If you've ever calculated the cost of your in-house multipack assembly, there's a good chance you've underestimated it. Not because your team is bad at math. The issue is that most cost spreadsheets miss the expenses that don't show up on a purchase order. The overtime surge in October. The production line that sat idle in February. The retailer chargeback that took three months to resolve. After working with CPG brands for over seven decades, we've seen this pattern many times with snack food manufacturers, confectionery companies, and other food producers. Companies believe in-house multipack assembly costs them $X per unit, when the real number is often 40% higher. That gap can mean the difference between a profitable product line and one that quietly drains margin quarter after quarter. Here's what most brands miss, and how to know when outsourcing makes more financial sense than keeping secondary packaging in-house.

Point of Purchase (POP) display assembly typically costs between $0.30 and $100 per unit, depending on complexity, volume, and turnaround requirements.

The top contract packaging companies in the US include Industrial Packaging, Econo-Pak, Assemblies Unlimited, Aaron Thomas Company, and Sonoco's co-packing division - each serving different segments of the CPG market with distinct specializations.