Tag: Speed to Market

Preserve Business

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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.

Ideas Are Like Rabbits

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John Steinbeck, author of 27 books, including Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath once said:

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.”

Handling ideas is something Frain has built a business around.

CPG companies of every size come to us with ideas every day by the dozens.

  • Major granola bar brand wants to introduce a new size bar or a combination of ingredients.
  • Medium sized candy company wants to introduce drastically a drastically different packaging approach.
  • Start-up automotive product company wants to increase production speed.

In the end, we’ve helped companies launch, expand or continue to make money on over 25,000 ideas.

It’s true – we started with a couple ideas and evolved the way we handled them.

From initially selling equipment we purchased – from others no longer using it – as is where is, we’ve evolved to a full-service packaging and processing machinery company who can customize and deliver complete packaging lines in weeks.

The lines themselves may be a combination of new and used equipment and are assembled from our staff of approximately 50 engineers and technicians.

There’s something to be said for momentum and ideas. Let Frain help you get your ideas hopping today.

We Help You Buy Time

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Customers may not know for certain what they need, but they’re certain they need it fast.

Our expert engineers can help find the right machine for you.  You may even find a rental machine that matches your needs for now, while you take your time to find a long-term solution or see where the project goes over the next few months.

Are you ramping up production A.S.A.P.?  You may just need to get over the hump.  Something comes up and you need a replacement machine.

Maybe you need to create space between you and your competition to maximize revenue.  Or, you’re introducing a new product and you’re uncertain of the outcome.

Whether you purchase or lease certified pre-owned machinery or rent equipment lines from Frain, we ultimately buy you time.

By getting reliable machines to you fast, you get packaging and processing machinery or complete lines when you need them and ahead of your competition.

Regardless of the term you choose or the machine that our engineer identifies as a fit for your project, we’re outfitted with new and used equipment inventory and a staff of 50 technicians and engineers to get machinery working with your product quickly.

Many of our customers deal with time.  They need it now.  They need it temporarily.

They’re not sure how long they’ll need it.  They might be in a pinch or a pickle, but ultimately everyone wants it fast.

In cases like this, renting may make more sense than purchasing.

But, with Frain at least you have the option and you will get the equipment you need fast.

You’re In A Pickle

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Our customers can’t get machinery fast enough.

We often increase our customer’s packaging capacity, production, replace broken down machines, or fill the gap for customers who wait for new machinery to arrive.

However, it’s not necessary to put yourself into a pickle situation or bind in the first place.

Countless times, customers call us in a typical situation or SNAFU.

  • “I’m in a bit of a crisis.”
  • “We got ourselves in a little bit of a pickle on delivery on a new piece of equipment.”
  • “We’re looking for something to fill in the gap.”

They need equipment quickly because the new machinery they ordered is not going to make it in time.

In fact, it’s months off the mark and they need something yesterday.

Some clients we’ve worked with anticipate this and use Frain in the interim of receiving new equipment or use us as their go-to option until they fully realize their need.

Our client situations are normally a work in progress or WIP.  Why sign off on purchasing machinery that’ll take months to arrive, when you can rent machinery from Frain and get it fast.

We’ve built a business to enable companies to borrow (rent) our inventory of nearly 9,000 packaging, processing machinery, complete packaging lines, and staff of 50 engineers/technicians.  All of this translates into keeping you away from SNAFUs and well ahead of your competition.

Don’t beat yourself up on your next equipment project.  Call Frain.

Machinery ASAP

Written on by frain-sales

A question we always ask every customer is – when do you need the machinery?

Or, we’ll ask, when do you need the equipment up and running with your product at your facility?

Sometimes, we hear laughter. Sometimes we hear panic. But, usually, we hear something to the effect of:

  • “I need it now, right away.”
  • “I need the equipment yesterday.”

Or, the very brief and to-the-point answer the sums up when most customers need the equipment:

  • “I need it A.S.A.P.”

Many of our customers are in a race against time.

We like to hear that. Why? Because we’ve uniquely built our business around getting you quality machinery quickly at a discount from new equipment.

With a vast inventory of new and used equipment available for rent, lease or purchase, we can have single machines or entire packaging lines to customers in days – not weeks or months.

We are your pit crew to get you back into production as quickly as possible with equipment you can trust.

In cases of complete packaging lines, we purchase new equipment weekly that is often included within these lines simply for the fact of having these pieces of the puzzle available when our customers need them.

We keep 150,000 square feet in replacement parts for our customers who automatically get 6 months warranty on replacement parts in addition to our satisfaction guarantee.

Our customers can go anywhere online to find equipment and machines – and sometimes cheaper.  But, they come to Frain when the want to get quality, working machinery or complete lines A.S.A.P.

At Frain, we specialize in delivering quality machinery and complete packaging lines A.S.A.P.

Swimming in the Fast Lane of Equipment

Written on by frain-sales

It’s been said and established that convenience drives innovation within food packaging.

Convenience in packaging means – easy to use, carry, open, close, access, eat, drink, recycle, etc.  Convenient products are ones that adapt to our busy, on-the-go lifestyles, like packages that fit perfectly within the cupholders of our cars.

We believe that within packaging and processing equipment, speed trumps all.

Too many times to count, we’ve heard our customers say that they needed the equipment yesterday.  Or, that their deadline is a week or two away.

In either case, getting machinery this fast is not the modus operandi of all packaging equipment and machinery providers.

Lead times can span months in getting equipment or complete packaging lines.

With each minute sometimes representing thousands of dollars in revenue to our customers, we know that getting machines rented or leased to our customers quickly is crucial.

But, the speed in which Frain provides packaging and processing machinery does not sacrifice quality.

At Frain, we’ve found success in adapting to our customers needs to help them deliver new or redesigned products to market faster. Our rapidly deployed machinery enables our customers to maximize short-term revenue through lead times that are faster than traditional equipment OEMs, while limiting risk and investment through renting or leasing machinery.

Whether the project fails or succeeds to gain traction within the marketplace, our customers succeed (and fail) faster and have the flexibility to return equipment or keep it as needed.

But, fast doesn’t mean rushed.

We meticulously sign off each machine after going thru customer specs, samples, and rounds of reviewing the machine running with the customer’s product.

Amazingly, all of this can happen within one week if everything is lined up properly.

However, Frain’s discipline of qualifying each machine shipped thru multiple engineer and customer checkpoints within minimal time frames is what has separated us from the rest of the industry and has us swimming in the fast lane.

Which Came First?  The Machine or The Price?

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When buying, renting, or leasing machinery – start-ups or well-established companies will want a quick take on the price of the machinery.

Even if equipment buyers are in the early stages of understanding what they need, they will want to lock down some semblance of investment early on within their project.

It’s a chicken and egg scenario.  The answer to the question –  “How much will this machine or equipment line cost me?” –  is found only by knowing what exactly you want and what you ‘re willing to invest right now.

You can get a machine that is guaranteed not to work for very little cost.

You can also buy a brand new machine that is overkill for what you really need.  You end up buying too much machine.

 

The devil is in the details.  Here are some key questions to have answered before you shop your next machine:

  • What product are you running?
  • What size of your package or container?
  • What volumes/speed?  (10 per minute = 4,000+ units/day)
  • When do you need to have the machine or line up and running?

Additional questions:

  • How long will you need the machine?
  • Do you have any space / footprint limitations?
  • How are you handling this now / reason for change / people involved and level of experience?
  • What are your main questions / concerns / goals in deciding on the machinery?

 

Once you contact our engineers with the answers to these questions – we can comb our inventory of 9,000 machines and provide you options for one machine or entire packaging lines to best fit your specifications.  We can also provide you terms (rental, lease, purchase) and services (training, start-up) that put you in position to succeed.

 

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

Fast Access

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Machine speed and speed of getting a machine or lead time are two important considerations.

Numerous times a day we help customers calculate what machine speed they will need.

It’s a lesser question in the grand scheme to the customer, but we calculate the real speed needed so often we likely save the customer time and money in doing so within a quick phone call.

Equally or likely more important is how quickly you can get a machine.  A lightning-fast machine speed doesn’t help, if you can’t get the machine for setup and running your product by _____________________ (fill in the blank with date).

If you need to put out a fire, you need the extinguisher in your hand, right now.  Later, the best or cheapest of extinguishers will be useless.

Typically our customers want and need the machine yesterday. Our customers do not pay the price of waiting, which is integral to the service we offer.

We don’t just sell machines.  We sell access.  Fast access to machines and manpower that can quickly deliver machines and entire packaging lines working to the customer’s specification.

 

Capture

 

From the variety of inventory we store on site or within our four local buildings, we also sell the experience and capability to work on your project across hundreds of categories and manufacturers.

At the core of our team, you’ll find experienced engineers who’ve been in this growing space for a combined 150 years.

We get hundreds of calls a week and put people directly in touch with these engineers before they entertain which machine is best for their application.

In the end, our customers get access to machines and packaging lines via rental or leasing terms that are fully reconditioned, upgraded, and customized in order to seize marketplace opportunities and maximize their businesses revenue.

Stand-Out Packaging

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Media consumption and exposure continues to climb at an ever-increasing rate.  It’s estimated that U.S. adults are exposed to approximately 10 hours, 39 minutes of media per day.

The same fight for attention happens in retail and e-tail with merchants carrying tens of thousands of items or in the case of Amazon, more than 500 million.  Think about that for a minute.

So, how do brands develop innovative and attention-grabbing products, packaging, etc. that stand out?

Just like media headlines, e-commerce websites are able to simultaneously test messaging and imagery to understand what offers, packages, colors, words work best.

Data then points to which package or collection of words, images, etc. will offer the largest return on eyeballs.

The key for brand companies becomes not over-analyzing what to launch but launching variety efficiently and while mitigating or removing risk altogether.

Frain has worked on dozens of large brand projects over the past couple years.  From these projects, we’ve seen a shift in the way projects run.  Companies are now more nimble than ever, getting to market faster by renting resources and equipment and shutting down or ramping up production based on the data.

The focus used to be on trying to launch the perfect project, inexpensively – which may have included finding a machine at a lower cost.

But, now, realizing that days or even minutes of a successfully running project can pay for the machine or at least for the price to rent, and ability for equipment customers to rent – we’re seeing multiple product packaging launch ideas come thru all at once to increase speed to market, data, and revenue.

As we know the insatiable market demand for more variety exists, as does the opportunity to seize this demand quickly to maximize revenue.  The difference between winning and losing today is the ability to act and act again based on data.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison

How Long Will This Baby Take?

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It’s been said that you can’t make a baby with nine women in the room.  The same can be said when it comes to purchasing packaging and processing machinery or entire packaging lines.

However, like anyone else, project managers and buyers have a timeline already in mind before they call Frain for a machine or packaging line project.  And, as you can guess, rarely is the timeline that they have the worst case scenario, but rather the best case scenario based on smaller timelines all being met.

For example, we give customers a timeline based upon completed factory acceptance testing and payment received date.  If either of these checkpoints is delayed by a day, then the equipment ship date gets pushed back by the same magnitude.

Timing assumptions become even trickier with purchases of complete packaging lines because you’re dealing with several different parties all coming together, each with their own intricacies.  Achieving the best case scenario timeline for packaging machinery can be compared parlaying eight bets and expecting to win everyone one of them.

With packaging lines, you’re typically also at the mercy of the longest individual machine timeline in creating a critical path.  If one piece of the entire machine takes six months to get, then you’re timeline is six months at the minimum before your team has the chance to integrate.

Furthermore, most companies do not have their “A Team” ready for machinery integration once it arrives.  However, timelines are sometimes built with these unrealistic expectations and the project runs late.  Adding more manpower to the project, established in software projects but probably true in many other instances, may also just create more waste and delay.

Interestingly enough, the phrase “you can’t make a baby with nine women in the room” did come to mind when I started at Frain and it’s unique value propositions:

  • Machinery – 9,000 machines in stock, in our building(s)
  • Manpower to fully calibrate and integrate the machinery
  • Experience (35 years) and engineering staff you can trust

In the case of Mars, where we assembled a complete packaging line seven months sooner than their traditional supplier for a new Starburst packaging launch – we enabled Mars to capture millions in Brand Revenue that they would have otherwise not captured.  In other words, if they didn’t go with Frain, they would’ve walked away from millions of dollars during their initial launch.

mars2

We’ve done the same for countless projects small to extra large.  The larger and more frequent, the more Frain makes sense.  When you factor several projects from a traditional launch vs. Frain, you begin to see that Frain can launch several projects for the price and time of one.

So, whether you need your project delivered in one month or 10 machines in one week, Frain can help.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE7Do9aEwGk[/embedyt]

 

 

 

 

 

Disrupting the Mold

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You’re probably heard the saying that you can have two of the following – fast, good, and cheap – but not all three.

After posting Price Deal or Cost, we were reminded by our customer Thomas Ball that “Frain still doesn’t market its strongest concept…the three aspects of deal Cost, Delivery Time, and Quality.  You usually can have two of the three, but Frain can provide all three:  Lower Cost, High Quality Solutions, and Quick Delivery.”

More specifically, Frain provides equipment that’s fast, good, and cheap when compared to the price of new equipment.  Here’s more:

Fast – We inventory approximately 9,000 machines supported by a staff of over 40 technicians.  Our engineers will help match you to the best machine and our technicians will get it to you much faster than traditional methods.  We find that most companies are able to benefit from this speed in terms of revenue.

Cheap – With certified pre-owned equipment you get like new equipment at a discount from new.  Side by side, they work all the same for your job – only one doesn’t cost as much.

Quality –  Our machines leave the building fully addressed by our technicians and backed by parts warranty and the Frain guarantee. If you’re not 100% satisfied, you may return it within the first two weeks – no questions asked.