The Flexible Packaging Blog

Reviews, trends, and tips covering all things flexible packaging to protect your products and your bottom line.

Blog Feature

Supply Chain Services/ Contract Packaging

By: Nathan Dube
March 9th, 2021

You are finally at the point where you want to outsource your packaging. Now, you are evaluating vendors. The last thing that you would want to do is put yourself in a position where you cannot get your products out on time. If you chose a vendor who did not think about everything that needed to happen when they took your business, you might find yourself in this position. As a contract packaging company (AKA: a co-packer) grows larger, new warehouses and additional locations may be required to meet growing demands. After a period of growth, they may have to move into a new location to meet their client's needs. You will want to know that your co-packer can meet your requirements. They need to do this regardless of the move. They must still be able to meet the demand of your packaging requirements. At Industrial Packaging, we have had to move recently for the very reasons mentioned above. During this time, we had to implement new protocols. These new protocols ensured that we could still meet the contract packaging demands of our clients. We had to do this while we transitioned to a larger warehouse and a new corporate office. This article will explore the required questions you need to ask your contract packaging vendor. That way, you can be sure that they can manage your supply chain while moving their business. Regardless of whether you choose us as a contact packaging company or not, you will want to make sure that your vendor can still meet your demands while they move their business.

Blog Feature

Food Packaging | Fulfillment

By: Nathan Dube
March 4th, 2021

When working with a contract packaging company, in order to make room for occasional human error or mechanical issues, you need to supply your contract packaging company with enough product to allow for some waste. When offering contract packaging services, it is common for a contract packaging company to have to move from a warehouse that is too small. This is done to sustain the current requirements of their customer base. In this case, a move to a new location is a must. This would be waste produced by machinery and material problems or operator errors. There has to be some extra product available so that when products fail at some point in your packaging line, your contract packaging company will be able to use that extra product to replace those items. In the case of product waste, there is often a large amount of products left over after the order has been fulfilled. Normally, these products end up in a landfill. This is a travesty, particularly for food production companies. In fact, 218 billion dollars worth of food products is sent to a landfill each year. Food waste happens at all stages of the food production process. Each stage of the distribution and supply chain ecosystem also produces waste at times. Many people in the United States of America are going to bed hungry on a regular basis. With so much excessive food waste, this is absolutely unacceptable. However, navigating the complex laws surrounding food safety is a challenge. Even more so with the inability to reuse food products after expiration. But, it does not have to be this way. There are some fairly simple ways to negate such massive amounts of food and product waste. If you are willing to work with your local contract packaging company, you can do it. There are ways to develop a closed-loop system. This can reduce or altogether stop this type of unnecessary waste. Industrial Packaging has been offering contract packaging services for many years. During that time we have developed waste reduction protocols. These protocols have allowed us to largely reduce the waste of various products for our clients. In this article, we will explore the way in which waste reduction may be achieved by working with your local contract packaging company.

Blog Feature

Supply Chain Services/ Contract Packaging | Fulfillment

By: Nathan Dube
March 2nd, 2021

Over the past few weeks, you have been doing research about contract packaging. You have noticed other companies in your industry have outsourced their supply chain. They have done this with a contract packaging company. You find yourself wondering if contract packaging could benefit your own company. But, you are not clear on what the benefits of contract packaging are. Do they make sense for your business? Now, you find yourself here on the Industrial Packaging website. You are perusing blog posts and webpages about contract packaging. You see that we have been providing contract packaging services for many years. In some cases, to Fortune 500 companies. With the information found here, you will be able to decide if contract packaging is right for your business. And, while Industrial Packaging would love to gain your contract packaging business, we may or may not be the best vendor for you. Regardless, with the information available on our blog, we will be able to help you identify the right contract packaging vendor for your company, even if it is not us. In this article, we will review the top 5 benefits of contract packaging. This will help you identify if contract packaging is right for you or not.

Blog Feature

By: Nathan Dube
February 25th, 2021

You have done your research. You have concluded that you would like to hire a contract packaging company. You have decided that this will allow you to outsource your supply chain management. You understand that contract packaging will simplify your business and save you money. Now you are looking at potential contract packaging partners. But, you are not sure what to look for when choosing such a partner. You have a lot of questions on your mind. Questions like, what capabilities should my contract packaging partner have? What resources should our contract packaging company have at their disposal? Does it matter where my contract packaging vendor is located? How much does contract packaging cost? You know that these are all essential questions. You want to make sure that you choose a vendor who can meet your needs based upon these questions. You are looking for a resource where you can figure out all the answers to these questions. Well, today might be your lucky day! Industrial Packaging has done contract packaging for businesses like yours. And, we have been doing this for over sixty-five years. Through our contract packaging services, we can help your business. This article will take a look at the top 5 considerations in choosing a contract packaging vendor.

Blog Feature

Packaging Materials | The Business of Packaging | Fulfillment

By: Nathan Dube
February 22nd, 2021

If you have been tasked with buying shrink film for your company, chances are, you have noticed that prices for many films and plastic packaging materials have been slowly creeping up since at least September of last year. You may have also noticed that any resin-based plastic packaging supplies are also increasing in price as time goes on. You are probably wondering, what is the cause of these price increases? When can we expect them to stop? Should I stock up on supplies now to save money in the long run? These are but a few of the questions we have been getting from our customers, and we expect to continue receiving such inquiries. To provide some knowledge and peace of mind, we have put this article together to help you better understand what is going on. It is Industrial Packaging's stance that being open and forthright with this information is necessary because it impacts our customers. We believe that we have a requirement to be upfront with any type of news like this in order to maintain the trust we've built with our customers. With the rise of global supply chain disruptions due to customer demand, the plastic resin market is preparing for multiple cost increases as we head into March. Additional price increases for various resin-based plastic packaging supplies are expected to occur over the next few months. This article will provide some insight into the events that have led to these materials' increased prices.

Blog Feature

Equipment | Plant Performance | Investment

By: Nathan Dube
February 18th, 2021

If you buy shrink packaging machinery or upgrade older equipment, your mind probably goes to one of two places. Shrink tunnels or sealers. Those are the two pieces of shrink packaging machinery that come to mind for most buyers. This is a common starting point when beginning the buying process for shrink packaging machinery. But, there is another important element to consider, conveyors. As for which type of conveyor is right for your packaging line, well, that all depends on various factors, the size, weight, and shape of your products will all play a part in determining this. The Industrial Packaging crew has been working with shrink packaging machinery for generations. Along the way, we have learned a lot about shrink machinery. And conveyors are no exception to the rule. This article will explore the different types of conveyors currently available. We will discuss the applications for this type of packaging equipment.