The Logistical Lowdown

First impressions can be everything when it comes to the way people perceive your brand, especially when the stakes are high and you’re up against the fierce competition. For many manufacturers and retailers, the opportunity for attracting new customers and making an excellent first impression that lasts lies in the secondary packaging of their product.

Contract packaging, or co-packing, has become a vital manufacturing option for many companies that don’t have the resources to manage the process effectively by themselves. Logistics businesses — especially those in the food and beverage, health, and pharmaceutical industries — that capitalize on this service can produce large orders without having to scale their manufacturing practices or staff, giving them a lot of advantages over their competition.

In previous posts, we’ve talked about why you should use a contract packager, and how to choose a contract packager. Now it’s time to talk about the different packaging services a contract packager can provide.

Contract packaging involves packaging products into two main categories – Primary and Secondary packaging.

• Primary packaging consists of the first layer of containment that comes in direct contact with the product.
• Secondary packaging is any packaging material that secures or otherwise protects the product in its primary packaging.

In today’s competitive market, businesses everywhere are taking a closer look at their operations to try to minimize costs. One method companies are using is to outsource one or more of their processes to other companies so they can focus on optimizing their core operations. For instance, a consumer goods manufacturer might outsource the packaging of their product to a contract packager.

In the packaging industry, sometimes there are discrepancies between what a company says they do and what the industry would say they do. This causes confusion and can make it difficult to determine what you are looking for when considering outsourcing packaging processes. The key to avoiding this is familiarizing yourself with the industry terms and distinguishing which of them best describes your operations. To help with this process, here are some terms that seem to cause the most trouble.