Whatever type of business you have, you should be looking for ways to streamline and strengthen your packaging process. Streamlining operations can save costs, improve quality and improve efficiency and reduce the time taken to fulfil orders. There are many ways that you can streamline your packaging process and, in this guide, we will talk you through some of the main ones. If you manage a consistent stream of orders, this is so important.
Master the Basics
Packing is a key component of your overall order fulfilment process and it needs to be carried out with precision and skill. The speed at which this process is carried out will determine efficiency, operational costs and customer satisfaction. Establish packing methods that work best for you such as how goods are selected, the number of open orders that are packed at any given time and how many people will be working in packing.
Warehouse Design
Depending on the extent of your packaging operations and how many orders you need to process, significant amounts of time could be wasted moving from one storage area to another. The best way to optimise your workflows is to optimise your picking and packing procedure for maximum efficiency. This could involve placing your top-selling products close to the packing area, store items that are often sold together close by and organise your inventory from bestselling to lowest selling products.
Organisation
Make sure that workstations are clean and tidy, and packers have easy access to the materials they need to pack the orders. For example, if your packaging includes a box, tissue paper, packaging tape and a handwritten note, have all of these items close to hand to speed up the packing process. Your staff shouldn’t have to be looking around for packaging materials, they should be conveniently placed for the packer.
Quality Checks
Before an order is shipped, the benefits of undertaking a quality check shouldn’t be overlooked. Check that all of the order has been fulfilled, the products are of satisfactory quality, the products have been packaged in an acceptable manner and nothing appears to be broken or missing. This will save significant amounts of money on return shipping and refunds if the order is not up to standard.
Packaging Choice
It is always worth looking at the materials you use to package your products. While the focus should be on making the process easier and reducing costs, making good decisions about the materials can help you control costs and improve the rate of packing by your employees.
