Most packaging companies are organised in a rather complex way – and thus have too little focus in their processes and product portfolio. At the same time, the possibility of being able to operate with greater variety and diversity within the focus is missing. This circumstance leads to a number of problems ranging from margins and pricing to customer dependency and the raw material situation. A way out is offered by the modularisation of the offer, which is aligned with the market and makes use of the toolbox of automation and digitalisation. Learn more!
The initial situation
As already mentioned, the majority of packaging companies are organised in a complex manner and are therefore not very focused in their portfolio and processes. The causes for this can be manifold. Typical aspects are:
- A not insignificant number of customers order only small quantities, but at the same time have very individual product requirements. As a result, packaging companies have to act in a strongly customer-driven way.
- Many packaging companies do not set regional boundaries for their business, even where this would be advisable. Together with a high number of different customers with small order volumes but individual product requirements, this circumstance often leads to excessive complexity in raw material requirements, logistics or (multilingual) customer and supplier communication.
- Another aspect of lack of focus is the inability to deliver the individuality demanded by customers at the price of a standard product, despite possibly small order quantities.
Problems identified but not solved
Many packaging companies are well aware of the problematic situation. However, they fail to meet the challenges. The main reasons are the aforementioned customer-specific requests, mandatory standards on the customer side and different country- or market-specific factors.
What is meant by focus?
When we look at the opportunities through focusing on the following, we focus primarily on
- the standardisation of types, dimensions, procedures and products, and
- the differentiation in terms of products, regions and markets.
Opportunities through focusing
Focusing leads to increasing efficiency in companies, which pays off on several levels. The benefits include
- more transparency and thus increasing knowledge retention,
- increasing production efficiency,
- shorter processing times,
- consistent quality and compliance with quality standards,
- comfort for consumers,
- cost reductions and margin improvement,
- positive effects on employees through standardised work. Here, with the right control, a relationship can be created between the work process and the employees, which has positive effects on personal responsibility and work performance.
What you can do.
We recommend that companies in the packaging industry modularise their offerings. This applies to products as well as services. It is important to focus on the markets and their needs. Automation and digitalisation are important tools for tackling business processes in a more focused way.
