Packaging affects many aspects of your supply chain like storage, access and flow of goods within your Distribution Centre. Revenue growth and cost reduction can be tied directly to the way you package and ship your products.

This article discusses packaging in-depth including describing main available packaging types, the role of packaging for warehouses and best practice strategies.

Packaging Types

Source: MHI

Firstly, we need to differentiate internal from external packaging. Internal packaging is what consumers see on the shelf. The objective of internal packaging is to clearly describe the product contained within and its ingredients (abiding by legal requirements of its category) as well as attract the attention of consumers.

The external packaging is only used for storage and distribution purposes. It’s designed to protect the internal packaging from damage, to allow efficient storage and transport and to display identifying information for warehouse staff (barcodes and RFID tags).

There are many types of external packaging, but the main ones that are used in most warehouses are:

1. Containers – hold, protect and organize products during storage and transport:

Bin is a box used for storage and organization of small parts prior to use in manufacturing and assembly
Tote is a box transported by hand, often with moulded-in handles
Bulk container feature four straight walls built on pallet-sized footprints with fork openings on two or four sides. Generally used for discrete component parts delivered to assembly lines

2. Pallets are generally made of wood, plastic or metal (steel or aluminium). They are designed to be handled by forklift trucks. Pallets are used as a returnable, reusable surface for assembling, storing, stacking, handling and transporting of goods as a unit load.

3. Dunnage is the materials or devices used in the securing and/or bracing of products during shipments. Since it’s impractical for most facilities to stock multiple container sizes to accommodate shipping different product weights and sizes, most items get shipped in boxes that are too big. Void fill—crumpled paper, flowable peanuts (polystyrene or biodegradable materials) or inflatable air pillows—fills the open spaces and protects the contents from damage during shipping.

4. Unitizers – materials that hold several items together to form a complete load. They can be applied as a tie down or means to secure a load to a pallet. Some examples of unitizers are stretch film, shrink wrap and strapping.

The Role of Packaging for Warehouses

Damage protection

The main role of packaging is to protect products during transport, distribution and storage.

Forklifts drops, product falls from conveyor belts and broken pallets are common occurrences in warehouses. The result is not only loss of revenue due to spoilage but also health and safety risks. Therefore, you should look for robustness when selecting your packaging solution.

Operations

Packaging can directly drive efficiency and productivity of all warehouse processes including receiving, put-away, picking, packaging and dispatching. When package is readily stackable and labels are properly displayed (and contain all relevant information), products move faster throughout the warehouse, with less touches.

Helps to Manage Space in Warehouse

The layout of your warehouse is paramount to its smooth operation. You can make the most of your floorspace by using packaging that is easy to store and stack.

Efficient Transportation

With a more productive and efficient operation, your turnaround windows will be shorter. Products will move seamlessly through all processes, from rack, through transport to the end consumer. This constant movement of goods consolidates loads, which in turn reduce transportation costs.

Moreover, an effective packaging and labelling system greatly facilitates cross-docking, reducing the need for storage.

Packaging best practices

We have stressed how packaging choices are crucial to the day-to-day operations of your warehouse. But what are the best strategies for improving and streamlining packaging?

Plan your packaging

Don’t leave your packaging decisions until the very end of the production process or you might end up stuck with large, clunky and expensive pre-made designs that do not suit your product line. Outline how much space on the shelf each of your products will need then research the cost of each choice of package.

Most importantly, draw a clear outline of the information needed on the packaging and labels to ensure maximum efficiency.

Gather and analyse usage data

Record and monitor metrics for your packaging material usage and waste. Then keep tabs on price changes in the materials you use. Some material prices can fluctuate frequently. Purchase materials in bulk when possible for cost savings.

Automate

Packaging automation can offer huge cost-savings along with the ability to run a faster and safer operation. For example, adding a stretch wrapper to eliminate hand wrapping of pallets will significantly reduce your labour costs. Streamlined packaging equipment will also help with injury prevention such as back injuries from manually wrapping pallet loads and carpal tunnel syndrome from repetitive motion during package assembly.

It’s worth to note that custom package automation comes at a cost – a high one. However, the long-term cost-savings benefits far outweigh the initial investment you’ll need to make.

Additionally, through cartonization, a robust warehouse software solution will help you with making the best packaging choices. The software assesses every and each item from an individual order to define the number and size of each carton needed to ship that order. It uses height, length, weight and width as parameters for its algorithm to determine the best way to pack individual cartons. The goal is to pack the order in the smallest cube size thus reducing material wastage as well as shipping costs.

Go green

Sustainability is at the forefront of business conversations today as customers and investors are increasingly pressuring companies to up their environmental responsibility game. Consequently, many businesses are seeking innovative methods of boosting eco-friendliness.

In addition to reducing material waste with your WMS’ cartonization, favour recycled and/or easily recyclable packaging materials.

Conclusion

Recognizing the impact that packaging has on the overall operation of your distribution centre is crucial to sustaining growth and reducing costs. Take the time to properly analyse your current packaging practices and how they’re affecting your business – positively or otherwise. Record your usage and wastage so you make smarter purchasing decisions.

Next, redesign your external packaging if necessary, to better suit your current racking system and operational procedures. Make sure to select eco-friendly materials that are robust and will protect your internal packaging.

Finally, consider investing on automated packaging equipment. Furthermore, automate your entire supply chain by implementing a Warehouse Management System.

A WMS will optimize all processes within your supply chain, shrinking turnaround windows, minimizing travel paths and direct put-away based on product handling characteristics, enabling you to avoid costly shipping delays and backorders. Additionally, automation will lead to up to 99+ percent inventory accuracy ensuring warehouse staff are not wasting time looking for misplaced or missing items.

Finally, optimizing storage systems through directed stock rotation, intelligent picking directives, automatic consolidation, and cross-docking will ensure no space in your warehouse is wasted.

iWMS Australasia utilizes HighJump technology, a solution that can be scaled and tailored to meet any business needs. Whether you’re looking for an adaptable solution built to fit your unique requirements or one that can be quickly configured and implemented, we arm your operations with the tools you need to achieve short-term efficiencies while enabling scalable growth.

We couple best-in-class functionality controlled by a series of switches and parameters with an available set of user-driven tools that allow you to build unique business processes. Your Operations and IT teams can own optimization and build differentiation -- no source code modifications or high services bills required.

The result? Your supply chain becomes more agile in how it responds to organizational needs and environmental pressures with the lowest total cost of ownership.

Click here to download the full HighJump Enterprise WMS brochure.