer demands for variation in packaging sizes and formats.

Contract packagers are often used as “swing production” to even out surges in product demand or to produce low-volume products. Purchasing managers at consumer product goods (CPG) companies who understand the benefits of using a co-packer's flexible and variable labor force, and the market forces that drive product proliferation, can become invaluable to their companies' package-development efforts when contract packaging is the best solution.

Success in selecting the right co-packer depends on more than just price and category expertise. To produce a package that works for the brand manager, operations, warehousing, retailers, and the consumer, both marketing and operations—or contract packagers—must work together. But integrating these teams, which have vastly different educational backgrounds and an “at odds” perception of their goals, is difficult. Failure is a very real possibility under “gotta have it now” pressure from consumers and retailers.

The solution, according to the authors of a new study, is a holistic package-development strategy in which all members of the package-development team understand both the external drivers of speed-to-market packaging formats and the internal “back-end” production considerations of package production.

The new study is called Quick-Changeover Packaging: Dynamics and Surging Growth Opportunities. The authors, Brian Wagner and John Henry, introduce the term “quick-changeover packaging” (QCOP) to identify this package-development strategy. They explain how product manufacturers, suppliers, and contract packagers can collaborate to create, integrate, and manage such a strategy in their packaging efforts.

It is here that purchasing managers can have an impact. They can assess how current market forces affect their company's package-development needs and then qualify contract packagers' capabilities to meet those needs, in areas such as production-line flexibility.

 

A strategic imperative

Importantly, the 135-page report, from the publishers of Contract Packaging magazine, advises that purchasing managers should understand these capabilities, and how they can be leveraged to satisfy the marketing department's “need for speed” in meeting demands for constant change in packaging sizes and formats. In today's retailing environment, the ability to change packaging formats quickly and efficiently is becoming essential. Brands that fall behind risk losing sales and shelf space.

Separate sections of the report explain the marketing and production drivers that impact the creation of a QCOP strategy. Wagner, vice president at Packaging & Technology Integrated Solutions (www.pti-solutions.com), explains that packaging is becoming a significant driver of retail sales because products are proliferating in most categories, and many are similar. The products that sell are those whose packaging communicates value, clarifies what the product does, convinces consumers that the product is right for them, and sounds a call to action.

Researched List: Engineering Services Firms
Looking for engineering services? Our curated list features 100+ companies specializing in civil, process, structural, and electrical engineering. Many also offer construction, design, and architecture services. Download to access company names, markets served, key services, contact information, and more!
Download Now
Researched List: Engineering Services Firms
Coding, Marking, and Labeling Innovations Report
Explore our editor-curated report featuring cutting-edge coding, labeling, and RFID innovations from PACK EXPO 2024. Discover high-speed digital printing, sustainable label materials, automated labeling systems, and advanced traceability solutions that are transforming packaging operations across industries.
Access Report
Coding, Marking, and Labeling Innovations Report