Typical for industrial service parts is the 'high mix/low volume' issue where a large diversity of products with different fragility comes along, all of which have to be rushed to the customer. After all, a costly machine stands still and that costs your customer money.
You receive the service parts in different packaging. Soon the question arises: should you repackage them or not, can you leave the name of the original supplier on them? Especially if you deliver worldwide, you must ask yourself whether the product is sufficiently protected against influences during transport such as:
- Bumps and vibrations of material handling systems
- Bumping at transhipment points
- Vibrations of aircraft or trucks
- Climate change (especially sea freight)
If you are not careful, it can also cost you money by not receiving a follow-up order. And you definitely want to avoid that. So let's take a look at what problems you might run into when it comes to packaging industrial service parts.
From practice, we can easily derive a 'top 8' of common problems:
1. "I'll leave it to my supplier"
With a bullet point on 1, remember that in 99% of cases your supplier does not know how your service logistics work. He specialises in manufacturing the part and will therefore often ship the product by truck (low risk). Any random box, sometimes with some padding, is often enough for him. And prove him wrong.
Packaging proliferation
If you do not have a policy on the packaging that can be used, it is guaranteed to result in a proliferation of packaging.
We often hear "if we use a standard range packaging, we will transport more empty air". In theory this is true, but in practice you will see just the opposite. After all, a packer or supplier does not always go looking for the box or packaging that fits the parcel perfectly. The box that is closest and certainly not too small will be used. Because the packer does not get the time to really select. As a result, for 1 product, 5 different packages are chosen with quite a lot of empty space!
A common phenomenon throughout the supply chain is the need to repackage due to damaged packaging or too many shipping labels. It is not always easy to find an identical box, especially when it is a sensitive product with custom-made interior. After all, the interior must match the box perfectly so that it retains its protective function!
Jumble of labelling - unprofessional look
The packaging is simply the first thing your customer or Field Service Engineer sees. If it looks slick and uniform every time, it makes a professional impression. But all too often, packers do not have examples or instructions available of labelling and carriers are not adequately informed. For this reason, random labelling appears on packaging, depending on the packer or shipper.
It is also common for an old label to cause the part to be delivered incorrectly or quarantined because they don't know where to send it. You should avoid that, especially when your customer is urgently waiting for this product...
Written instructions
Until 10 years ago, you probably worked with hand-written instructions with a single picture. But let's be honest: who reads these instructions? At most, an avid newcomer.
The development of the smartphone, tablet and computer make written instructions even less attractive. After all, we are now visually oriented. Photos already help to some extent, but the best instructions are still via videos or animations. Moreover, today's technologies and internet speeds make dissemination easier.
Outdated instructions
Another well-known phenomenon is that engineers take great pains, from the 'ISO 9001' idea, to create work instructions, including for packaging. When we want to evaluate them a year later, they turn out to be under a thick layer of dust (if we can find them at all) and are often already outdated. After all, it often requires complex organisation to implement such changes, including in the supply chain.
Rotating workers in packaging departments
Especially in packaging departments, companies often use rotating workers, who are brought in as temporary workers in peak days. Those new employees are expected to immediately understand how you pack, taking into account the fragility of the lot. This task will become very difficult, if not impossible, if you do not instruct them unambiguously. This obviously takes extra familiarisation time, but the operation needs to go on as smoothly as possible with the small margins available. This is where we often see a split, where all too often we find that this packer is insufficiently instructed.
Large supply chain
"The larger my supply chain the more often I have to repack." 7.
This statement is true in more than 90% of cases. We find that companies throw away a lot of packaging and sometimes create unnecessary handling. This is not in line with the lean process idea. The biggest
problem is that optimisation per company has the opposite effect throughout the supply chain. Unfortunately, few companies have a good helicopter view on this and offer a corresponding policy.
No consideration for return flows
Make your packaging one-way. This is no problem when you have relatively cheap parts and they actually go one-way. However, the trend is that we increasingly want to know what is wrong with the part or that we have an obligation to dispose of the part responsibly. Therefore, it is often very convenient to use the same packaging for return transport as well. This return packaging is often just a little, really not a lot, stronger, but most of all there is better thought about reusability by the Field Service Engineers.
How to improve
We see these issues come up with great regularity. Many companies think that these issues are difficult to prevent or solve, but the opposite is true.
With a fairly simple packaging policy that you spread through good communication within your own organisation and to the other links in your supply chain, many of these problems can be prevented relatively easily.
Johan Faes - Consultancy on packaging
