When was the last time you took time out of your busy schedule to audit your packaging process? Identify its strengths and weaknesses?
All the machinery that moves needs time to time inspection to maintain its optimal functions. There are good chances that your industrial machinery and the process you follow could implement some changes in order to increase its efficiency. The small changes could save you a few bucks and can also reduce your production time.
Sometimes those little changes are easily visible, detected and sometimes you need an expert to point out the inefficiencies. We employ a packaging film audits on a scheduled basis. Industrial experts help us gauge our performance and their advice has benefitted our organisation on numerous occasions. Sometimes a simple packaging audit is all the boost you need to ramp up your production lines.
What is a packaging film audit and why is it important?
A packaging film audit is a test to check the optimality of your industrial machinery and the processes you follow.
A controlled experiment where you test and benchmark your machinery using different parameters. The experts then use these parameters to find ways to improve efficiency and save money.
This could mean changing your packaging sequence, using different and cheaper packaging material and sometimes even eliminating unwanted processes.
What Are The Steps to Perform a Packaging Film Audit?
Pre-audit planning
You should make a list of all the necessary things you want to accomplish through the audit. Just remember that changing even one parameter could significantly impact your efficiency. Hence you should know what parameters affect you the most and try to work on those. You should set up a meeting with your expert auditor and discuss your plans for the upcoming quarter or year.
List all the pain points you experienced the previous year including the percentage of rejects, the amount of waste material produced, the quality of the product, lead time and so on.
Choosing the sample size for test
Based on your production capacity, industry size and your upcoming goals an appropriate sample must be used to perform the audit. The sample must be able to produce enough data for you to draw conclusions. The sample must be able to perform all the processes that you want to audit to give you a full understanding of your shortcomings.
Running the tests
Once your sample size has been defined you need to run the sample test through your line and monitor the process from start to finish. Note down the important data sets and record the start and end timings. The auditor will have their own parameters to analyse as they note down the visual appearances and any physical damages that may occur. They also inspect the manual processes of your labours and see how they are affecting productivity.
Assessment of data
A data assessment is carried out through Pareto analysis. First, it is important to identify the factors which affect your performance the most. This helps you analyse how each step contributes to the efficiency of the next.
If there are any changes that could be implemented easily, it is readily done and the tests are performed again to check how these changes have improved the performance. The process is repeated until you and the auditor both are convinced that the parameters are fully optimised.
What can you find out through the packaging film audit?
A packaging expert will audit all the parameters which you find necessary. Based on the data available they may be able to pinpoint the inefficiencies in the following points:
Rejected products
Product damages and rejects are inevitable. No matter how the project lines are optimised you are bound to have some share of rejected products. It is advised to add a minimum amount of rejected products in your KPIs.
There may be a case where you are producing more rejected products than your estimated value. So identifying the cause of these rejections becomes important to keep your process optimised. Whether you are using a low-quality material or maybe your machine needs some repair, the cause can be easily identified by a packaging film audit and the auditor may also suggest you both short-term and long-term solution to solve your problem.
Material specification
You may be using the wrong material to pack your product. The material may not be incorrect size, shape or thickness. A packaging film audit will help you gauge these differences and provide you with effective remedies.
Packaging appearance
While running the test your auditor will also check the visual appearance of your packaging product. Is the final product visually appealing? Is the package safely wrapped and many such questions. In most of the cases, the problem can be fixed with minor adjustments.
Downtime
If you have a large-scale industry, even a few machines undergoing downtime may cost you a lot of money. Preventive maintenance is extremely important when your process includes heavy machinery.
While auditing your packaging line the auditor may identify the cause of downtime and how it is affecting your overall productivity. Sometimes the remedies are simple but you may also need to replace or repair the machine parts if necessary. It is advised to create a maintenance plan depending upon the load your machinery carry. A maintenance guide must be circulated within your employees which will help you maintain machines in a proper condition.
How Packaging Film Audit Will Help You Save Money?The primary reason why companies opt for packaging film audit is that it always find a way to save money by pointing out inefficiencies.
The changes frequently recommended include:- Using less expensive material:Sometimes a less expensive film gives you the same quality as the expensive one and is also identical in its qualities.
- Changes in machine specification: This may include the speed with which the packaging line moves or the amount of material wrapped in each roll and other such things.
- Changing the orientation of the product: This may help in reducing the scrap material produced.
- Storage and handling improvements: Sometimes the way you store the product may be causing damages or the way your manual labour handle the equipment may need some changes. These little recommendations often provide you with a higher quality product.
- Safety precautions: This is a very critical part as no one wants their employees to face an accident while working. Proper safety measures and tools must be in place to avoid hazardous issues.
- Environmental recommendations: With fewer scrap products, less material goes into waste and also reduces the energy spent on recycling. These little things can have a huge impact on the environment.
SummaryA packaging film audit will improve the way your production line works. Next time when you face an inefficiency you may be able to identify the problem before it gets too late. Knowing when your machine may face downtime help you plan ahead and avoid unnecessary losses. Overall packaging film audit helps you move towards better efficiency.
(The writer is a FMCG marketing expert working with Parakh Group. She can be contacted at mail.snehalapte@gmail.com)