Let’s paint a picture of a company that has a new product coming to market: Research, design and development of the product is almost complete, ensuring the product is what the end user needs. Packaging and logistic services now become the main focus. There still remains unknown questions in regards to what channels the product will be sold into, who the customer will be, and where it will be sold. And management has provided no solid direction to help. How are packaging and logistic professionals to proceed? Pack Protocols will provide a few tips on how to progress when there is ambiguity in developing a packaging and logistics strategy.
In a majority of new products being released there is already a competitor in the market. For packaging and logistics a good option may be to closely study the competition. This can be done by perusing the internet, reaching out to industry experts, or conducting field research. By implementing these ideas, the packaging and logistics personnel should be able to develop packaging and logistic baselines that will be similar to the competition.
The above tip may assist with a large part of new products. What happens if there are no products similar to product being rolled out?
For new products that are unique; a great starting point is to gather a brief synopsis of the packaging and logistic landscape and adopt established packaging and logistic choices. When proceeding with recognized packaging and logistic methods, the likelihood of the product being accepted by the customer is greater.
For example; if shipping a large, custom, industrial machinery product, packaging may consist of heavy duty material such as metal or wood shipped using a trusted carrier. It may not be a good selection to use a paper material as it may or may not meet it’s intended environment. Use of a logistic carrier with no experience shipping the industrial machinery may work, but proceed cautiously and verify they can handle the shipping under the restrictions you provide them. In addition, certain customers or logistic carriers may reject the shipment because the product or packaging is “foreign” to them.
If companies believe these standards do not align with their internal or customer policies, there is always the option of improving their packaging and logistics standards to their specific needs.
With the ever changing requirements of each potential customer, developing packaging and logistic methods are not always clear cut. Identify what methods work best for your company and stick with what has been proven to be effective. If a company constantly changes the packaging and logistic operations to satisfy customer requirements, it may suffer from internal complexity issues resulting in increased costs and resources leading to a potential implosion.
Overcoming ambiguity can be a challenge to certain packaging and logistic engineers because most are trained with a focus of process. Recognition and staying abreast of new markets/customers is vital not only to business management, it has a dramatic effect to the packaging and logistic departments. If your company is in a packaging and logistics strategy pickle, feel free to reach out to Pack Protocols LLC for support.