For the latest episode of Nulogy’s Supply Chain Unfiltered livestream, I was delighted to welcome Thom Campbell, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Capacity LLC, to explore the intersection of technology, collaboration, and value-added logistics.
As a logistics service provider serving key brand customers through the operation of several facilities across the U.S. and the UK, Capacity has seen business growth and success through a forward-thinking approach to technological adoption, which includes the onboarding of Nulogy’s platform. Their journey to becoming Powered by Nulogy underscores the importance of adaptability, advanced tools, and a willingness to embrace change in a rapidly evolving supply chain landscape.
Below, I share my 3 key takeaways from our insightful discussion. Let’s get started!
1. Value-Added Services Drive Customer Success
Thom emphasized that value-added services are essential to Capacity LLC’s operations. These services, including assembly, packaging, and customization, account for 10% of the company’s business and additionally play a critical role during peak seasons. Thom shared:
“It’s about creating flexibility in situations where it might not have otherwise existed. Many brands rely on us to ensure their products are ready for market quickly and efficiently.”
-Thom Campbell, Capacity LLC
Simply put, the more services Capacity is able to provide to its customers, the more flexibility and efficiency it can provide to their mutual schedules. With increasing complexity in global supply chains, companies such as Capacity can help brands adapt to seasonal demands, meet unique customer needs, and ensure product quality and compliance.
2. The Role of Technology in Streamlining Operations
Capacity’s partnership with Nulogy has transformed how the logistics provider handles assembly and other value-added services. For example, Nulogy’s platform enables them to digitally track and manage bill of materials, quickly update inspection data, and optimize workflows. In Thom’s own words:
“Nulogy is probably the single most important inflection point in the evolution of our value-added services. It has allowed us to scale and deliver efficiency and accuracy that simply wasn’t possible with our paper-based system.”
-Thom Campbell, Capacity LLC
Additionally, Nulogy’s cloud-based solution has improved data visibility, enabling faster quoting, better staffing, and seamless billing processes, delivering greater value to both Capacity and its clients.
3. AI and Robotics: Both Necessary and Overhyped
AI and robotics were recurring themes in our discussion, with Thom highlighting their growing importance in Capacity’s operations. From identifying products with precision to optimizing labor allocation, AI complements human efforts without replacing creativity. Thom noted:
“AI is overhyped and essential. You need to focus on the problems you’re solving rather than the technology itself.”
The company’s experimentation with robotics, particularly for repetitive tasks like sorting and packaging, has led to significant improvements in speed and accuracy, paving the way for scalable solutions during peak demand.
Nulogy’s Role in Capacity LLC’s Success
Nulogy’s platform has not only optimized internal processes but also enhanced client relationships by providing transparency and efficiency. Thom recalled a pivotal moment when Capacity transitioned from paper to digital systems, preventing data loss and ensuring consistent service quality. This shift has empowered Capacity to scale its services, support emerging brands, and deliver on promises even during the busiest periods, such as Black Friday.
By leveraging Nulogy’s tools, Capacity LLC has built a database that supports continuous improvement and sets the foundation for future innovations, including deeper AI integrations.
Tune in for Future Supply Chain Unfiltered Episodes
Thanks to Thom for sharing his time and offering a valuable glimpse into the evolving logistics market and how all partners are incentivized to adapt to an ever-changing landscape. Capacity LLC’s journey highlights the importance of adopting the right technology, fostering a culture of innovation, and focusing on the core needs of clients.
With tools such as Nulogy and a strategic approach to applying advanced technology such as AI, I believe the folks at Capacity are well-positioned to navigate the challenges of today’s market and continue delivering strategic value to its brand partners.
Thanks for reading today’s summary! Click here to watch the full episode, and be sure to stay tuned for future episodes of Supply Chain Unfiltered.
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It’s no secret that contract packagers and contract manufacturers are vital to the external supply chains of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, helping them fill the shelves of retail channels on time and in full. However, managing a co-packing or contract manufacturing operation is no easy task: in addition to planning and scheduling challenges associated with a continually evolving market landscape, contract suppliers are increasingly taking on greater strategic responsibilities from their brand customers, all while fulfilling the expectation of high customer service and fulfillment rates.
Below, we’ll explore the top five pain points facing external manufacturing partners today—and how digital, purpose-built solutions can address these challenges to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction.
1. Limited Visibility into Inventory and Production
The Pain Point: Co-packers and co-manufacturers that rely on legacy systems or paper-based workflows often struggle with limited data visibility into their inventory and production workflows. This lack of transparency can result in stockouts, delayed production schedules, and ultimately, a breakdown in fulfilling customer demand on time. Without real-time insight into inventory statuses or production progress, even the best-prepared plans can fall short when unexpected disruptions occur.
The Solution: With the aid of a solution that’s purpose built for their needs, external manufacturers can access near-real time updates on inventory levels and production statuses, and address potential bottlenecks. This level of visibility helps co-packers and contract manufacturers meet demand consistently, which strengthens relationships with CPG customers.
“When we implemented Nulogy, our pallet location and inventory accuracy became significantly better. We didn’t need to spend hours trying to find certain pieces of material to bring to the line.”
-Ryan McWethy, Plant Manager MSI Express
2. Over-reliance on Manual Processes and Tracking
The Pain Point: Despite the growing shift toward digitization in the manufacturing industry, many external manufacturers still rely heavily on manual processes—including paper-based tracking, emails, and spreadsheets—to manage production operations. This approach leads to greater inefficiencies, increased likelihood of human error, and slower response times, all of which can impede overall productivity and the ability to scale effectively.
The Solution: Fullydigitizing production processes not only improves accuracy but also makes workflows more efficient and flexible. When staff on the line take advantage of digital tools to record production updates, data becomes easily accessible throughout the business, and updates occur in near real time. This allows all team members to stay informed, eliminate redundant tasks and minimize human error. Additionally, with digital dashboards and reports, decision-makers gain quick insight into critical metrics and can make data-driven decisions faster than ever before. Finally, automating manual tasks frees up staff for more strategic roles, enabling co-packers and contract-manufacturers to operate more competitively in a digital-first market.
“In the past there was a lot of paper-based work involved in finding information. Now with Nulogy, we can pull that information quickly in a matter of minutes as opposed to hours.”
-Jared Whalen, Director of Quality Summit Packaging Solutions
3. Inefficient Production Scheduling and Labor Tracking
The Pain Point: External manufacturers are often challenged with continually managing labor schedules and production in the face of rapidly changing customer demand. When done manually, labor management and production scheduling can be slow to adapt and are prone to errors, overstaffing, underutilization, or even bottlenecks that slow down output. These inefficiencies not only increase labor costs but can also lead to missed deadlines or lost business opportunities.
The Solution: A digital production scheduling solution, which leverages historical data and predictive analytics, can offer a streamlined approach to optimizing scheduling. By using software to handle the planning and scheduling of current and future orders, as well as the inventory needed to fulfill these orders, co-packers and contract manufacturers can more effectively maximize their available capacity and reduce the chance of order delays due to inventory shortages.
“In the co-packing business, timing and accuracy are critical to success. Nulogy’s Production Scheduling has saved us valuable time while ensuring data accuracy in our work orders.”
-Chuck Carrington, President & Co-Owner MattPak
4. Inability to Adapt Quickly to Market Changes
The Pain Point: Today’s market is increasingly volatile, with rapid changes in demand, last-minute customer orders, or rush requests becoming the norm rather than the exception. For external manufacturers working with inflexible, legacy systems, adjusting to these changes can be slow and challenging, leading to delays in production and potential losses in customer satisfaction.
The Solution: Real-time data and agile software systems empower external manufacturers to be responsive to market changes. With live insights into current operations and data-driven demand forecasts, companies can shift production priorities or pivot resources with agility. For example, by accessing data on machine availability and raw material stock, manufacturers can decide quickly to switch to a priority production run without disrupting other commitments. The ability to adapt operations in real-time ensures that co-packers and co-manufacturers can respond swiftly to unexpected demand shifts, making them valuable partners to fast-paced CPG companies looking to maintain an edge in competitive markets.
“We needed to implement a new production floor platform in a matter of days, not weeks. Nulogy was nimble, efficient and collaborative in a way that partnered with us to meet our needs.”
-Geoffrey Crawley, Vice President Staffing Synergies
5. Lack of Collaboration with Customers
The Pain Point: Successful partnerships between external manufacturers and CPG brands hinge on clear communication and alignment. Unfortunately, miscommunication and poor visibility often hamper collaboration, causing misalignments in production goals and delays in meeting customer requirements. Without a collaborative digital platform, co-packers may struggle to keep pace with evolving customer needs, jeopardizing client relationships and future business.
The Solution: Implementing digital platforms that foster seamless collaboration with customers is key to improving alignment. A centralized platform can enable co-packers to share real-time data, production updates, and quality metrics directly with CPG customers, ensuring both parties stay informed and aligned on priorities. With centralized data-sharing capabilities, external manufacturers can communicate upcoming delays or potential issues ahead of time, allowing their clients to adjust expectations and plans accordingly. This level of transparency fosters trust and collaboration, reducing misunderstandings and ensuring both manufacturers and brands can meet consumer demands consistently.
“Through Nulogy, enabling greater materials data visibility and consolidation between ourselves and our major customer has simplified complex materials management processes, which together lets us get on the same page faster.”
-Nick Pai, Master Planner Crescent Park Corporation
Discover the Power of Purpose-Built Today
External manufacturers such as co-packers and contract manufacturers face numerous challenges every day that can impact their ability to compete and grow. These top five pain points—limited visibility, reliance on manual processes, inefficient scheduling, rigidity in adapting to market changes, and lack of customer collaboration—highlight the critical need for digitization in today’s manufacturing landscape.
By adopting digital tools and platforms, these contract suppliers can not only overcome these challenges but also position themselves as reliable, responsive, and strategic partners to CPG brands. Embracing digital transformation isn’t merely a choice for external manufacturers; it’s a competitive imperative that ensures they remain agile, adaptable, and aligned in a fast-paced, customer-centric marketplace.Ready to learn how a purpose-built platform such as Nulogy can drive efficiency and profitability in your co-packing or contract manufacturing business? Get in touch with us today.
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In Episode 7 of Supply Chain Unfiltered, I had the pleasure of welcoming Chris Nimietz, Supply Chain Director at MSI Express, for a behind-the-scenes look into how being Powered by Nulogy enables MSI to operate as an industry leader in contract manufacturing.
Running operations in a leading contract manufacturing company requires seamless coordination between suppliers, production teams, and clients to ensure the timely and efficient delivery of a product that’s exactly what the consumer ordered. If there’s anyone who has seen it all, it’s Chris Nimietz, Supply Chain Director at MSI Express: a co-packer that primarily works with Fortune 500 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies from around the world.
In Episode 7 of Supply Chain Unfiltered, we explored the unique opportunities and challenges within the industry, as well as how being Powered by Nulogy helps MSI overcome those challenges to take advantages of those opportunities. We also unpacked the power of purpose-built solutions and the competitive advantages they deliver. Let’s dive right in.
Technology’s Role in Contract Manufacturing
To kick off the conversation, Chris and I looked into the unique opportunities and challenges within the contract manufacturing space, as well as what it takes to be a preferred vendor. I hit Chris with the age-old question, “What keeps you up at night when it comes to your career?” His answer was one I’m sure many of you will identify with.
“The primary thing [that keeps me up at night] would be that the right tools and resources are in front of our people to be successful… and continuing to stay in lockstep with our customers so that we have a line of sight that a lot of co-manufacturers don’t have,” Chris explained.
Chris believes that, as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S., MSI Express has achieved and maintained a trajectory of growth by implementing technologies that enable them to have a finger on the pulse on vital aspects of their operations. He added, “We’re always looking to be where the puck is going, not where it’s been.”
The Value of Enhancing Customer Collaboration
A collaborative mindset is also essential for driving success in today’s fast-paced contract manufacturing landscape.
To help illustrate this, I shared a statistic from Lora Cecere of Supply Chain Insights: Contract manufacturing production averages 32% of a brand owner’s total production. And that percentage is only expected to grow over the next several years. What does that mean for co-packers and their external supply chain partners? How do they capitalize on that opportunity for growth?
Chris stressed that the best way to capitalize on that opportunity is to prioritize collaboration with their customers in other verticals. The ability to provide solutions from the planning and procurement side all the way through to the distribution side is an innovative value-add that’s unbeatable from both the perspective of an emerging brand or a CPG.
“85% of new products typically fail in the first two to three years, and so that’s where we can provide a lot of value,” he said. “We have the ability to be test centers for those new products and items.”
Chris added that MSI Express does a really good job of strengthening customer and supplier relationships, with a focus on the people behind an organization. Rowing in the same direction helps drive mutual growth and efficiency. The industry demands the ability and agility to be customer-centric and that’s just what they strive to do.
Embracing Digitization, AI, and ML
If you’ve been a regular listener of the show, you know that I believe technology is a critical enabler for supply chain success. Generally speaking, however, it is vital to first establish the right processes and people. Once those are in place, you secure the right tools so that your people can most effectively and easily run the processes. I was curious to hear Chris’s insights, as a leader in the contract manufacturing space, into the role that technology plays at MSI in terms of strategy and success.
For Chris, it is key for companies in the industry to leverage purpose-built solutions and incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to power performance and stay ahead of market dynamics.
“Our organization is heavily data driven, and the data helps drive continuous improvement efforts such as custom customer reporting,” he said. One of the essential tools in MSI Express’ toolkit? Nulogy and its purpose-built resources such as the Production Scheduling module. “Nulogy’s our shop floor; it’s our core.”
“Nulogy’s our shop floor; it’s our core.”
Chris Nimietz, MSI Express
For more tips, tricks and insights into managing complex supply chain operations no matter where you are in the world, I recommend watching the full episode on-demand now. And don’t forget to connect with Chris on LinkedIn! Thank you, Chris, for joining Supply Chain Unfiltered and offering a candid look into the value and experience of being Powered by Nulogy.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for future episodes of Supply Chain Unfiltered on the Nulogy website. See you next time!
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In July, I had the honour of leading a panel discussion titled The Benefits of Digitalisation at the 2024 BCMPA Conference in Nottingham, UK. Joined by industry leaders Richard Pinkerton, Confectionery Procurement Business Partner at Nestlè UK; Thomas Verbeke, Global Coman Excellence Manager at Danone; and Steve Tarrant, Chairman at Glowcroft Contract Packing, we explored how digitalisation is reshaping FMCG external supply chains by enabling faster and more accurate data flow between partners for stronger collaboration and shared success.
For anyone invested in the future of FMCG manufacturing supply chains, the discussion offered a wealth of insights on how digital tools are not just enhancing operational efficiency, but also fostering deeper collaboration and trust amongst the partners that work together across the value chain—such as contract packers, contract manufacturers and value-added logistics providers. Here is a summary of the most thought-provoking themes from the session.
The Role of Data in Fostering Collaboration
For Richard Pinkerton at Nestlè UK, the speed and quality of data is critical to enabling and validating trust between parties in the value chain—especially in a market rife with change. Richard stressed that the ability to trace order information within a single system fosters transparency in partner relationships while allowing for a brand to maintain full visibility over every aspect of their planning and procurement. He shared, “[When issues arise,] we need full visibility very quickly [so that we can] assess actions we need to take in order to protect our consumers.” In this way, both FMCG brands and their external partners play a critical role in safeguarding the brand.
When issues arise, we need full visibility very quickly so that we can assess actions we need to take in order to protect our consumers.
-Richard Pinkerton, Confectionery Procurement Business Partner, Nestlè UK
Subsequently, what kinds of Industry 4.0 technology allows for this type of multi-enterprise collaboration and data flow? Thomas Verbeke at Danone explained how important it is to seek out platforms that encourage digital standardisation within the industry such that dashboards with critical metrics—such as key performance indicator (KPI) data and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system data—are shared on a single system. Doing so breaks down data silos inherent in traditional systems, which allows for enhanced business insights and optimisation opportunities. In particular, solutions such as Nulogy’s Supplier Collaboration Solution are purpose-built to enable real-time collaboration between external manufacturing partners.
In addition, more sophisticated systems can allow for more granular data insights across the value chain: “We will one day also request our contract manufacturers to provide systems where you have your bill of materials broken down, which you can then put an emission factor behind it, put other quality KPIs behind it, and put finance KPIs behind it,” explained Richard.
There needs to be transparency, and we need to be as accountable as possible.
Steve Tarrant, Chairman, Glowcroft Contract Packing
Representing the perspective of the contract packer, Steve Tarrant at Glowcroft echoed the need for—and value of—data transparency across the network: “We all work for brand owners, and their expectations of contract packers is that we can’t keep [our processes] as a dark art anymore, where people send us goods and we magically do something in a factory. There needs to be transparency, and we need to be as accountable as possible.”
Change doesn’t always come easily, but the panelists agreed that digitalisation is the standard of the future. That said, what is the best way to implement it into business with the least amount of disruption in the day-to-day functions of staff?
Guiding Your Team Through Digital Transformation
One aspect of digitalisation that breeds uncertainty—and perhaps even fear—amongst manufacturing leaders is the challenge of cultural transformation, where a positive environment must be created to ensure teams embrace progress instead of resisting it. How does an organisation tackle this challenge and unite their teams with a common objective?
Steve Tarrant cautioned against rushing into a new digitalisation project. “We decided that in order to keep up with the market sector and customer requirements, we needed to change. Nulogy was a long-term investment—so we had to put careful thought into it just as we would with any new piece of equipment,” he said.
Everyone had a role to play within the onboarding process and, when people realised that the new solutions were permanent and would eventually make their own roles easier, they naturally became more open to it over time. A slower approach to transition gives teams time to become familiar with new technologies and may result in a smoother transformation process overall.
Thomas added that it’s up to industry leaders to discover which innovators will lead the pack in digital standardisation, and that companies such as Nulogy have the pressure and privilege to continue growing and adapting as the industry’s needs outgrow spreadsheets and conventional tools.
The Importance of Data Accuracy Within the Manufacturing Industry
You may be surprised to learn that 81% of brand owners and contract manufacturers rely on email, spreadsheets and phone calls to manage complex workflows. In our fast-paced environment, reliable access to high-quality, accurate data is critical, yet difficult to achieve with outdated tools.
As Steve explained, the stakes are high and organisations can quickly lose control of their operations without the right data. Even worse, key stakeholders may begin losing confidence in your business. Leaders must have access to the right information immediately so that they can weigh options quickly and make informed decisions on the spot to benefit not only their stakeholders, but also their teams and reputations.
A prominent takeaway for me is that digital transformation can liberate people to produce higher value work. It can help them upskill and improve their working lives as opposed to the opposite, and that’s something we should all pursue for ourselves and those around us.
Thank you to Thomas, Richard, and Steve for taking the time to share their insights and experience, and to the BCMPA for hosting the panel session and running a fantastic conference. Nulogy was proud to sponsor this important annual event, and I look forward to attending next year.
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Whether you’re new to the co-packing industry or have been around for a while, you’ve probably realised one truth: the only constant in our industry is change. A great example of this, of course, is the COVID pandemic, which brought supply chain networks to their knees and exposed existing vulnerabilities in the way we operate.
An impressive 96% of companies are now accelerating digital transformation activities to build resilience against disruption, and that’s good news considering our industry continues to deal with headwinds such as economic uncertainty, rising costs, labour shortages and shifting consumer behaviours.
Digitalisation has emerged as an invaluable tool for improving operational efficiency, accelerating time to market, keeping pace with customer expectations, and reducing costs, but how does software drive real-world benefits in co-packing? What can your organisation gain from deploying a purpose-built solution?
To answer these questions and better understand how co-packers are leveraging digitalisation to future-proof their operations, Nulogy co-hosted a webinar with BCMPA, the Association for Contract Manufacturers, Packers, Fulfilment and Logistics. We were joined by two co-packing leaders who are actively using Nulogy’s system in their operations:
I had the pleasure of moderating the event with the support of Emma Verkaik, CEO of BCMPA, and have three insights that may help future-proof your co-pack operation.
1. The old adage, “don’t fix what’s not broken,” doesn’t apply to digitalisation
It’s all too common for co-packers, or any business, to wait until a solution is no longer working before they try to find a better way, but you may be surprised to learn that many companies come to Nulogy because things are going well – and they want to continue on that trajectory.
As our panelists explained, in times of rapid growth it is not necessarily sustainable for organisations to continue relying on solely the experience of seasoned personnel and their existing processes.
As a result, many leaders are recognising that they need a digital solution to take their operations to that next level. As such, high growth is often the tipping point prompting businesses to digitalise, as scalability can be seriously impeded by legacy systems and data inadequacy. With a modern system, businesses have the ability to democratise organisational intelligence across the entire enterprise. Now instead of relying on that one operations manager who “knows everything”, even your new people can access key information rapidly. Whether it’s generating an estimate, understanding the causes of downtime, or updating a customer on the status of a job, real-time information is at everyone’s fingertips.
2. Building a future-proof co-pack operation takes a village
Top-down support is critical when implementing any new solution and leadership is increasingly on board when it comes to digitalisation, with 87% of senior executives identifying the activity as an organisational priority. The trouble is, nearly 40% of employees report difficulty adapting to digital technologies and 70% of all change management programs fail due to a lack of employee buy-in. For any digital initiative to be successful, everyone has to be on board.
That’s why Emma and I, as well as our panelists, recommend working with a provider who is not only a vendor, but a partner actively engaged in your organisation’s success. As our panelists learned while deploying Nulogy, an effective partner streamlines the training process and helps identify strategic objectives, as well as how to meet them, early on.
With a clearly articulated message from leadership, and an easy-to-use system supported by robust training and support, employees quickly realise that digitalisation isn’t about re-skilling or replacing them. In fact, it can enhance their opportunity to deliver higher-value work by eliminating time-consuming and inefficient manual processes.
3. Digitalisation is good for business, and customer retention
Modern supply chains move at lightspeed and having the ability to keep pace with evolving customer demands is paramount in contract packing. For facilities that rely on paper forms and spreadsheets, determining whether they can rapidly shift production is extremely difficult and, failure to act fast, can result in costly downtime or a decline in customer satisfaction.
Successful co-packers have to meet their customers where they are, and the best way to do that is by having a solution that provides real-time visibility into their operations. With a heightened level of visibility, co-packers are able to manage order changes with ease, identify and communicate potential quality concerns early on to reduce the risk of recalls, and foster strong, mutually beneficial relationships with customers.
Access the on-demand webinar for more insights
It was truly a pleasure to co-host the “Digitalising Your Co-pack Operation to Improve Efficiency, Profitability, and Customer Responsiveness” webinar alongside Emma. The panel discussion was an insightful experience for anyone working in the field of contract packing and logistics.
I want to extend additional thanks to Anita and Michael for taking the time to join our webinar and helping us keep a pulse on the industry through their experiences. It is also greatly affirming to hear their stories about how Nulogy’s system is transforming their operations.
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Production scheduling is the central nervous system of every contract manufacturer and co-packer. Every day on the line and in the office, contract packaging providers must juggle a variety of orders, materials, and deadlines. In addition to managing materials consumption, inventory counts, production times and labor requirements, they also have to dynamically manage unexpected timelines or rush orders from consumer brand customers.
For co-pack providers, though, the status quo for production scheduling management has been through Excel spreadsheets built and managed by hand over time. As we all know, the contract manufacturing and co-packing industry is accelerating every day, and spreadsheets are woefully inadequate for keeping up with the speed of today’s market.
Why?
Spreadsheets are error prone
Historical studies on corporate spreadsheet usage found the following:
Powell, Baker and Lawson estimated that roughly 94% of spreadsheets deployed in the field contain errors.
Coopers and Lybrand found 90% of all spreadsheets more than 150 rows contain errors.
KPMG found 91% of spreadsheets contain errors.
Chances are if you are using spreadsheets for production scheduling, those spreadsheets have errors.
Knowledge is difficult to transfer
Knowledge is usually locked in to the individual that has developed and maintained the spreadsheet—a scenario involving business risk. As well, a spreadsheet that resides on a single machine makes it difficult to roll out spreadsheet-based production scheduling to multiple sites.
Files become too bulky
Spreadsheets become heavier and bulkier when adding more functions. Production scheduling requires an array of lookups and macros which will grow the file size to hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes. The file could take a long time to open, or it may become unable to open because of its size.
A spreadsheet that may work for you today may become unusable tomorrow. So, what does a good scheduling solution for a contract supplier operation look like?
How a Software Solution Can Revolutionize Your Production Scheduling
Based on Nulogy’s deep experience in the contract manufacturing and co-packing industry, we’ve highlighted a few key capabilities of a digital solution that can enable a robust and agile production scheduling process:
Provides a single source of truth that is easily shared internally and externally
Provides the flexibility to evaluate schedule changes through what-if scenarios before committing the schedule for execution
Handles conflicts and actively notifies the user of over-scheduled or under-scheduled work orders to allow the user to work by exception and spend more time on value-adding activities.
The Nulogy Production Scheduling software offering is specifically designed to meet the needs of contract manufacturers and co-packers with the following features:
Drag-and-drop scheduling to help planners do their jobs more effectively—not to automate their job
Enables scheduling adjustments in real-time without needing to wait for an algorithm to respond
Assesses key factors (e.g., due dates, labor requirement, line availability, run rates, etc.) and their impacts on the production schedule
Seamless connectivity to other modules in the Nulogy Platform and to 3rd party manufacturing operations systems.
With a digital tool that is purpose-built for scheduling contract packaging and manufacturing operations, free your business to move at the speed and flexibility needed to stay competitive in today’s market. Not only will you make planning and scheduling more efficient, but you will also be able to respond faster and more accurately to customer demands, and prime your operations for future growth and success.
Contact us to learn more about how Nulogy’s Production Scheduling software can drive value for your contract manufacturing or co-packing business.
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You may have seen the name PackManager closely associated with Nulogy over the years. But what is PackManager, and where did it go? With the hope of clearing up this leftover confusion—I’d like to share a brief history of our Shop Floor Solution.
2002-2017: PackManager
In case you didn’t know: before Nulogy developed the suite of products and services it offers today, our Shop Floor Solution was our core product offering, and was known as PackManager (sometimes erroneously spelled as Pack Manager or Packmanager). Named after the solution’s focus on digitally optimizing contract packaging (co-packing) operations, PackManager became synonymous with Nulogy, and Nulogy synonymous with PackManager. As the ONLY contract packaging solution on the market, this name suited the product well for many years. The growth of the market, however, spurred the need for change.
2018-2021: Nulogy Operational Solution
As contract packaging became a greater need for FMCG companies, additional players beyond dedicated co-packers started entering the market. We saw the gradual shift of contract manufacturers, as well as third-party logistics providers offering value-added services, starting to provide more contract packaging services, and like dedicated co-packers, also lacking the digital tools needed to effectively manage their shop floors. And so Nulogy invested in product innovations that would meet the needs of these additional markets. As a result, PackManager entered into a new era and was rebranded as Nulogy’s Operational Solution, a more suitable name that matched Nulogy’s growing coverage within supply chain operations.
Present Day: Nulogy Shop Floor Solution
Over the years, Nulogy’s suite of products has continued to evolve with the needs of the industry. Since the fledgling years of Nulogy and the birth of PackManager, the world—and the consumer goods market—has drastically changed.
What hasn’t changed, however, is Nulogy’s mission: to solve the most compelling challenges within the extended supply chain.
Twenty years ago, the most pressing issues on the co-pack shop floor were around managing labor, materials, and capacity in an efficient and cost-effective way, and we’ve spent the past two decades solving that problem and becoming the gold standard for digitalizing co-pack operations.
Today, the most pressing issues are around collaboration and visibility between trading partners within supply networks, and we have focused our innovation and resources toward solving problems in multi-enterprise collaboration between manufacturers and their extended supply chain partners – including contract packagers, contract manufacturers, and other types of upstream suppliers.
But we never forget our roots. Today, our two flagship solutions are:
The Nulogy Shop Floor Solution, which was built from the foundation of the original PackManager solution, digitalizes contract packaging and manufacturing operations and enables businesses to operate more efficiently and profitably while improving agility, quality and service levels.
The Nulogy Supplier Collaboration Solution, which enables seamless data collaboration across the supply ecosystem on a cloud-based, multi-echelon network where any party can be a source of demand and/or supply.
These solutions contribute to Nulogy’s newest mission: to enable and drive forward the adoption of multi-enterprise collaboration between supply chain partners for more efficient, sustainable supply chains.
Learn more about the Shop Floor Solution
I hope you enjoyed this quick peek into Nulogy’s history around PackManager, and how the history of a product name can illustrate our own company mission and need for continual evolution and improvement.
Want to learn more about Nulogy’s Shop Floor Solution? Visit our Solution page to learn more about how we can drive agility and profitability for your business.
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Shop FloorPurpose-built software for co-packers and contract manufacturers to manage production, labor, and inventory in real time.More
BrochureShop Floor SolutionDiscover how Nulogy enables manufacturers, co-packers, value-added 3PLs and raw and packaging suppliers to operate more efficiently and profitably.More
Supplier CollaborationConnect, collaborate, and synchronize your extended supply chain at the speed of today’s market.More
Why NulogyNulogy offers the ONLY multi-enterprise solution focused on the “upstream” portion of the supply chain.More
Contract packaging service providers today have more than enough to worry about. To deliver on customer demands and provide high-quality customer service in a disruptive, ever-changing industry, they need to be lean, nimble, and efficient in their operations.
The truth, however, is that many co-packers and value-added co-pack operations aren’t equipped to optimally meet these demands. Their existing shop floor setups are enabled by cumbersome spreadsheets or legacy ERP systems—which don’t provide detailed visibility into inventory movement and consumption—and cannot support the complex workflows found in a contract packaging operation.
When staff in a co-packing operation are second-guessing what’s happening on their shop floors due to lack of real-time information, how can their customers have confidence in their operations? This level of risk can jeopardize long-term business viability.
Here are three ways a purpose-built software solution for co-pack service providers can solve visibility, reliability, and efficiency issues to ensure long-term business success:
Raise the bar for operational workflows
Today’s supply chain challenges demand evolved solutions. In a world where change can happen suddenly, at any scale and at any time, antiquated solutions will stifle growth and speed. Spreadsheets take too much time and effort to maintain, creating costly response lag a contract supplier can’t afford.
Likewise, ERP systems have their place in a contract supplier operation, but are inadequate as a means to manage and track production lines and output. Optimized production efficiency requires a system that provides real-time information into what is happening on the shop floor. ERP systems were not designed for this purpose.
What’s required is a purpose-built, digital solution for production processes—the right solution for the right job—that provides the robust capabilities and real-time visibility to support and effectively scale with your business.
“CPCMs are investing more to evolve their sophistication in technology. They are now using technology as a sword instead of a shield.”
-Carl Melville, Author of the CPA State of the Industry Report
Gain visibility and control over operations
One of the biggest strengths of a purpose-built, digital end-to-end solution is the ability to provide real-time visibility across the entire shop floor, from receiving and multi-stage manufacturing processes, to packaging and shipping. Here are just a few ways the right solution can benefit a contract supplier’s bottom line:
Visualize and optimize production schedules based on current demand, downtimes, run rates, and more
Digitalize production execution processes on the shop floor to help bolster through-put, reduce costs and unveil valuable insights
Track and report KPIs for long-term business success.
Build business resilience
Disruptions can come at any time, at any level and in any form. Contract packagers and manufacturers continually weather these disruptions big and small, and understand the business risk of being caught flat-footed.
Disruptions are inevitable, whether it be to brand customers or to the global supply chain. For safety, insurance, and establishing a reputation as trustworthy and reliable, it’s crucial for contract packagers and manufacturers to begin safeguarding their operations today.
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We needed to implement a new production floor platform in a matter of days, not weeks. Nulogy was nimble, efficient and collaborative in a way that partnered with us to meet our needs.
As the economy rebounds from the market conditions of the past 18 months, consumer brands and their supply chain partners expect to capitalize on the surge in consumer spending. Is your business ready to take advantage of these new opportunities?
Now is the best time to ensure that your services and business can withstand the uncertainties of the future.
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Digitalisation of contract packing is essential to ensure we can keep pace with growth. It was clear we had a strategic opportunity to leverage Nulogy’s cloud-based software.
What challenges and opportunities do co-packers face in today’s market? To help answer this question, Nulogy hosted a webinar titled Head of the Pack: Insights From Leading Co-Packers on Staying Ahead of the Curve. This webinar featured three industry-leading contract packaging providers to discuss strategies and technologies that have helped them stay ahead of the competition in today’s volatile market.
I had the privilege of moderating the discussion panel, which featured:
David Freed, CIO & Head of Sustainability Strategy, MSI Express
Maquilas del Bajío is a contract packager serving a number of global consumer brands, with three locations operating in central Mexico.
GH Manufacturing is a contract packaging provider operating in Ontario, Canada for more than 20 years, and a specialized converter of high-quality polyethylene bags on wickets.
MSI Express is a contract packager and manufacturer delivering services to Fortune 500 food & beverage companies, with 15 facilities across six states in the U.S.
Amidst ongoing challenges such as labor constraints, rising costs, and customers’ increasingly complex requirements, the panelists offered valuable insights into successful approaches for responding swiftly to dynamic market conditions, reducing operational waste, and enhancing customer satisfaction.
During the discussion, the panelists identified three key areas of optimization for co-packers.
1. Evolve your data flow to support customer needs
With rising costs and inflation impacting all parties in the supply chain, customers of co-pack providers are increasingly looking for greater collaboration from their partners in the following ways:
Greater data visibility – Customers are seeking more granular visibility into order statuses, delivery times, and fulfillment deadlines among their trading partners. This additional visibility can help customers stay on top of order planning and better manage their network capacity, resulting in faster response times to the Bullwhip Effect in their supply chains.
Modernized data integrations – Following up on the previous point, ensuring modern and scalable data integrations are appealing to brand manufacturing customers. Accurate, timely, and automated data flow can strengthen order collaboration between parties, and is increasingly becoming a requirement for the largest consumer brands.
Outsourced capabilities – Some customers are looking to outsourced partners to orchestrate more of their supply chain operations, such as vendor and supplier management. Just as the demand for complex co-packing can be a growth opportunity, there are similar business opportunities to companies that can manage these outsourced supply chain functions through strong data flow processes.
For all the panel participants, data collaboration has proven valuable in maintaining and growing customer relationships, and ensuring that they stay top of mind as strategic partners to their customers.
2. Manage market complexity with shop floor digitalization
All three panelists agreed that digitalization plays a critical role in ensuring efficient and accurate co-pack operations, especially in the face of ongoing labor constraints and complexity of customer demands. On the labor front, the value of a digitalized shop floor lies in enabling staff to do their most productive work by unburdening them from the manual, day-to-day tasks that encumber their schedules.
The panelists also recalled the state of their operations before Nulogy, when production tracking and management was done manually, leading to long lead times or even delays in data entry. After implementing Nulogy, they are now able to harness real-time information about their production lines and order statuses, which in turn enables them to lower administrative costs and increase their order capacity, as well as improve their ability to fulfill more complex orders.
Digitalization also enables co-packers to operate with more flexibility while maintaining high quality and production levels. The panelists emphasized that this system of working cannot be replicated by competitors that aren’t using the same systems.
As a result, a digitalized shop floor becomes a competitive edge.
3. Ensure that technology serves the people
The previous two themes dovetailed into the topic that was arguably the most important: change management, or how technology is adopted at all levels within the organization.
All panelists believed that strong team communication was vital to onboarding a new system and showing how it can bring value to staff and their roles. They emphasized that any newly onboarded technology needed to be in service of the people on the floor, because “implementing a new system won’t matter if staff aren’t willing to use it.”
A major success factor in change management, the panel further explained, is being able to reframe the value of software: for the staff on the shop floor, their priority isn’t about feeding data into internal systems or effectively running reports—it is about getting orders out the door. Software needs to be able to make them better and faster at achieving that goal, and making their lives easier by reducing the busy work and paperwork in their day-to-day roles.
Finally, the panel stressed that even in a successful environment, change management is an ongoing process of continual improvement, because every person in an organization can always learn more, and every organization has room to improve and grow.
Learn more about how digitalization can benefit your bottom line
Digitalization is a business strategy that can benefit all parties involved with an organization: from internal stakeholders such as executives and shop floor staff, to customers and even vendors and suppliers.
In a market where delays and demand changes can come suddenly and without warning, it is more crucial than ever to leverage technology to ensure your co-pack operations are nimble enough to respond while maintaining the high level of service for which you’re known.
Thank you again to our panelists for sharing their time and experience with Nulogy. For more co-packing insights from industry leaders, watch the full webinar.
To learn more about how Nulogy can help optimize your shop floor’s efficiency and profitability, visit our Shop Floor Solution page.
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StreamWebinar: Insights from Nulogy Customers on Staying Ahead of the CurvePanel discussion featuring contract packagers and logistics companies discussing strategies and technologies that have helped them stay ahead of the curve.More
Shop FloorPurpose-built software for co-packers and contract manufacturers to manage production, labor, and inventory in real time.More
It is no secret that the one-two punch of labor shortages and ongoing supply chain issues have created an unsustainable environment for co-packers and contract manufacturers.
The challenges of today’s labor market are numerous and well documented: the industry continues to feel the aftershocks of the “Great Resignation,” coupled with the “gray wave” of retirees walking away from businesses with their corporate history/knowledge. These shifts in the market landscape have resulted in a dramatic skills shortage for co-packer businesses, coupled with a push for higher wages.
Additionally, global supply chains, already fragile and taxed over the last three years, have deteriorated even further, and industries from automotive and aerospace to food and beverage are still trying to recover. Supply chain challenges are also numerous, from demand variability and capacity constraints to sustainability requirements and variable customer expectations.
To navigate the myriad of industry challenges and better serve their brand customers, forward looking co-packers and contract manufacturing enterprises understand that shop floor digitalization can future-proof their operations by enhancing operational efficiency, cost savings and shop floor control. A digital shop floor solution also builds responsiveness and resilience into these business operations, preparing them for future disruptions and demand spikes.
I believe there are three major benefits of digitalizing the shop floor for co-packers and their manufacturers.
Digitalizing the Shop Floor Improves Operations
Digitalizing co-packer shop floors enables data automation to significantly optimize production operations. Amongst the businesses using the Nulogy Platform, we have seen increased profitability, improved reaction to supply/demand changes, and sharply reduced probability of errors resulting from manual processes.
By evolving beyond paper-based processes, spreadsheets and an over-reliance on employees’ tribal knowledge, digitalized co-packers and contract manufacturers gain more shop floor control and visibility into both inventory management and production-related workflows.
As well, profitability increases and capital expenditure decreases as co-packers and manufacturers automate materials planning, maximize line utilization, and increase capacity while reducing waste.
Another benefit of a digitized co-packer shop floor is improved responsiveness throughout shop floor operations as co-packers and manufacturers gain efficiencies in scheduling and communicating with clients, responding to changes and rush orders, and capturing and collaborating on ERP data.
The ability to connect and collaborate with the entire supply ecosystem in real time is essential for co-packers and their manufacturing partners, especially in terms of collaboration. They require an automated data flow with reliable, time-sensitive and secure intelligence – and ways to save time spent on administrative, non-value-added activities. Customers gain better visibility into orders and their status.
Digitalizing the Shop Floor Alleviates Labor Related Constraints
Co-packers and contract manufacturers are keenly aware of the skills and labor constraints brought on by the pandemic and the wave of Baby Boomer retirements.
We foresaw looming labor shortages and skills gaps in a blog we wrote five years ago, looking at the best ways to apply technology to better empower labor underemployment, and eliminate wasted or non-value-added labor. Process digitization frees up staff from time-consuming manual processes relating to, for example, procurement or external suppliers, while improving their ability to see across the company and the ecosystem to communicate better, respond faster, and facilitate collaboration. Digitization knocks down historical information silos.
We needed to implement a new production floor platform in a matter of days, not weeks. Nulogy was nimble, efficient and collaborative in a way that partnered with us to meet our needs.
When individual workers of a co-packer are the sole possessors of critical knowledge and historical experiences, their retirement or resignation poses an immediate problem. By digitizing the shop floor, all the operational knowledge related to the co-packer remains embedded in the system and is retained by the business. Digitization maintains productive operations regardless of the workforce running them. With one centralized platform, companies can maintain and document real-time inventory counts, for example, and monitor production with real-time data, rather than depending on the employees most familiar with a particular production process. Enterprises gain standardized processing, data collaboration and improved efficiency. Digitized solutions deliver visibility, control and agility on the shop floor.
Another growing factor to consider is that younger workers are more attracted to digitized enterprises that incorporate digital tools, IoT processes, AI, virtual reality, mobile applications and more. Paper-based processes won’t cut it with today’s generation of new workers. This new generation of talent will expect organizations to have the modern tools that will enable them to be more productive and value-added.
Digitalizing the Shop Floor Improves Collaboration With Customers
By digitalizing the shop floor, co-packers gain essential visibility into their processes, gaining greater inventory accuracy, improved collaboration and increased customer satisfaction. They can deliver better outcomes to their brand customers with increased quality and timeliness.
Real-time or near-real-time data and intelligence further promotes ecosystem collaboration for co-packers with their brand customers. It also saves time, resources and costs while establishing confidence and maintaining their reputation with their customers.
When we’re going after a new customer or we’re growing a relationship with a current customer or partner, Nulogy allows us to deepen our relationship, making decisions together knowing we’re on the same page.
Automated solutions promote an improved level of responsiveness in the entire ecosystem, so co-packers can respond quickly to orders and changes, and deliver real-time status updates. Having a centralized platform and one version of the truth optimizes in-progress order tracking. Order accuracy is increased over error-prone manual processes.
Digitalization leverages collaboration with partners and improvements across the entire enterprise, including production scheduling and management, materials planning, warehouse management, quality inspections and more.
Begin the Digitalization Journey Today
Shop floor digitalization addresses many challenges posed by the skills/labor shortages and supply chain disruptions that have defined the last two years. Hundreds of sites around the world are using software such as Nulogy to build resilience and efficiency into their shop floor operations. It is more critical than ever to prepare for the unforeseen future, and there is no better time than today to start your digitization journey.
