The Swiftpak guide to reducing your packaging costs

Packaging and shipping a product to its destination can be one of the costliest processes in the supply chain if not done properly. There are so many factors that contribute to the overall costs (and potential savings) of your packaging operation. Perhaps your products arrive damaged too often? Or maybe it takes longer than you’d like to get your valuable product safely tucked away in its box? Then there’s the return process, packing operations and a whole heap of other things to think about. Let’s unbox some of the major pain points and how packaging experts like us tackle them.

Shipping costs

Let’s be honest, we’ve all opened an elephant sized box to find a tiny product hidden amongst void fill upon void fill.

The larger and heavier the box is, the more it costs to deliver, so without the right packaging shape and material, you might be paying too much for transportation as well as having a bigger carbon footprint than needed. A box that leaves acres of room around your product forces you to fill the space whether that's with stratocell inserts, cardboard inserts, film retention or void fill. Is your packaging solution the most cost effective? You should look for a box that is suitable to the size of your product or get a packaging expert to design a bespoke box just for you.

There are so many ways you could potentially cut shipping costs. If you’d like further advice in this area, talk to a packaging expert at Swiftpak today, we’d love to help.

Packaging automation

Manual labour can be a pain. Literally. When having to manually wrap a pallet, there is a lot of bending involved, putting strain on workers’ backs. Introducing an automated pallet wrap machine to your warehouse can not only improve health and safety but increase productivity too!

Automated packaging machinery doesn’t only help reduce costs by increasing productivity, material waste can be reduced too – saving even more money. In a recent study of ours, we found our pallet wrap machine can reduce waste by 75% as well as increase productivity by 47%. Who isn’t swayed by these numbers?

There are many other automated packaging solutions available that are designed to free up workers time, speed up the packaging process and in turn, reduce costs. If you’d like to reduce your packaging costs by integrating automated machinery, get in touch with a packaging expert today.

Warehouse space

An unorganised, cramped and messy warehouse is something we often see. How are you going to be cost effective if you waste a lot of time to find products you need to gather to fulfil an order?

By creating more space in your warehouse, you can improve pick/pack timings as well as on-site efficiency, therefore saving money. One way you can create more space in the warehouse is by simply moving from a conventional void fill system (like bulky bubble wrap) and introduce an automated void fill system. A paper void fill machine for example, they’re a great way to reclaim that valuable space.

Deliveries

Do bulk deliveries of packaging take up an unneeded amount of space in your warehouse? Swiftpak can help. We’d love to help improve your stock management by regulating your deliveries. If you’d like to start saving space in your warehouse, contact us today.

Sacrificing quality for a better price?

When trying to reduce costs, many companies just focus on buying the cheapest packaging they can get a hold of. Yes, you could argue you’re saving money in the short run, but what about the long-term effects this may have? Cheaper products are cheap for a reason. Often the problem with the cheap solutions are the hidden costs these packaging materials could bring. Losses, breakages, and customer complaints are all things that could be avoided with better quality materials.

Tamper-evident solutions

To save you having to replace items, which can become quite costly, it’s worth taking a look at tamper-evident packaging. Reinforced gummed paper tape is a great example. Although you’ll be paying more for this over regular parcel tape, tamper-evident tape is very useful. It could help prevent your items being stolen and provide evidence in the case the package was tampered with. What more? Where the tape creates a permanent bond with the box, only one strip is needed for a safe and secure seal. Unlike other tapes, where one strip is rarely enough to seal a carton with confidence it’ll stay closed. More information on gummed paper tape can be found in our guide.

Damage Prevention

Damaged goods cost your business. If a product is damaged upon arrival, you’ll have to compensate. By simply investing in packaging that offers suitable protection, you can reduce the number of your damaged goods dramatically, saving money.

Swiftpak have over 40 years’ experience tackling such problems. By analysing the product and type of damage, applying our packaging experience and knowledge of transit packaging design, we’re confident we can solve your problems with great success.

Conclusion

Remember that reducing packaging costs should never compromise product safety. If it does, you’ll find a lot of expenses coming your way.

There are many other ways to reduce the cost of packaging that doesn’t affect the quality of your packaging materials. These improvements can be identified through a packaging audit. Lucky for you we have helped companies reduce their packaging costs since 1977 and here at Swiftpak we offer a free, no obligation packaging audit. What are you waiting for?