Tag: product

Off the Shelf

Written on by frain-sales

Picking items off the shelf as you walk through a store is convenient. Still, there are individuals that prefer an online shopping experience or a do it yourself (DIY) method, all with different advantages and disadvantages.

Off the shelf products are immediately available with an instant reward – the product – but options are typically limited. A DIY task or online shopping used to be time-consuming and even though the outcome was usually satisfying, it was not instantly rewarded. That, nonetheless, recently changed.

In fact, online retailers like amazon benefit from individual’s busy lifestyle. Their team provides premium same day delivery and alternate shipping to accommodate and continue to impress their customers. While other retailers, such as Walmart, are catching up, amazon continues to enhance the speed of delivery by pulling merchandise (i.e. groceries) off the shelf in as little as 15 minutes.

Just like Amazon, Frain provides individualized solutions to each customer with the fastest delivery available in the industry. We start by selecting only the best equipment for their project and then proceed to a complete inspection and thorough refurbishment of the equipment, including replacing all damaged or worn parts.

Once the machinery or complete line is rebuilt, we invite our customer for a factory acceptance test and training for their operators. Additional service options are available and are always tailored to our customer’s requirement and convenience.

The idea of having what you want, when you want it, including machinery, has become the norm out of convenience. Targeting customer’s specific product application is not an easy DIY task. It requires experience, knowledge, and definitely not as is machinery.

Don’t be another monotonous off the shelf equipment customer. Stand out with Frain’s personalized solutions.

 

Resources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/amazons-latest-venture-goes-after-wal-mart-where-it-hurts.html

A Wild River Ride!

Written on by John Henry

I suspect that most of you are happy with Amazon’s speedy deliveries but always want them to be just a little bit faster. I know I am and do.

We also love the idea that they will provide drone delivery, lockboxes at the corner store and other innovations to provide us with almost instant delivery. Faster is better, right?

I’d not thought much about this from the manufacturer’s standpoint until a couple months ago. For most of my clients, Walmart is their most significant customer, accounting for half or more of sales. They are usually their most challenging customer as well.

I found an exception when a client called me in to help them reduce setup and changeover times. Walmart was a biggie for them, of course. Amazon was even bigger and tougher, particularly on delivery times.

Their current contract Amazon requires 36-hour shipment. Their upcoming contract will require 33 hours. I’ve never seen shipping requirements expressed in hours instead of days except in some special circumstances. I was amazed and still don’t see how this is possible unless FEDEX/UPS are picking up almost hourly.

This company had almost 1,000 SKUs so keeping inventory is out of the question.

They’re not there yet but I see Amazon pushing them towards single piece manufacturing with short cycle times. Buy one, make one. In hours, not days. And cheaper too, please.

Vicky Smitley of the Contract Packaging Association spoke about mass customization at Pack Expo earlier this month. She (and all of us, really) want exactly what we want and we want it now. As a customer, she wants it all. As a manufacturer, it drives her crazy.

You’ve gotta do it. If you don’t your competition will and you will be left behind.

They key to meeting this challenge is total commitment by everyone, starting with marketing/product design. Products and packages must be designed for small batch manufacturing and nimble changeover.

Lines and plants must be designed for nimbleness and everyone in the plant, top to bottom, must understand the strategic importance.

Delight your customers, one unique product at a time.

You’re Already Late!

Written on by John Henry

Congratulations! This morning you got tapped to buy the hot new packaging line. Condolences too. You’re probably behind schedule already and have a huge target on your back. Here are 5 ways meet your date and shrink the target.

1. What is the product and the package? Insist on actual samples of both. In this age of rapid prototyping, there is no reason you can’t have them. You need the bill-of-materials specifications and drawings too, but it is hard to beat physical samples.

2. Figure out what needs to be done. This means asking lots of questions and getting as much detail as possible. How much capacity is required? When is it required? Future brand extensions? Where does the line go? What utilities are required? What are available? Perhaps most important is “You want it WHEN?” You’ll come up with 10 more questions for every one I’ve mentioned. You may not get answers right now but unless you start asking now, you’ll never get them.

3. The vendor promised 16 week delivery. This clock doesn’t start until they get the actual purchase order. And the down payment check. And the required samples. And project details and perhaps more. The vendor will sit on their hands until they have everything. Getting it to them is up to you.

4. If the vendor gets another order before you get yours in, you go to the back of the line. Your promised 16 weeks may become 24. Don’t need the equipment for 20 weeks? Fine, but get your order in now anyway to lock your place in the schedule.

5. Once the vendor does get started, they are going to prepare shop drawings. They won’t cut any metal or buy any materials until they get these back, approved.

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Some vendors, like Frain, are better than others at meeting delivery promises. No vendor, not even Frain, is able to meet your schedule unless you do your part. This timeline shows typical schedules based on thousands of projects. Only about a third of any project schedule is under vendor control.

Completing your project on time is up to you.