Packing engineers play a huge role when it comes to the supply chain. The industry is continuing to evolve by the year and for this reason, it’s vital that you try and keep up with the ever-changing landscape.
New Challenges Are Being Created
It looks like the industry is coming to grips with the focus group approach. Ethnographic and usability research is now providing way more feedback in the context of how packaging is used. The outcome of this approach is helping to create new obstacles for engineers. They have to translate fresh insights that accurately reflect brand owners so that structural packaging concepts can be created. In some cases, leaders are asking engineers to expand their capabilities into research, encouraging them to think critically while also giving them the chance to synthesise information. This creative translation helps to ensure a functional yet cost-effective package. Engineers who have training in design or marketing are now in a better position than ever to ensure that package designs are consumer empathetic, relevant and informed.
Innovation is Key
Pursuing “why not” or what if” obscurities will help to ensure success when it comes to sustainable materials or processing innovations. The packaging landscape is changing and it’s now ripe with opportunity when it comes to uncovering unmet needs and innovative concepts. The pace of change is ever-increasing, and there are so many opportunities to work with new materials, processing and design. This helps to carve out specific innovations which will help to ensure brand equity. Advances in tech and the IoT are helping to introduce complexity, while also ensuring that there’s a lot of room for packaging design and sales.
Building Robust Feedback
It doesn’t matter how advanced your research is, because the way you interpret data will always be an inexact science. You have to make sure that you are involving some kind of assumption. The same applies to the general functional aspects of a package. There’s no textbook that will help you to prepare for the scenarios you’ll face. Knowing what doesn’t work is just as important as knowing what does, and it can be a very valuable tool when it comes to the final stages of your design. Here at Packaging Developments, we understand this more than anyone, and that’s why we’re always one step ahead when it comes to the design and creation process. It’s important to understand that at any part of the supply chain, customers are in fact looking for varied forms of value. They are looking for some kind of product that makes their lives easier, or better. That being said, what if your packaging does create value in some areas, but it also creates new challenges?
You have to think about end-to-end implications. The packaging you developed may be good on the filling line but if you are compromising on-shelf appeal or if you are not meeting the touchpoints that your customer will go through when making a decision, then this will work against you.
Mutually Beneficial Partnerships
Mutually beneficial partnerships can easily inform you on what you don’t know and they can also highlight new areas in which you can improve. Relationships like this can help you to really open your eyes and it can also help you to see your customer anxieties in a clearer light. Here at Packaging Developments, we have worked diligently to ensure that we can offset costs while also ensuring that we offer a huge range of child-resistant packaging. We can also help you to utilise our packaging technology to your advantage, meaning that you can streamline and improve your packaging process without having to dedicate any more time, money or effort.
Carve out Time to Think
Carving out time to think is imperative. Everyone is constantly trying to get things done in a very short time frame. Everything needs to be faster and tasks need to be completed with fewer resources. The nature of the ever-evolving industry is volatile, and more integrated industry tools are needed to combat this uncertainty. By adopting thoughtful processes that empower you to make positive changes at the right time, you can not only improve your process but also your bottom line and your customer experience. This is incredibly useful regardless of what industry you work in, and you would be surprised at how much of a knock-on effect it could have across the board.
Becoming a great packaging engineer will help you to widen your opportunities while also helping you to make changes to your internal process as and when they are required. By utilising these tips, you can be sure to streamline your transformative process.
