Almost no part of the production line is safe from headaches and holdups for contract packagers and contract manufacturers (CP/CMs), according to PMMI Business Intelligence’s 2024 report, “Contract Packaging and Manufacturing: Drivers of Machinery Investments.”
PMMI Business Intelligence: 2024 Contract Packaging and Manufacturing - Drivers of Machinery Investment
Close behind processing was primary packaging, with 22% of respondents noting it as a source of holdups. “We get bottlenecks in the sorting and accumulation area as the product comes off the line,” said a director of operations for a beverage CP/CM.
Secondary packaging was noted as the next most troublesome part of the production line, with 19% of CP/CMs citing it.
Primary and secondary packaging, combined with the less-noted tertiary/transport packaging at 3%, make up the most bottleneck-prone part of the line overall; 44% of CP/CMs identified one of these three stages of packaging as their greatest operational hinderance.
While each organization is different, common holdups in the packaging space revolve around changeover times and breakage issues, Business Intelligence researchers say.
Inspection and quality assurance was noted as another source of headaches by 12% of respondents.
“Inspection and quality assurance on our bottling line is a challenge. Assuring that labels are on straight, with no bubbles, is something we’re dealing with now, and everything is a problem when supplies are delayed – especially when we’re being held accountable to meet delivery dates,” said a production manager at a CP/CM of personal care products for the hospitality industry.
Labeling, coding, and marking are also an area of concern for 8% of respondents.
“We offer our customers custom labels, and this requires hand application; we’ve identified this as a bottleneck and hope to automate labeling in the future,” said a president at a private label snack food CP/CM.
Additional areas noted to cause bottlenecks include intake and receiving (4%), conveying sorting, and accumulating (1%), and “other” areas like labor, changeover, low volumes, solution awareness, and documentation (7%).
SOURCE: PMMI Business Intelligence: 2024 Contract Packaging and Manufacturing – Drivers of Machinery Investments
For more insights from PMMI’s Business Intelligence team, find reports, including “2024 Snack Foods Packaging Trends” and “2024 The AI Advantage in Equipment: Boosting Performance and Bridging Skills Gaps” at pmmi.org/business-intelligence.
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