PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Josephine Coombe, Managing Director of Nulogy in Europe, champions the importance of digitalisation for contract packing, manufacturing and logistics firms, to bolster operational efficiency and deliver the visibility, agility and performance customers now demand.Â
FOR the contract packing and manufacturing sector, technology is now crucial to ensuring efficiency and accuracy on the shop floor. Digitalisation from Nulogy is playing a fundamental role in helping leading providers in the sector deliver by driving agility, visibility, and traceability across fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) supply chains.
Embracing the future
The labour-intensive production lines involved in many co packing operations sees many goods being reconfigured into new formats or displays often by hand for gift packs, retail displays, multi-packs and so forth. This heavy reliance on handwork and the highly variable nature of co-packing orders are often cited as barriers to potential digitalisation.
In reality however, nothing could be further from the truth, as digitalisation can support highly variable, and labour-intensive environments, enabling more responsive service and better cost control and visibility over labour investments.
While moving away from the spreadsheets, legacy systems, and paper-based processes in businesses may be perceived as more trouble than it’s worth, this is exactly how leading co-packers and 3PLs are now delivering the value-added services customers now need, all through maximising the benefits from digitalisation of their operations.
Delivering true digitalisation
Outdated, on-premises computer systems that stand in as electronic filing cabinets are frequently branded as digitalisation by in-house IT personnel, when in fact they simply house data that depends on significant manual entry and paper-based processes for their inputs, as well as typically an internal ‘expert’ who is often the only person who understands the system. This dependency on key personnel to extract data is a huge risk to businesses. True digitalisation isn’t simply a matter of converting documentation into electronic form. It’s about harvesting and leveraging data in real time, where and when it happens and enabling the intelligence that was once locked in a warehouse manager’s head alone to be usable and accessible to the right people at the right time. It is intelligent, learning and enabling continuous improvement, while not being dependent on any one individual’s actions, knowledge, or experience to work effectively.
It is workflow aligned and workflow enabling, rather than a static repository of data.
Non standardised systems, trading spreadsheets, voicemails and emails are no longer best practice in today’s volatile, fast paced consumer landscape.
With brands increasingly leaning on their external partners to help bring products to market quickly and cost effectively, the last thing that co-packers and 3PLs need is cumbersome, outdated processes to let them down. Contrary to the assumption of many, the labour-intensive nature of co-packing does not preclude purpose-built software solutions from adding significant value to the process. Digitalisation offers significant return on investment, and for many who embrace it, the journey is not as hard as they might imagine.
The benefits
In order to maintain profitable efficiency in tight markets while delivering greater service standards for their brand customers, co-packers have much to gain from investing in new ways to drive more efficient and sustainable operations. It is here that a purpose-built digital platform, like Nulogy, is delivering value to these businesses to help drive agility, visibility, and collaboration.
Increasing shop floor visibility and control
Digitalisation through Nulogy’s cloud-based Shop Floor software enables co-packers to increase their speed to market and gain much greater visibility across their operations. By knowing exactly what stock levels and order requirements exist, users maximise efficiencies in packaging operations, make better use of labour, reduce costs and support greater throughput on behalf of brands. FMCG brands are seeking these characteristics in their external supply chain partners and will reward those suppliers with a greater share of their business.
Enhancing brand collaboration
Nulogy’s Supplier Collaboration Solution, allows brands to connect and collaborate seamlessly with their co-pack and contract manufacturing suppliers. Nulogy provides a single source of truth on all production order information, materials and inventory, ensuring shared accountability on key milestones and rapid supply chain responsiveness.
Reducing waste and maximising efficiency
Brands are increasingly seeking external partners with sustainability-first mindsets. Here, again, digitalisation has a role to play, helping a business reduce its impact on the environment through efficient management of stock and avoidance of waste.
Digitalisation enables improved inventory and materials management, ensures accurate tracking of expiry dates, and enables avoidance of materials shortages, all of which leads to reduced supply chain waste and less need for expedited freight.
Improving agility in times of uncertainty
The need for agility and flexibility to handle constant change became essential, as FMCG brand owners adapted their processes and supply chain to cope. From the challenges brought on by COVID-19, to post-Brexit consequences, labour shortages, and the more recent cost-of-living crisis, the ability to react to changing market demand has been key throughout.
The need to reduce waste, adapt quickly to volatile demand, and maximise operational efficiencies in what is an increasingly unpredictable market are objectives for many. And here a digitally transformed external manufacturing and co-packing operation can deliver a raft of operational and financial benefits, and importantly, futureproof businesses right across the supply chain. With cloud-based programs, such as Nulogy, co-packing businesses in the FMCG external supply chain are building resilience into their operations to withstand whatever twists and turns the future may hold.
Future-proofing co-packing operations
Clearly, Nulogy’s cloud-based software tailored for contract packing will deliver tangible results in supply chain efficiency, quality, and profitability while reducing risk and costs – but most importantly, suppliers can strengthen and optimise service to their brand customers and earn the reputation that will win them more business.
Ultimately, innovative leaders will be those who think ahead and recognise that seizing growth opportunities demands the readiness to embrace change. And those who implement digitalisation accordingly will be those who come out on top.
