4 Reasons Your Business Is Ready For A Co-Packer

Is your business having growing pains and looking to scale with the right Co-Packer? Well here are 4 signs your business is ready for a Co-Packer!

Running a business can be a highly rewarding job. Whether it is creating a new product, designing the perfect packaging, or delivering your product to retailers, running a business takes a lot of work - and there are bound to be pain points as you grow.

But how much of your time are you needing to focus on your supply chain? The details, price, and operation as a whole.

This only leaves you so much time to focus on your core business! If you’re looking to scale, but need help, this may be the perfect time to find a Co-Packer.

Contact Bennett today about Co-Packing

A Co-Packer is a company that manufactures and packages products for clients. They focus on the supply chain, logistics, assembly, and even fulfillment. Outsourcing your manufacturing to a co-packer allows you to scale-up and meet a growing demand without having to invest in your own equipment. This is crucial for businesses that need help scaling.

Small teams are often doing double and triple duty, which means they aren’t focused on each aspect of the business. And having to learn about an industry outside of your core product and business can mean starting from scratch.

A Co-Packer offers expertise, access to resources, and not to mention it frees you up to focus on your business.

But are you ready for a Co-Packer?

In order to know if your business is ready for a Co-Packer, there are a few things to consider.

You have a product, and you’re selling it quite well. And now you’ve been working to build relationships with retailers to start selling your products to more customers.

Mass production like this requires a detailed plan for all aspects of production. Your supply chain is crucial to fully understand.

Before you begin your search for a Co-Packer, you will need to make sure your product is scalable to fulfill the Co-Packers minimum. You need to have relationships and agreements in place to insure you can scale your production.

Next is one of the most important considerations.

Determining if your product has the ability to increase its demand plays a critical role in deciding if you are ready to work with a Co-Packer. Every Co-Packer will require a minimum volume to start a production.

That can be hundreds or thousands of units that are needed to start an order.

If the current demand of your product isn’t high enough to meet the minimum, then you may be looking at an investment that is greater than your business will return - or can even handle!

If you are trying to determine your current demand and how it compares to a Co-Packer’s minimum, here are a few things to consider:

Your product demand can fluctuate as much as the stock market! Today’s demand can be completely different compared to tomorrow’s demand.

Whether you’re looking to establish a relationship with a retailer for the holidays, or you are working to sell in bulk with a Dump Bin display - your future demand can be hard to predict.

Understanding how these demands can change over the year will help you understand if you can commit to a Co-Packer’s minimum.

Now consider your product’s shelf life. No matter what the demand is, meeting the Co-Packer’s minimum might be possible if your product has a long enough shelf life.

Example:

Imagine if your Co-Packer has a minimum of 2,000 units per production run.

If your product’s shelf life is one year, and the projected demand is roughly 500 units a month, a single production run would produce enough units to fulfill four months of market demand.

If your product’s shelf life is extremely stable, it could be worth investing a single production run to see if you can sell more products! Though, you would need to consider other costs, like Warehousing + Storage, more on that later.

Next, calculate the costs associated with the financial investment of a Co-Packer.

A Co-Packer gives you the ability to lower the cost-per-unit with bulk manufacturing, but there are other costs that come along with the service.

Some are visible, and others are hidden.

Consider the cost of your packaging. Are you providing your own packaging to the Co-Packer, or do you need one who can create it for you? Both options have their own costs.

Are you delivering a finally packaged product, or your product and your packaging separate?

This involves shipping both items safely, and as efficiently as possible to reduce costs, and ensuring that your inventory lists are accurate every step of the way.

Or are you delivering your product, and asking the Co-Packer to assemble the final packaging for you?

Maintaining the integrity of your products is an important part of the production process. Consider it when weighing the benefits of creating the packaging yourself, or having the co-packer do it for you.

Learn more about our Custom Packaging.

A service that Co-Packers offer is product assembly, and fulfillment. The range of the service can depend on your needs, but it’s worth considering.

You will need to provide assembly instructions, and have a quality check of all the items upon receiving the finals.

With an experienced Co-Packer, you won’t have to worry about many issues. They can build inspection points into the process, and have the trained team members who focus on this aspect of production.

One of the best services a Co-Packer brings you is the expertise of their Packaging Analysis. The best Co-Packers can work with you during the design process to reduce the amount of “air” in your packaging.

By doing this, they help your packaging be much more efficient, and help reduce costs across the entire supply chain! The numbers add up quickly.

If you’re storing your products, that means your leasing space. Can you support the expansion of your business? Or do you need a Co-Packer who has already made the investment?

Our Warehouse storage is completely secure, underground, and even climate controlled!

Finally, a Co-Packer can offer you extreme integration as a 3PL. Third-Party Logistics becomes a true extension of your business, and offers a range of services with a single phone call.

They will handle the shipping of your products, once they’re packed, and send them to retailers nationwide.

We offer “Final-Mile Delivery Notification”, which sends you an email with all paperwork when your delivery is within the final mile of their route.

The last thing to consider is if you truly understand what a Co-Packer does. Hopefully by now, you’ve done that, but you need to be sure it’s the right fit for your company.

Investigate each Co-Packer. Ask for their minimums and what their services are. Ask about other clients they’ve had in the past, and if they have experience with your product type.

Each Co-Packer has different services and costs, and it may take time to find the right fit.

The Complete Guide To Co-Packing

What is a 3PL?

Bennett is a premier packaging and retail displays manufacturing company striving to protect and promote our clients' products with customized corrugated solutions. When you work with us, you’re part of the family. We will partner with you every step of the way.

With our fully-integrated design-to-delivery process, we can be the single supplier source. We are an award-winning manufacturer of virtually anything corrugate. We offer everything from plain brown shipping boxes to sophisticated, high-graphic printed point-of-purchase displays, and everything in between.

Contact Bennett today about Co-Packing