by Rob Kaszubowski | CPP, Senior Packaging Engineer | Chainalytics
The tiny little word “audit” has a lot of power: It sends chills down the spines of strong men and women alike. But in the case of packaging, a periodic audit of your products, warehousing and distribution system is not to be feared and in fact has many benefits. Here are the top three:
- Uncovering potential savings you never knew existed: Just like your tax professional knows the ins and outs and loopholes of the tax system, the packaging engineers at Chainalytics know the ins and outs of packaging and supply chain and how you can maximize your returns while minimizing your spend. The key is understanding your product’s needs, from both packaging and customer experience perspectives, while also being able to protect the product during distribution throughout your supply chain, to minimize damage incidents and returns.
- Gaining a fresh set of eyes: Staring at the same problem (or tax forms) for a great length of time usually leads to frustration with minimal changes or progress being made. A fresh set of eyes can bring a new perspective to the same old problems and help you move quickly to make beneficial decisions and changes. The Chainalytics engineering team has conducted numerous packaging audits and assessments and seen many of the same problems, challenges and obstacles that may be stalling your progress.
- Getting yourself a cash-back return: Tax audits don’t often go your way. They usually mean that something in your tax filing didn’t quite add up, which in turn means you likely owe the government more money, and that’s not a good feeling. On the other hand, the overwhelming majority of our clients typically see significant cash back return with high return on investment when they hire Chainalytics for a packaging assessment. The outcome of a packaging audit leaves our clients with a list of packaging cost savings opportunities – targeted to reduce materials, improve cube utilization, increase trailer load weights and improve packaging, logistics and supply chain efficiency.
Unlike a tax audit, there is never a deadline to conduct a packaging audit or assessment. The only down side in delaying an assessment of your packaging systems is delaying your cost savings potential. If your packaging hasn’t been reviewed for supply chain cost savings in a while, there’s no better time to start than today.
Rob Kaszubowski is a senior packaging engineer in Chainalytics Packaging Optimization competency, where he is focused on reducing dimensional weight penalties and implementing packaging cost savings initiatives.
Read more about how the Chainalytics’ Packaging team helps our clients succeed:
