The cost of packaging: how to reduce costs

The cost of the packaging is not only the value you paid for it, but a combination resulting from the sum of its use values. In the industry in general, most packaging engineering processes focus on three main areas:

a. Development of new packaging designs.
b. Redesign and updating of packaging that has been on the market for some time.
c. Projects for cost reduction and/or sustainability of containers and packaging.

But it is in the latter field that packaging engineers can show their professional skills, as companies are primarily interested in reducing costs and increasing sales.

How can we reduce costs?

Here are five smart ways to reduce costs:

1. Get to know your packaging technology and its potential for improvement.

Only when you know all the variables and packaging processes in your company, you will be able to identify the areas where you can achieve cost reductions, as you will be able to critically analyze and find alternatives with your material and machinery suppliers to find ways to reduce costs without compromising quality or performance.

2. Are you using the right material for your product?

When you use the right material for your product it will have enough shelf life to sell without you incurring expiration or deterioration due to lack of quality.
Remember that the right material for your product means safety for your consumer and safety from any point of view.

3. Eliminate wastage of packaging material

It will always be advantageous to review all variables in production, storage and handling to find the sources of unnecessary losses. Rigorous control, focused on reducing waste, can result in considerable savings.
In addition to mechanical damage and contamination that packaging materials can suffer during storage, there are two potential areas of loss in packaging operations:
Losses during machine start-up, the beginning of the work shift, after a production interruption or due to a change of format or reel of material.
Losses related to machine problems, when you have production runs of containers out of standard specification, which result in having to scrap containers.
The total cost of these losses can be significant, accumulating over a year, and should therefore be reduced through proper staff training and rigorous production control.

4. Establish clear specifications for your containers and packaging materials.

Packaging specifications are a very important strategic tool for the professional management of packaging materials. From an economic point of view, careful planning of packaging specifications in advance minimizes the risk of costly purchasing errors and reduces waste through more efficient quality control while facilitating better quality control.

5. Don't be fooled by the lowest price

The cost of a package or packaging material should always be estimated according to the total performance of the package function. Even large differences can be offset by low productivity and frequent downtime of converting or packaging equipment, increased waste, shortened product life, returns, increased shipping damage, etc.

Achieve more effective management
Know your competitors' strengths and weaknesses
Optimize your packaging processes
Improve the sustainability of your products
Make your products the stars of the market with the right packaging