Packaging 101

Tag: Mailers

Shipping Trends Favor Parcels, Not Pallets (And Here’s Why That Matters)

Posted on by Brendan Ploen

As e-commerce continues to grow, the fulfillment process gets more complex. 

Manufacturers that are comfortable with palletized shipping may struggle with efficiency when dealing with individual parcels. Parcel shipping may be the key to keeping online consumers happy, but individual product shipments create different kinds of damage risk and cost impact than traditional bulk shipments on pallets.  

It’s essential for manufacturers to have optimized, efficient fulfillment plans in place now — or risk being left further behind. Whether you need to ship automotive parts, faucets, or electronics direct to consumers, if you’re looking to stay competitive and ahead of these new, e-commerce-fueled consumer trends, you may need to rethink your fulfillment strategy. That means taking a closer look at every step of the process, from package design and material selection to efficient ways for handling increased parcel volume and last-mile delivery.  

Here are four signs it’s time your fulfillment operation should be optimized for efficient parcel shipping.

1. Your Damage Rates Have Increased

Parcels can’t be treated like pallets. When manufacturers don’t evaluate their packaging processes for parcel shipments, product integrity can suffer and damage rates can skyrocket. Ultimately, no matter what you ship, there are many factors that contribute to high damage rates, including too little (or too much!) packaging material, incorrect packaging material, and inexperienced or rushed packers. 

The good news is that many of these factors are within your control. Sealed Air’s packaging engineers can test, design, and certify your packaging to meet ISTA and Amazon frustration-free packaging standards — while minimizing or even eliminating damage. 

2. Your Freight Costs are Rising

Changes in the way carriers determine freight costs (based on dimensional weight and not actual weight) mean that in order to minimize freight costs, your packaging processes and sometimes also materials need to change. 

Don’t assume the packaging solutions that work for palletized shipments or previous freight cost calculations will continue to work when your fulfillment center needs to add the ability to package individual parcels. Packaging experts can help make sure you’re using the right packaging solution — which isn’t always a box — and even test it to certify its performance.

3. Customer Feedback Is Flat — or Complaints Are Coming More Frequently

For today’s consumer, the bare minimum is an expectation that an order will arrive on time and in perfect condition. But consumer expectations are steadily growing. To remain competitive, table stakes are things like order trackability, quick delivery, a look and amount of packaging that delights the consumer, sustainable packaging materials, and easy returns. 

If your fulfillment practices and packaging materials aren’t meeting these criteria, you’re already behind. Fulfillment experts can help you speed up throughput and even custom printpackaging to deliver an experience that thrills your customers.

4. Your Fulfillment Center Struggles to Keep Pace With Demand

Adding or updating your processes and equipment can be a big undertaking, but it’s likely that your operation can be optimized for parcel shipments with minimal downtime. Packaging experts can help add parcel packaging to your existing fulfillment operation with solutions that can easily integrate with your existing lines for minimal disruption — no matter your setup. Your operation may just need adjustments or reconfigurations to maximize efficiency. 

Tackle Dimensional Weight by Rethinking the Box

Posted on by Brendan Ploen

While we haven’t moved into the futuristic territory of The Jetsons, major retailers like Walmart are starting to roll out drone deliveries across several U.S. states. Just because companies are being granted patents for drones and airborne fulfillment centers doesn’t necessarily mean the use of these delivery technologies is readily available. Today, tomorrow, and for quite a while, trucks will be used to transport e-commerce packages to consumers’ homes.

Courtesy: Sealed Air. Truck on the road with load of boxes. 3D Rendering

The trouble with trucks, and a big reason why drones are under consideration, is there’s not enough space inside of trailers to keep up with the increased demand of e-commerce shipments. The trucks, however, are not going to get any bigger because larger trucks require more gas, face more regulations, and need more drivers.

This challenge has forced carriers to fit more on each truck or increase the delivery fee for each shipment. Most carriers, like FedEx, have opted for the latter and now charge for space rather than weight. Dimensional weight is a pricing technique assigned to a shipment based on volume versus the actual weight of the package.

To combat these increases in shipping fees, brands must reconsider packaging materials and delivery methods to make changes that will result in smarter, smaller parcels. Thinking about three specific variables is a good place to start.

1. Be clear about damage goals. Understand what solutions offer the best protection for your needs then decide the appropriate amount of packaging material that will meet those needs while minimizing the total size of the parcel.

2. Understand throughput requirements. How many SKUs do you want to manage? You will spend more money running a slower operation than you will recover from freight savings. Be thoughtful about the packaging requirements of each SKU and how that will affect your operation.

3. Optimize the packaging operation. Retailers often overthink the process for creating shipment-ready parcels when a single packaging material can accomplish multiple jobs. The combination of resource management and operational throughput requires a delicate balance, so a little homework will go a long way to increase profits.

These variables differ across each industry or sometimes just day to day. By asking the right questions, retailers can reach an optimal balance of a fully optimized package with a lower operational burden. Reliable and cost-effective protection can be accomplished with some of our most popular packaging solutions.

Shipping mailers: These oldies but goodies are quick, affordable, and easy to use. Historically, only smaller, lighter items could be placed inside a mailer but with years of innovation and improvements, mailers can now withstand the rigors of delivery as well as traditional corrugate. They are also available in two material formats to suit your needs — paper and poly.

Durable carton wrap: This opaque film eliminates the need for a secondary corrugated box by wrapping the primary packaging to make it strong enough for solo delivery. It offers the convenience of easy-open tabs to enhance the consumer experience, while providing tear-resistant strength to maintain parcel integrity. Plus, it’s store drop-off recyclable at thousands of locations across the U.S.

Fulfillment automation: Oversized boxes are one of the leading culprits of dimensional weight charges. Our automated cartoning systems can produce corrugate packages to fit the specific size of each shipment, and our automated mailer systems use flexible film to encase products in a ready-to-ship protective parcel.

Don’t be the next company that crumbles underneath freight costs. To avoid being surprised by your next freight bill, conduct frequent operational audits to identify opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiency. By harnessing the power of packaging and technology, you can use smaller parcels to provide superior protection all while maintaining a consistent experience.

Wide baggers for apparel fulfillment

Posted on by admin

Apparel mail-order packaging is expanding due to the growth of internet shopping. The speed of getting the package out the door after it’s been ordered is critical.  It’s also important for the mail order package to arrive without any damage. Autobag’s new Autobag 600 and Autobag 650 Wide Bagging Systems are ideal for apparel fulfillment packaging. These bagging machines will accommodate a range of Autobag bags-on-a-roll and bags-in-a-box material up to 16 inches wide by 27 inches long.

The Autobag 650 Bagging System

The Autobag 650 is the same wide bagging system with a fully-integrated next-bag-out printer that eliminates the need for a separate labeling operation, increasing speed and accuracy in mail order e-commerce, prescription-by-mail, catalog order fulfillment, and frequent changeover, variable data applications.

The Autobag 650 prints and packs at speeds up to 40 bags per minute. These baggers include an AutoTouch Control Screen that provides quick and easy access to job storage and recall, on-board diagnostics, and productivity monitoring. The Autobag 600 and Autobag 650 can also be networked for full pack station integration and central monitoring. Both baggers feature an open design with fewer moving parts for longer life and ease of maintenance.

The Autobag 600 Wide Bagging System

The Autobag 600 is a semi-automatic filling and sealing machine designed for packaging large products at speeds up to 65 bags per minute. An innovative engineering design has eliminated the need for light curtains or double palm switches, while the adjustable six-inch pass-through enables faster, more efficient cycle times.

To learn about both, please visit our Bagging Systems selection today.

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