Walk into a busy distribution center today and packaging looks a little different than it did ten years ago.
You might still see stacks of corrugated boxes and rolls of tape. But nearby there could be an automatic case erector building cartons, a machine dispensing cushioning material, stretch wrapping equipment preparing pallets or a system printing and applying labels without much help from an employee.
Packaging is becoming more automated.
That change has implications for manufacturers, distributors and, perhaps more than most people realize, packaging suppliers.
A supplier can no longer assume that a box is just a box. The material may have to run through equipment at a certain speed. Dimensions need to stay consistent. Tape has to perform correctly. Stretch film has to work with a specific machine and packaging materials need to arrive on time because automated operations can burn through supplies quickly.
In other words, the relationship between packaging equipment and packaging supplies is getting much closer.
Labor Is Driving Part of the Change
Automation gets plenty of attention because it looks impressive.
The less exciting reason behind some of it is labor.
Packing products by hand takes time.
An employee may have to grab a flat box, assemble it, tape the bottom, place the product inside, add cushioning, close the carton and tape it again.
Multiply that process by several hundred packages every day.
For businesses shipping thousands of products, even saving a few seconds on each package can eventually become meaningful.
This is why companies are examining repetitive packaging tasks and asking whether equipment can handle some of them.
It doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating employees.
In many facilities, the objective is to let employees spend less time performing repetitive tasks and more time handling work that requires actual judgement.
And yes, sometimes its simply about getting more packages out the door with the same number of people.
Packaging Materials Have to Work With the Equipment
Here’s where the packaging supplier becomes important.
Machines tend to be less forgiving than people.
An employee can pick up a slightly warped box, adjust it with their hands and make it work.
A machine might not.
If an automated case erector expects a carton to behave a certain way, inconsistent corrugated materials can create jams and downtime.
The same applies to other packaging products.
Stretch film used on an automatic wrapper needs appropriate stretch characteristics. Tape has to unwind and adhere consistently. Carton dimensions need to stay within tolerances.
A material that’s technically “the same size” may perform differently depending on how its manufactured.
That means purchasing departments can’t always choose packaging based entirely on the lowest unit price.
Saving a few cents on material isn’t much of a victory if equipment operators have to stop the line every hour to clear a jam.
The Role of Well-Known Packaging Suppliers
Large packaging suppliers have an obvious advantage when it comes to product selection.
Companies such as Uline, Veritiv, Grainger and other national industrial distributors offer businesses access to large catalogs of boxes, tape, stretch film, shipping materials and warehouse products.
For many companies, especially smaller operations, this is extremely convenient.
- You know what you need.
- You find it.
- You order it.
- Done.
Things get more complicated as packaging operations become specialized.
A manufacturer running automatic equipment may care about specifications that barely matter to a company packing ten orders per day.
This creates room for regional and specialized packaging suppliers that understand the customer’s actual operation instead of only filling orders.
California Manufacturers Have Their Own Packaging Challenges
California has a huge and diverse manufacturing economy.
Aerospace companies, electronics manufacturers, food producers, medical businesses, automotive suppliers and countless other companies all need packaging, and their requirements can be completely different.
Packaging for Industry is a California-based packaging supplier serving businesses throughout Southern California.
The company supplies industrial packaging materials including corrugated boxes, protective foam, stretch film, tapes, pallets and crates. It also works with companies requiring custom packaging and inventory programs.
That local supplier model can become useful when a packaging operation is changing.
A company installing new equipment, for example, may need to adjust carton specifications or evaluate different packaging materials.
Being able to discuss the application directly with a supplier can save quite a bit of trial and error.
Because sometimes the problem isn’t the machine.
Sometimes its the material going into it.
Consistency Is Becoming a Bigger Deal
Manual packaging can hide inconsistency.
Let’s say one batch of boxes is slightly different from another.
A person assembling those boxes might not even mention it.
They simply compensate.
Automation exposes those differences.
If a machine runs 20 cartons per minute, a small material problem gets repeated very quickly.
That makes quality consistency an increasingly important part of choosing a packaging supplier.
Companies need to know that the box they receive next month will perform like the box they’re using today.
The same idea applies to film, tape and other materials.
Reliable specifications matter.
For a high-volume operation, consistency can actually be worth more than squeezing another penny out of the purchase price.
Automation Doesn’t Always Mean a Giant Machine
When people hear “packaging automation,” they sometimes picture an enormous robotic production line.
It doesn’t have to be anything close to that.
Automation can start small.
A company might add a tape machine.
Another might install a stretch wrapper instead of having employees manually walk around pallets with rolls of film.
A busy shipping department might use equipment that produces paper cushioning on demand.
Even something as basic as a carton sealer can change how quickly employees process packages.
The question should be whether the equipment solves a real operational problem.
Buying a machine just because automation sounds impressive isn’t much of a strategy.
If a company only ships 40 packages a day, fully automating the packaging line probably doesn’t make sense.
But at 4,000 packages a day?
That’s a different conversation.
Packaging Suppliers Can Help Identify Opportunities
This is where a good packaging supplier can become more than a place that sends boxes.
Suppliers see a lot of packaging operations.
They see companies manually wrapping pallets.
They see employees spending too much time assembling complicated cartons.
They see products packed in boxes twice as large as necessary.
They see warehouses holding enormous inventories because nobody developed a better replenishment system.
That experience can be valuable.
A packaging supplier may notice an inefficient process that has become so normal to employees that nobody inside the company questions it anymore.
“We’ve always done it this way” is probably responsible for a lot of wasted packaging.
Sometimes all it takes is an outside person asking why.
Right-Sizing Works Well With Automation
Another interesting development is the connection between automation and right-sized packaging.
Traditional shipping operations often rely on a fixed collection of box sizes.
An employee looks at the product and chooses whichever box seems closest.
That can result in a lot of empty space.
More advanced packaging systems can reduce that problem by creating or selecting packaging closer to the dimensions of the product.
Smaller packages can mean less corrugated material, less cushioning and better utilization of transportation space.
The environmental benefit gets plenty of attention, but there is a straightforward financial argument too.
Shipping air isn’t free.
Inventory Has to Keep Up
Automated packaging lines can consume material quickly.
That’s great when everything is stocked.
It’s a problem when something isn’t.
A high-volume operation can’t have an expensive piece of equipment sitting idle because somebody forgot to order stretch film.
This is one reason inventory programs offered by packaging suppliers can become more valuable as operations grow.
Vendor-managed inventory and scheduled replenishment programs can help ensure frequently used materials remain available without requiring the customer to fill half the warehouse with packaging.
For a company consuming thousands of boxes every week, inventory management can become almost as important as the boxes themselves.
Don’t Automate a Bad Package
There is one mistake businesses should avoid.
Automating an inefficient packaging design doesn’t magically make it efficient.
If the box is too large before automation, it will still be too large afterward.
If the product isn’t properly protected, sealing the carton faster won’t fix it.
Companies should examine the package itself before investing heavily in automating the process.
Could the box be smaller?
Could the number of packaging components be reduced?
Can employees load the product more easily?
Does the cushioning actually protect the vulnerable areas?
Once the package makes sense, automation can make a good process faster.
Automating a bad process just creates bad packages more efficiently.
The Packaging Supplier of Tomorrow Looks Different
The traditional packaging supplier isn’t disappearing.
Businesses will always need somebody who can deliver boxes, tape, stretch film, foam and pallets at competitive prices.
But expectations are expanding.
Customers increasingly want suppliers that understand packaging design, inventory, equipment compatibility, labor efficiency and the realities of running a warehouse.
National suppliers can provide scale and enormous product selections. Regional companies, including California suppliers such as Packaging for Industry, can offer closer support and help companies work through specific packaging requirements.
There’s room for both.
The important change is how businesses evaluate them.
Price still matters. It always will.
But if one packaging supplier can help a company eliminate an unnecessary packing step, prevent equipment downtime, reduce material consumption or keep an automated line from running out of boxes, comparing suppliers by price alone starts to look a little outdated.
After all, the cheapest box isn’t really cheap if the machine won’t run it.