Smart Packaging is Key to Surviving Today’s Materials Markets

Raw material pricing has everyone cringing. How can you save money on your shipping materials while still ensuring your product arrives safely?

​In today’s marketplace, businesses are hampered by inflation while still trying to offer products that are advantageous for customers to purchase. How do you accomplish this when material costs are going up from the time you place the order to delivery? Two words...  smart packaging.

Smart design starts with understanding your product attributes and shipping environment.

​Optimize your Pallet

Manufacturers often only think of the product and the component packaging when introducing a product. You also have to take time to spec out a proper pallet to complete your product shipping cycle. You do not want to over spec a pallet and pay for the extra material costs (or the additional weight when shipping).

One of the best procedures of proper design is to review your packaging components, including your pallets, for smart design options. A packaging professor once stated that a perfect package would be completely consumed and worn out when it arrived at the end user. That’s all well and good, but I don’t want my product broken and have to reship the item either! This is where smart design comes in.  

What is Smart Design?

Smart design starts with understanding your product attributes and shipping environment.

• Product Attributes
  Is the item you are shipping shock sensitive, fragile to sudden impact, off-center weight, or so heavy that it receives rough handling? Items often may have some of these attributes, but not all. Know what the Achilles Heel of your product is and then specifically design the package to protect this while calculating in a safety factor. DO NOT try to protect everything or you will overspend on packaging with little return. 
   
  For example, if you are shipping a casting, make sure the package can contain the product without breaking through the packaging, or allow excessive movement and shifting within the package. Design your package and pallet for the appropriate material handling options for the given weight. Do not design a skid or pallet that has unnecessary wood components that do not add to the support of the product, add to the package integrity or offer additional options for handling.
        
• Shipping Environment
  Understand the shipping environment your product will be transported in. If you are shipping by LTL, you design a pallet differently than if it were a dedicated truck. If you are shipping a small parcel by ground, choose a design appropriate for how the item will be handled.
   
  Also know and consider how your package or pallet is stored. Is the pallet immediately shipped, or is it warehoused? Does the loaded pallet get placed in a rack, if so, is the rack supported? 

Are you Over Spending on Packaging?

Don't just guess! Even if you have been using the same packaging for years, it can pay big to reach out and use an expert resource like The Nelson Company. Leave a comment below or contact us. A company like ours has technical resources to assist you in engineering the proper solution and purchasing the correct design to minimize your shipping costs.

Post by: Tyler Pease, Technical Sales Consultant