If you are a contract packager, prepare for change and growth. Make sure you can answer challenges related to supply chain, logistics, and sustainability.
A checklist for companies purchasing contract-packaging services:
• Identify what new products are in the pipeline.
• Determine where your existing products are in their life cycle.
• Support your procurement strategy with marketing and business strategies.
• Assess consumer, channel, technology, and marketplace trends to determine which packaging formats and capabilities may be needed.
• Conduct a strategic assessment of contract products and services you are buying to determine whether they are strategic or tactical—and treat them differently.
• Evaluate supply chain, logistics, and transportation impacts of your contract-packaging efforts. A hallmark of the industry is flexibility, and relocation should be an option.
• Consider outsourcing elements of contract packaging and manufacturing management that might relate to managing risk or that might not fit your company’s core competencies.