For ocean freight, which is the most common transport mode for brands manufacturing in Asia, dimensions can be reduced by removing additional space at the top of master outer cartons (MOCs) and strategically thinning carton walls without sacrificing strength.
It’s not rocket science, but it means a holistic view of your supply chain to ensure packaging is coordinated and uniform at each step along the way from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers and retailers in Europe and North America.
Is the primary packaging “made-to-fit” the product inside? Can you measure empty space between the top of the product and the top of the master outer carton? Do you use void fill materials to protect products from shifting inside secondary or tertiary packaging?
Shipping strategies have changed a lot over the past few decades, due to market forces such as volatile oil prices, demand for freight services, and supply imbalances. Today, brands should consider “shipability” when designing packaging. That means designs that reduce weight and increase shipment density.
Right-sizing and right-weighting both product and packaging designs can reduce material spend and shipping costs. In a case study from UPS, packaging engineers redesigned a customer’s transportation packaging for optimal cube and space utilization inside trailers and containers 5. In addition to eliminating oversize charges, the new packaging design allowed more packages inside inbound containers (reducing overall annual shipping expenses) and required less warehouse space.
However, it's important to design packaging during product development. For example, Trillora worked with a brand that wanted fit more units of product into a shipping container. The client's calculations had not accounted for how packaging would affect container density. If the client had realized this and reduced its product dimensions by a mere 3 millimeters before it was too late, the company could have increased density by 25%, leading to significant savings in shipping costs.
Made-to-fit packaging can have a significant impact on your bottom line, in freight savings and in other parts of the organization. Some of the savings opportunities presented by better packaging include:
Right-sizing packaging cuts down on costs. Sustainability is an added benefit. Right-sized packaging can lower fuel emissions during transport, as it translates to fewer trips, whether by sea, road, or air.
For example, Amazon has combined design has used better design to reduce the weight of its packaging. The e-commerce giant has reduced its per-shipment packaging weight by 41% on average since 2015 6. Optimizing packaging is an equally effective strategy for traditional retail and transport packaging too.
Trillora Packaging Solutions helps apparel, footwear, sports and athletics, outdoor, and other types of global brands save money and reduce waste by identifying packaging improvement opportunities throughout the value chain. One of the first areas our engineers and designers look at when performing a packaging evaluation is the amount of empty space.
We help our customers save an average of 15% on their transportation costs by optimizing their packaging, increasing the number of packages per container and reducing the overall number of containers transported across the ocean. Discover savings hidden in your supply chain.
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