How CPG companies can improve their packaging supply chain?
With the ‘Go Green’ goals, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies these days aim to meet their sustainability goals, along with improved efficiency, cost-savings and profitability. There are some key areas which need to be looked into by CPG companies throughout the packaging supply chain for sustainability and profitability.
Package design is one of the key elements of in achieving sustainability and profitability goals as an efficient packaging can reduce warehouse, distribution and transportation cost and consequently energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).
CPG companies can also improve sustainability by material optimization and by reducing the total fiber content of their corrugated boxes. Low-fiber packaging can be achieved by using an innovative package design that utilizes less corrugated board, by using less fiber within the corrugated board; and by using lower basis weight material.
CPG companies with 50 or 100 different SKUs pay more for packaging because suppliers are forced to perform shorter production runs of myriad package types. So, SKU consolidation is another area to be looked into. The number of SKUs can be dramatically reduced by developing package designs that meet universal needs.
Alternative packaging can provide significant sustainability benefits. Reusable plastic containers (RPCs) may also be used as a more sustainable alternative to wax-coated boxes.
Automation of many manual jobs can also help improve productivity. Automation not only enables more effective use of labor, but they can also reduce material costs and enable efficiency.
Safe and effective material handling is of utmost importance to streamlined packaging supply chain operations. For this, various factors that effect material handling need to be examined closely and only then the best solution be found.
Creating packages that can stand up to the demands of the warehouse environment and efficient use of warehouse space also goes into determining the productivity and efficiency of packaging supply chain operations. High humidity, storage time and stacking height can all erode the integrity of a stored package over time.
If the CPG companies are to face the pressure of increasing competition and changing times, they have to maintain their sustainability and productivity goals and this can be achieved by giving importance to all the key factors mentioned above.
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