Shipping and Business Success: A Guide to Buying Packaging Equipment

You’re a small business evaluating your bottom line. You notice that packaging is consuming a large sum of your resources and your slow speed-to-market is holding you back.

You outsource all aspects of your packaging. The middleman needs to make a profit. You wonder if you could save money by buying packaging equipment.

You know packaging equipment is expensive. Will it reduce your cost of goods in the long run and improve your bottom line?

Automating your packaging system will decrease costs, reduce lead time, and give you more control over the process. Don’t be intimidated by the price of equipment. In this guide, we’ll cover what you should know before buying packaging equipment.

Semi-Automated System Versus Fully Automated System

When buying packaging equipment, you are faced with two options, a semi or fully automated system. A semi-automated packaging system uses a hybrid of human labor and machinery.

There are some advantages to being semi-automated, at least in the beginning. The best strategy is to automate only the bottlenecks in your fulfillment. Having humans on standby means if machinery fails, you can revert to your prior process.

You can continue to automate processes as you find installing machinery cost-effective. Most businesses slowly work their way to fully automated systems instead of jumping in cold turkey.

This is because you can avoid a complete halt in operations. A fully automated system requires a contingency plan for this reason. Your business can stop altogether if a fully automated system crashes.

However, a fully automated packaging system will increase output and avoid human error. You can also use your employees in non-repetitive, tasks such as strategy.

Types of Equipment

Whether semi or fully automated, the types of equipment you need will come down to two things: your bottom line and industry. This link tells you what packaging equipment you’ll need based on industry.

For example, there are three stages to packaging, primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary is your product packaging, Secondary is “retail” packaging such as protective covers or films. Tertiary is shipping packaging.

A fully automated system would take care of all three. Having all the equipment to do so is a large upfront cost. The equipment you implement will directly correlate with your staffing needs.

Safety

When buying packaging equipment, safety is one of the most important factors to consider. These machines can be sharp, explosive, and hazardous in general. It is important to review the safety and operation standards of the supplier you choose.

If you buy the right machinery it should last for decades, so know that a higher price might mean better durability and safety.

Buying Packaging Equipment

If you’re a business owner trying to improve your operations, buying packaging equipment to operate in-house can save you money and time. It’s a worthwhile consideration for anyone looking to improve their bottom line.

We recommend a semi-automated system to start. This will help your team get acclimated to the machinery. Over time you can transition to a fully automated system.

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