CPG companies have to conduct a thorough assessment of their needs and their co-packers’ capabilities in deciding whether the conditions are right to have contract packaging services performed directly in their distribution centers.
Michael Marlowe, vice president customer solutions at Kane is Able, says that if a product manufacturer believes it is spending too much money transferring products and materials among its co-packers, that’s a sure sign in-DC operations are worth a look.
As part of the evaluation process, Marlowe recommends assessing co-packers’ engineering quality control practices, asking them about their expertise with any relevant equipment, determining whether the co-packers can deliver a flexible workforce and gauging whether the co-packer can make quick changeovers rather than focus exclusively on long production runs.
Finally, he adds, it is essential for a product manufacturer to be satisfied that its co-packers can integrate their packing operations with warehousing operations.
