Speed to Market Archives — Frain Industries

Two Ways to Win in Manufacturing

Written on November 20, 2019February 21, 2025 by Frain Blogger

Everyone’s looking for an edge in manufacturing. Many people think all of the big efficiencies have already been milked out of the market. But there are two underutilized processes, either of which could give you more than an incremental advantage. Let’s talk about how you can get your products to market quicker and with less upfront capital than you expect.

Speed-to-Market

Everyone wants to get their products spun up and out the door as quickly as possible. That’s where the money is. In our industry, shaving time isn’t just improving productivity; it’s improving your bottom line. Getting a new product out the door can be a source of frustration and a drain on your potential revenue. It often feels like you’re working against your equipment suppliers in order to get your product to market. There are processes you need to go through that don’t have your bottom line and speed-to-market in mind.

How Buying Used Can Slow You Down

It might seem like buying used can keep your initial investment costs down. It can certainly save you some money on the machine itself. But there are a number of hidden time-sinks when you buy used that you need to keep in mind. While it might seem like a quicker and cheaper way to go when compared to buying new, that’s not always the case — especially when you factor in the amount of time invested in getting the machines ready to go. Here are three ways buying used from a dealer or broker can slow you down and hurt your bottom line.

Time Spent Looking for the Right Machine

If you decide to buy a used machine, you’ve got to find a machine yourself or else work with a dealer or broker. If you’ve got any experience dealing with these folks, you know it’s a bit of a mixed bag. You don’t always end up with a highly competent and skilled broker. Supposing you find a good broker, then there’s still the business of working out the deal and ordering the machine. Usually, they’re able to get you the machine pretty quickly, but they’re not always able to ensure the quality of the machine meets your needs. Buying used through a dealer or broker means buying it “as-is.” And sometimes, “as-is” means the machine barely works. That means you need to get it up and running.

Testing & Repairing the Machine

This leads us to the next time-sink that often comes with buying used machines. You get what you pay for — and often what you pay for is a semi-functional machine. Now the responsibility is on you to find a technician or engineer to repair the machine. If you don’t have someone internally to handle that, you’ve got to outsource those repairs. That’s more money and more time with a dysfunctional machine taking up space on your shop floor, not adding any value. If you or your hired technician do not have the parts needed for the repairs on hand you’re looking at even more time wasted waiting on parts. And that’s just to get the machine up and running again. There’s still the business of dialing in the machine to work optimally for your needs.

Calibrating the Machine

When you buy a used machine, you’re buying a machine that was set up and calibrated to fit another plant’s specific needs. Even if it shows up in working order, that doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. You’ll need to have someone calibrate it and test it to make sure you’re getting maximal efficiency and quality out of it.

These headaches are the kinds of things that push people to go straight to the OEMs. If you buy new, you certainly will have fewer headaches. But buying new won’t work for everyone.

Getting a New Machine Can Sometimes Take Just as Long

When you buy new, you know exactly what you’re getting. There’s no guesswork about the condition of the machine. And the OEMs generally know their machines and what they do well. But they often take more than two months to get a new machine to your shop floor. Then you still need to find someone to fine-tune the machine to fit your needs. It’s less of a struggle than buying used, but you don’t always have 2+ months to get a line going. Sometimes you need to move much faster. Unfortunately, there’s not much most OEMs can do to help you. And if they can do something, it’s usually going to cost you for the rush order. So what can you do?

How Frain Can Help You Get to Market Quicker

We understand these struggles well. It’s why we’ve developed our business structure the way we have. We want to be the people you turn to when you’re starting a new product line and need to get to market quickly. We keep more than 9,500 fully customized machines on hand. We’re ready for you when you call. You’ll know within minutes whether or not we have what you need.

On top of that, our expert team of more than 50 technicians and engineers work to ensure every machine is production-ready before it leaves our warehouse. We will work with you to ensure the machine will meet your specific needs before we ship it. Your order from us will get to you quickly and in working order every time. Our highly specialized team will then make final adjustments to your machine on the factory floor.

Get a New Line Going Quickly and Affordably

Starting up a new line usually requires a large amount of capital to buy a new or used machine. A brand-new machine from an OEM can be pretty costly. But, depending on the machine, sometimes the used machines on the market aren’t much more affordable. This is where our pay-as-you-go pricing plans come into action.

Whatever your situation, our pay-as-you-go pricing can help. With our pay-as-you-go pricing, you only pay for the machine while you use it. We tune your machine to fit your specific needs and ship it to you. We take it back when you’re done with it. It’s as simple as that. Don’t let a lack of capital keep you from new areas of business.

A Recent Example

A contract packaging company recently got a new contract for a snack bar. This was a new customer that they had been trying to get for some time. They needed to be in production within 60 days and they needed several pieces of equipment: a wrapper, check weigher, metal detector and conveying system. They did not have the budget or time to buy new equipment. They also did not have the time or manpower available to buy from a used equipment dealer.

So they sent Frain a sample of their product. Within six weeks, Frain had set all of the machines to their specifications and integrated them into a running line. Thanks to Frian’s pay-as-you-go pricing, they did not need a large capital budget to make it all happen.

Schedule a demo today and discover what Frain can do for you.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Shiploads of Money

Written on April 27, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Often times brand companies, co-packers, and co-manufacturers will call us with an extreme sense of urgency. You can hear it in their voice, especially when we ask when they need the machinery.

Time is of the essence. Often times they need it yesterday. Every minute without this particular machine is costing them extreme losses in production and revenue.

We take it as a compliment that many companies know to call Frain in these situations.

Experience, inventory, quality and reliability have put us in a 911 position for companies needing machines and complete lines customized to run their application NOW.

We’ve built a business around delivering services and equipment for those most in need.

But, that’s not to say that we don’t see our fair share of start-up companies.

Many startups, because of their success cannot keep up with demand. It’s a good problem to have and a pain point we can heal quickly.

With uncertain demand futures, we offer rental terms for the bulk of our vast inventory.

Whether you are at risk of losing or gaining shiploads of money without the right machinery, we’re glad to consult with you and discuss the options we can provide for your business… and fast.

Call Frain today to discuss your next project.

Take a Telescopic Approach

Written on April 10, 2017January 22, 2026 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.

Speed Meets Flexibility

Written on April 10, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Speed to market expectations are ever increasing. More and more ideas are launching into ever-decreasing time frames.

Frain helps you conquer these demands by offering our expertise and inventory under fast and flexible terms.

We help you conquer time by diversifying your packaging approach, often time supplementing the equipment you’ve already have in place with complimentary equipment that can be used on a short-term, flexible or interim basis.

We augment traditional packaging equipment approaches with accelerated, viable machinery customized for your application.

Getting working machinery sooner means tens/hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions in incremental revenue for many of our customers, which they would not have otherwise captured in traditional project approaches.

Frain’s vast inventory of machinery and 100+ years of combined engineering experience provide you with the peace of mind and assurance that the job will be done correctly and quickly.

From the second you call us, we immediately get our engineers on the phone with you to discuss your packaging needs. Before finalizing each quote, we simply ask that you send in physical product samples so that we can validate the best machine for you.

Before finalizing each quote, we simply ask that you send in physical product samples so that we can validate the best machine for you.

We then provide you with an option to get working machinery much faster than thru traditional channels.

We’ve learned over the years that this is an incredible service to offer within CPG industry and have designed our operation around delivering quickly under flexible financial solutions.

We know that the best plan is being able to react to any plan and quickly.

Augment your packaging approach today with immediate, proven solutions from Frain.

Built for Speed

Written on April 7, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Just as Frain offers new and like new packaging and processing equipment quickly for you – we’ve recently made our website pages load twice as fast on average than they did just a week ago.

Why? Simple – we’re built for speed and most importantly getting what YOU need fast.

From the minute you visit our site – we want you to be able to find what you’re looking for quickly.

Towards this end, we’ve recently invested in our site search engine and making our website experience more expedient for you.

We buy machinery daily. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, our engineers can quickly comb thru our inventory for you to help find machinery to meet your needs.

From the minute you call us, we’ll immediately connect you with knowledgeable engineers.

It’s unique today to immediately be connected with someone of such vast knowledge, but that’s just one great thing that makes Frain different from start to finish.

Once we match you with equipment, we’ll get your physical product samples to validate the machine or machines that match.

Our technical resources then kick into gear to calibrate and configure the machinery to your specifications.

If you’ve seen our videos such as the video on this capper or this cartoner you realize that the equipment ships working and like new.

Not only do you get quality machinery, you get it customized and working with your product fast thru our high-performance team at Frain.

We care about your time but are happy to take the time to help. Call us today to discuss your next project and we’ll be sure to help fast.

Keep Swinging

Written on April 6, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Babe Ruth once said, “Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.”

It’s a simple truth that you can’t stop taking swings, even after you’ve connected on several successful projects in the recent past.

You need to find your next win and that comes down to a cadence of executing.

At Frain, we’re in a cadence of flipping steel into complete packaging lines and refurbished equipment for our customers.

We buy completely new and like new equipment and have it at the ready when customers call us with their next project, new product, or increase in production capacity.

Our engineers are your first go-to resource to discuss your product samples and discuss which approach and machine are the best options for you.

Even if we don’t have the machine you need, we’re happy to discuss your project and point you in the right direction.

We offer expertise, technical resources, and certified pre-owned and new equipment for rental, purchase, and lease.

Ultimately, we offer options to help you keep swinging.

New projects may launch and succeed or fail, but if you keep swinging – success will ultimately be yours.

The option to keep equipment or return it is an option our customers have come to appreciate while renting our equipment.

Or, the option to change their mind from a rental to a purchase is also an option our customers appreciate. In this scenario, we allow customers to place as much as 25% of funds paid towards their rental to go towards their purchase.

Getting quality equipment fast and providing flexible return options seems to be the magic formula to keep your customers swinging.

Let us help you hit your next home run.

Get to a Place Where You Can See Something

Written on April 5, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

In episodes of Dual Survivor, the hosts of the show often speak of “getting to a place where you can see something.”

In the case of this Discover Channel reality series – this means getting to a place where you can see your way out (of the jungle, desert, etc.) in order to survive.

Surviving in the CPG space also means getting to a place where you can see something – results, increased revenue, what works, and what doesn’t.

Instead of climbing a tree or mountain, brand owners navigate the supply chain to release new products and packages into the marketplace.

New ideas for packaging, new product ingredients, or completely new products get into a queue.

However, these new ideas negligibly or worse yet negatively impact revenue while incurring costs with no production or sales.

Until launched in the market, these are a cost burden.

Quickly moving to a point where you can see favorable ROI is the goal.

Frain Integration specializes in getting brand owners to the market faster with more ideas with less committed capital per project.

Most importantly, our advanced approach captures revenue, previously not captured, through expedited packaging equipment delivery from our vast inventory, expertise, and manpower.

Brand owners diversify project initiatives by allocating funds towards more projects via equipment rental and leasing terms, quickly cutting off losers and dialing up production on winners.

Frain Integration has worked with numerous Fortune 100 companies to integrate completely new product packaging lines to market several months sooner than traditional methods.

Within this interim, the brands we’ve worked with have increased their capacity to find new winning combinations of packaging and product mix, while most importantly securing millions more in previously uncapitalized revenue based on timing constraints of traditional approaches.

Not every project is a winner.

But, surviving in today’s quickly evolving marketplace takes a competitive advantage of finding ways to test new ideas quickly and gain a vantage point over your competition.

Let us help you get to higher ground.

More from Less

Written on March 14, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Sometimes, the biggest challenge can be the increased pressure to manufacture more with less resources.

How can you constantly increase production without increasing costs and/or suffering product quality?

New ideas and more work get added to an already full plate and plant managers are left scratching their heads.

By understanding the fluid and constrained nature of our industry, Frain has found a sweet spot for delivering more from what may seem like an already tapped budget.

Traditionally, plant engineers and operation owners purchased new packaging equipment and hoped that over its lifespan it would pay for itself several times over.

But, as we know within the CPG space, there are no guarantees of tomorrow. There’s only what you know and can afford today.

Being able to rent trusted, quality machinery and get it fast has proven itself to be an effective formula for our growing customer list.

By allowing our customers to rent packaging machinery we remove the cost barrier that comes with outright purchasing. Our customers can test the waters and launch more projects with less cash tied into bigger bets.

The key often times for our customers, though, is getting the machinery up and running fast. And, that’s where we double down.

Our inventory of 9,000 machines and staff of approximately 50 technicians and engineers allows us to quickly rebuild and deploy machines and entire packaging lines.

Need is a strong word. What do you actually need?

Our customers need to produce today – and we have the juice to get them into production.

CPG Cinderellas

Written on March 14, 2017February 21, 2025 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.

Three Steps Ahead

Written on March 1, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

As with chess or billiards, in business, you need to think three steps ahead.

Confidently executing means taking aim with future shots in mind.

If you’re successful in sinking the first ball, you can move confidently to the next, with good positioning from executing as planned.

Sometimes in business and billiards, skill can save you. At Frain, we have plenty of skill.

In serving our customers, we’ve mastered our technique, english, massé, and bank shots.

Most importantly, though, we’ve steadied our customers with a bridge to revenue normally out of reach.

With typical machinery timelines and lead times, customers can be left waiting for months to increase production or get their new packaging to market.

The cue for us is customers who place a premium on speed to market and understand that Frain can help them sink the money ball sooner.

Our engineers are your machines sharks helping you capture short-term revenues.

After getting your product samples, we’ll confirm the best equipment approach and prevent you from scratching on shots at the 8-ball.

You can chalk our success up to always thinking ahead for over the 35+ years we’ve been in business.

Either way, before you take your next shot – you should give us a call.

Frain’s R&D DNA

Written on February 24, 2017February 21, 2025 by frain-sales

Research and Development (R&D), also referred to as Product Innovation, Product Development, and Product Diversification has exploded with new brands and flavors launching to market at a never-seen-before pace.

This explosion is well documented in the Craft Brewery Production over the past several years but has translated ubiquitously throughout the CPG space.

Source: brewerassociation.org

Developing and experimenting with new products, brand diversification, and packaging is now business as usual, not limited to R&D service organizations.

Just as business marketers are now more often mathematicians and data scientists, CPG business professionals are now an integral part of product research, testing, data, and development.

The question now becomes: How are you supercharging innovation and rapidly executing research-based enhancements?

We’ve witnessed this trend and expectation within our own customer base.

Our customers now more than ever are seeking an edge. They need to propagate more ideas to the marketplace with increased speed. They wanted to test more ideas while tying up or committing to less cash out of pocket.

In other words, our customers demanded that we do more for them, faster, for less committed investment.

In 2016, Frain responded to our customer expectations with the following key features and benefits:

Speed to Market: Housing a packaging equipment inventory of 9,000 machines enabled us to quickly assemble entire packaging lines for our customers in weeks, not months.
Rapid Deployment: Our team of approximately 50 engineers and technicians match your need with our machinery inventory and customize it quickly to meet your expectations.
Cash Impact: By allowing our customers to rent, lease, or buy, our customers could launch and continue/discontinue more projects as needed with less budget going towards each project monthly.

R&D projects, in particular, have embraced inventory, speed, and most importantly cash impact – as renting machinery and returning as needed is a better fit for CPG research or beta projects. This has shifted the focus of R&D cost to R&D revenue.

In a rapidly changing consumer-centric market, the ability to meet ‘hyper’ consumer product demand- without substantial investment in capital equipment- is the key to success and maximizing ROI.

By combining equipment, expertise, and service, Frain offers a unique fulcrum within CPG R&D.