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I love cookies. I love to make them for my family, and I love to give them away to family and friends. I love to smell them cooking, and I even enjoy having the tools to make them – sturdy cookie sheets and parchment paper to make sure my cookies bake to perfection. Good ingredients are essential to me – no cutting corners with quality. Back in the day, I have even been known to eat that delicious raw cookie dough, a bad idea, of course, now understanding the risk of salmonella contamination and food poisoning. Seriously, I want none of that! Some friends have said, "oooh, these cookies are so good," you should sell these! You should make lots of cookies and sell them online! People would love these. You could mass produce these and make a bundle. You could ship them all over the country! " While I always welcome these kind words and accolades, I often have questions about the reality of such a dream. I often ponder questions such as Could this work? That would be so awesome! But how? Could I get some assistance and have my cookies made and shipped to cookie lovers everywhere? Whom could I trust to get it right? How do I know that they are using suitable equipment and good ingredients? How will I know that the batter is handled correctly? What about contamination? Will they keep their kitchen clean? Will they follow my recipe and packaging instructions? Whom can I trust? Of course, the simple answer to that last question is a co-packer. Why? Co-packers are set up to handle these challenges. They can help your vision become a reality. They can mass-produce and save you lots of time. And most importantly, they can help you keep your products and customers safe. But, not all co-packers are the same. When it comes to safety, some are better than others. So, how do you choose a safe contract packaging company? While Industrial Packaging may or may not be the right contract packaging company for your business, we can help you understand how to choose a safe co-packer. In this article, we will walk you through the required steps to choose a safe contract packaging company.

Are you feeling frustrated? Maybe you are more than a little perturbed? You’re seeing an unacceptable amount of defective products and packages on your packaging line. I am willing to bet you are reading this article because you are looking for one of two things. One, ways in which you can reduce defective products on your packaging line. Or two, how to outsource your packaging line altogether. Many companies end up outsourcing their supply chain to a contract packaging company. They do this so that they can focus on their core capabilities. Are you looking for a contract packaging partner who can help you to reduce defects? Do you want someone to take all this supply chain management stuff off of your plate? Industrial Packaging may or may not be the right partner for you. We have been helping companies of all sizes, even Fortune 500 clients, reduce defects for a while now. And, we can help you to do the same if you’re interested in exploring outsourcing versus trying to negate defects yourself. In this article, we will explain how a contract packaging partner can help you to reduce and prevent defects, which will result in happier customers.

The year 2020 has been like no other. Who knew that our world would be turned upside due to COVID-19? It has been surreal, with nightly news reports consisting of tallies of deaths worldwide, hospitals overflowing with patients, and even temporary morgues constructed to help manage the crisis. A worldwide pandemic.. it was almost unimaginable; a black swan. A black swan is a term popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a renowned essayist. According to Taleb, "a black swan is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences." Nurses and doctors quickly more noticeably became our heroes. People were asked to stay at home. Schools were closed, grocery store shelves emptied, and people began to hoard paper towels, sanitizers, and even toilet paper. Essential workers were asked to step up. Many businesses started to suffer. Would they be able to meet their customers' demands, would their supply chain stay intact, and would they be able to keep their employees safe? Would they be able to navigate through this rare and unforeseen event gracefully? In this article, we will use a story of our own experience here at Industrial Packaging in dealing with a black swan event in our facility and provide you with actionable items that will allow you to do the same, should you find yourself in a similar position.

SQF, or Safe Quality Food, is a rigorous certification program in the safe handling of foods for manufacturers and distributors that is recognized all over the world. It’s not new - it’s been around for over 20 years, and is designed to be used in all sectors of the food industry including farming, manufacturing, packaging, warehousing and even food for our pets. This certification minimizes the incidence of unsafe food reaching the market place and involves training a SQF practitioner, possibly contracting a consultant, getting a program written, passing a desk audit and then, at last, passing the on-site certification audit. It takes a good amount of perseverance to get this certificate, but fear not! There are some great benefits to this effort. Here are 5 compelling reasons to implementing an SQF program: