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:
- Anita Donohoe, Group MD Logistics & Fulfilment at Kinaxia Logistics
- Michael Briggs, Managing Director at Marsden Packaging Limited
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.
For more insights on leveraging data and connectivity in supply chain, watch the full Nulogy webinar, Digitalising Your Co-pack Operation to Improve Efficiency, Profitability, and Customer Responsiveness.
