Tag: insurance

Mitigating Risk with Borrowed Equipment

Written on by frain-sales

As consumers grow even more fickle with hyper-explosion in CPG product variety – many times Frain customers are left trying to do more with less.

This often means getting more produced from fewer resources including people and funding.

But it also means that companies must avoid putting all their eggs in one basket.

You can’t bank on one new package, flavor variation, or great idea. You need to launch several simultaneously and keep funding winners while having the ability to pull back on bad investments as quickly as possible.

Frain enables companies with flexible financing terms and speed to market services which make us uniquely positioned to help companies expand production or get a quick read on new ideas.

We have thousands of machines ready to be configured to any application and deployed quickly under rental or lease terms.

You don’t have to sell the “one” idea that you think has the best chance to win anymore. Let the market decide.

You can now focus on executing more flavors, packaging variation, etc. than your competition with rental and rapid deployed machinery.

With rental terms, you can return the equipment used to launch less profitable projects and place new funding towards new tests.

Recycling machinery barely used along with new machinery and components is something that we’ve excelled in for over 35 years.

Aside from being eco-friendly, the speed and flexibility in which we provide “borrowed” machinery are the ultimate insurance we provide our customer to help them minimize risk and maximize margins and revenue.

Take a Telescopic Approach

Written on by frain-sales

The packaging industry often revolves around uncertain futures. New products and packaging ideas come and go with new ideas constantly filling the project queue.

A companies ability to extend new offers, innovate thru testing and new ideas quickly, while maintaining core focus or retracting project load is essential.

Through a vast equipment inventory and flexible payment terms, including rental and lease, we offer companies a way to taste test equipment necessary to execute on new and incremental work, while adding insurance to projects which may need to be canceled or discontinued for whatever reason.

Moving forward is often the best way to get to a point where you can see progress is being made (or not). With Frain, you have the flexibility to get moving and return the equipment if needed based on marketplace performance.

By enabling you to make your first move sooner, we bring an iterative approach to packaging by delivering a minimalistic approach sooner while the bigger picture becomes more clear.

Frain has evolved over 35-plus years in business. From the purchase of our first machine to now having thousands of machines in inventory – we’ve wrapped our certified pre-owned machinery with integration, engineering, and technical services to customize new and used equipment alike for our customer’s applications.

With over 100 years of combined packaging engineering experience, we deliver peace of mind to your project, in addition, flexible pricing and speed to market.

Whether your running just several projects over a years time or hundreds – you can likely benefit from our experience, inventory, and services.

Let us help you extend and contract your packaging needs within a rapidly changing and demanding marketplace.

Call us today to discuss some of the projects on your horizon and how we can uniquely help deliver on them.

CPG Cinderellas

Written on by frain-sales

This time of year, many of us tune into the Men and Women’s College Basketball Tournaments, a.k.a. March Madness.

With 64 teams entering the infamous brackets, we look forward to watching little-known teams upsetting established universities.

There’s something about America where we root for the underdog and upset. And this is a month with plenty of them.

Of course, the same thing happens in real life and within the CPG space.

New “micro” products and brands enter the marketplace of established giants and upset the pool or market share with disruptive packaging ideas.

Speed kills in the game of basketball as it does within the CPG space.

Being able to get the shot off before your opponent could be the difference between going home or moving on to the next round.

Frain understands this all to well and has built our business around speed.

We help companies score more points by getting them to market sooner via rapidly deployed machinery.

We also help them guard against project failure and hold steady their cash flow position with rental terms.

Our customers get more, faster, for less. You could say it’s a critical trifecta we offer to our customers every week.

We say it’s a slam dunk.

Preserve Business

Written on by frain-sales

Whether your machinery goes down or you need to react quickly to an opportunity – being nimble enough to execute is critical.

In the event, you need a business “preserver” it’s akin to a life preserver situation.

In that type of situation, time is of the essence.

You will not stop to ponder the color or texture of the life preserver.

Similarly, in providing equipment, we provide our customers with a means of preserving business, keeping relationships, machines, projects, and production moving ahead and not sinking.

With an unknown future, you can take comfort in getting a working machine, fast, for temporary or long-term use.

We buy, sell, rent and lease approximately 9,000 machines which are quickly customized based on samples you send to us.

These are the fastest business preserving machines in the industry.

When’s the last time you secured business for pennies on the dollar?

Our customers do this time and time again.

The best ones know the system, beat the system, and leverage Frain as their secret weapon to greater market share and revenue.

Let your competitors waste time in pondering the color and texture of their preserver, while you preserve business with Frain and move forward to your next move.

Super Bowl Ready

Written on by frain-sales

With the Super Bowl Sunday approximately 4 days away, I’m taking the opportunity to draw comparisons among our industry and THE game we love to watch.

Just like Marshawn Lynch, a.k.a. beast mode, getting showered in Skittles or Bill Belichick getting soaked in Gatorade, you’re going to witness how the NFL collides with the CPG industry on the greatest stage once more on Sunday.  It’s going to be awesome.

To begin sort of a virtual tailgate conversation…Here’s a quick look at how football intersects with the packaging world and what makes Frain your key to getting the W.

Kickoff & Handoff

This year’s Super Bowl will kick off with country singer Luke Bryan singing the national anthem. At Frain, we kick off every equipment conversation with an experienced engineer, who will match you with the best processing and processing machinery, or complete packaging line.  After fully vetting your options and selecting one, we’ll also conduct a handoff call, which is a final comprehensive equipment review before you visit us for the factory acceptance test.

ryan-brady-falcons-pats

Blitz

Just as Tom Brady and Matt Ryan are sure to see rapid deployment of defensive ends coming off the edge to make a sack, Frain specializes in rapidly deploying our vast inventory of 9,000 machines, allowing you to sack your competition and maximize revenue.

Blocking and Tackling 

You don’t necessarily have the luxury of throwing your “A” team at launching new products.  No problem – use ours.  We have the team nucleus needed to get your new machinery running and field services who can install on site and service machinery to avoid downtime or overtime.

With our vast inventory and over 50 technical and engineering resources, Frain allows you to blitz revenue opportunities while insuring you with the best free safety in the game – our rental and lease purchasing term options.

Flea Flicker

Aside from the steady dose of entertainment that this matchup is certain to provide, we’ll also look forward to shenanigans and chicanery provided by halftime entertainment, Lady Gaga, and TV commercials promoting top brands in the CPG space.

According to Variety, a 30-second spot will cost over $5 million on average.

Here’s an early look at some $5-million dollar spots:

Enjoy the game!

Image Source:  www.sportsinsights.com

Show Me The Money

Written on by frain-sales

There are many options within processing machinery, packaging equipment or complete packaging lines.

And, we appreciate the customer’s journey in exploring them all.

Minutes into many conversations we have at Frain, a common request from our prospective customers is:

Customer:  I just need a price.

We understand that you need to think things over and consider all angles.  We also understand that you may not be a first-time or last-time buyer.

That’s exactly why we don’t throw machines or prices over the fence.

Instead, we take two mins to verify your specifications and confirm that we have 90% of the machinery you need.

I say 90%, because no machinery leaves as is.

It would be a dis-service to PUSH equipment at our customers that won’t work for their application, arrive on time, etc.

Countless times, after discussing details with prospective customers, we’ve pointed them into a better and less expensive solution.

At the end of the day, we are a certified pre-owned equipment and machinery provider, but we don’t just sell machines – or, pass along prices.

Frain has grown and thrived for almost 40 years and has tremendous experience to offer.

We have a fully integrated, engineering services division to help you throughout your project, before and after you purchase and receive the machinery.

We do have 9,000 machines for rent and lease in 1.5 million square feet of storage.  And, we have a growing number of technicians, approximately 50 now, who work on machinery in 50,000 square feet of our main building.

Customer:  I just need a machine.

Knowing how Frain sets our equipment up, you may never buy again without checking with us first.

Many dealers and brokers purely sell on price.  They have one or two machines that they just sell as is – they plug it in and show you that the wheels go around.

We condition or customize the machine to your needs. We back it with a 6 months parts warranty.

If you’re not completely satisfied, you can send it back to us within two weeks, no questions asked.

We specialize in speed, quality, and customization.  We can get the machine to you quickly, working as intended.

All machinery that leaves our building is completely modernized.  As far as we’re concerned all the machines are 2017 when they leave our building.

Frain is not a company that’s easy to describe over the phone, video, or even in this article.  Not until you visit us, will you really get the surround effect of Frain.

Come in and visit Frain if you have the chance.  We’re different and invite you to see the difference – first hand.

Removing Risk from Package Testing

Written on by frain-sales

It’s said that “variety is the spice of life.”  Variety is something with which we’re also all too familiar in the CPG industry.  Acquiring, retaining and expanding product usage can be achieved with new ways to deliver the same product and sometimes deliver extraordinary results thru new packaging.

Daisy Brand sour cream is a great example of a change up in packaging.  It used to be that only a parent or older sibling could be in charge of serving up sour cream, but a different sour cream package changed all that and successfully increased usage and sales for Daisy Brand.

By moving to flexible packaging, Daisy introduced a whole new set of power users, kids, now that the product was so user-friendly in its new squeezable packaging.

Mars is an example of someone we’ve worked with to increase brand revenue through changes in packaging to flexible packaging.  By introducing a new non-traditional method of packaging Starburst, Mars was able to maximize product usage in strategic consumer segments.

Previously, the confection had been individually wrapped in an accommodating foil.  By, packaging the same product in a flexible, zip package – they not only reduced their scrap rate- but also catered to a specific market behavior while keeping the product fresh in the eyes of their consumers.

 

remove-risk-package-new-testing

 

We receive calls daily and hear new ideas from new and established brands that will soon be introduced to the market in hopes of breaking through the clutter to boost sales.  From round bottles moving to square bottles, rigid packages moving to flexible, or durable pouches moving to plastic containers – we’ve heard of tens of thousands of new variety approaches over the years.

Many customers contacting us also realize the variety of machinery we carry and store spans hundreds of categories and manufacturers.  Our expert engineers can offer a broader view of the options based on each customer’s specific needs, requirements, financial situation, etc.

Frain offers owners, engineers, plant managers, and operation supervisors the ability to test new packaging without purchasing the equipment and instead allowing them to rent it.

Not only can we get machinery or entire packaging lines our customers fast – we remove risk with rental terms that allow our customers to take new packaging ideas to market for a fraction of the cost.

Many companies will want to purchase equipment anyway for proven packaging, products.  However, if testing new packaging or new product launches is something you plan to do in the next three to six months – it’s well worth five minutes of your time to discuss your next project with Frain.

 

The One Thing

Written on by frain-sales

Whether you’re talking sports, politics, or business – typically success and failure are not entirely attributed to one thing – but rather a series of good or bad decisions.

That doesn’t stop teams, like the Bears or Browns, who ended up again at the bottom of the NFL barrel, from looking for that one, hero QB that will change everything for them next season.

Likewise, some businesses also try to find a single lever that they can pull to send sales soaring.  They may say things like: “If only we had ­­­­________________, we would certainly improve our numbers.”  However, it’s typically a combination of things that will open the door to success.

Frain knows we’re not the one thing.  But, we do know that we’re one good decision to make every time you have a packaging or processing project and here’s why:

Qualification

We connect you immediately with engineers to get details critical to your success.  Our engineering staff won’t sign off on getting you equipment until they’ve matched physical samples of your product and your specifications with a machine in our inventory.  Some folks are just in a hurry to get a quote or machine, but we insist on getting you right quote and the right machine.

Speed

Once qualified, we’ll get your machinery to you much sooner than traditional channels.  An efficient route to market is certainly one key to success.  Our customers gain additional market share and revenue in this time span or are able to more quickly adjust planning based on the market performance, sooner rather than later.

Insurance

Your project is only as good as your idea.  Even if Frain can help you get an idea to market faster – it doesn’t mean it’s a good one.  However, getting to know what works and what doesn’t faster will help.  And, when you can rent the machinery and return it to Frain when finished testing the market, you can mitigate risk or exposure to bad ideas.  You’ll never be stuck with thousands of dollars of perfectly good machinery used to execute an idea that didn’t stick.  Good decision!

Budget

Your company has money, but may not have budget for your project.  Instead getting sign off on machinery purchase, you can get your project jump started for a fraction of the cost by renting or leasing.

Quality Inventory

80% of CPG projects fail and sometimes quickly.  Frain capitalizes on the new and like new machinery daily, which is no longer being used.  We have approximately 9,000 machines stored within four buildings, totaling 1.5 million square feet of storage.

Frain does not sell machinery “as is.”  We verify that the machinery we have will work for you and customize it to meet your needs.  Only after discussing your project with you (and your team if applicable) can we give you a quote to put you in the best position to succeed.

When you purchase from Frain, there’s no question that the machinery is going to work the way you want it to because it won’t leave our building until you’re fully satisfied and sign off.

Our technicians fully re-calibrate and customize each machine or complete line to your specifications and satisfaction – guaranteed.

All of our machinery comes with a 6-month replacement parts warranty so you can leave Frain with confidence in your investment.

 

 

 

Don’t Strike Out Looking

Written on by frain-sales

It may be too early to talk baseball with the MLB season approximately 80 days away, but a baseball analogy can be made to the CPG industry at any time.  And, that is that brand owners should not strike out looking.

Watching opportunities pass you bye in the CPG industry and seizing market share on new ideas is the difference between wins and losses.  There’s nothing worse than getting shelled on defense, while you watch the competing team run up the scoreboard.

Does your current equipment provider give you the flexibility to switch-up your machinery or complete packaging lines on the fly.  Like a manager going to his bullpen, you should be able to close out winners and mitigate damage on losing projects.

Frain’s rental terms on a vast inventory of quality machinery enables our customers to maximize revenue on good ideas by getting to market sooner and limit losses on ideas by limiting investments and shutting down faster as well.

We see this a lot in CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturing. Companies try new products and they fail. Over 80% of them by some reports.

But those stats shouldn’t paralyze your ability to swing at good pitches.  They should encourage you to swing more often and put the bat on the ball.