The digital age has created a demand for warehouse automation. Mail-order fulfillment applications are facing mounting pressure to optimize workflows. Add on the challenge of finding manual labor or keeping the employees you do have happy. Vendors are screaming. Employees are screaming. Consumers are screaming. And competitors who are already moving faster than you have the advantage.
You need to ensure your workforce is operating at top speeds with a unique ecommerce packaging machine that does the heavy lifting for you while meeting all those screaming demands coming from all sides. Whether you’re bagging fresh or frozen produce, pet foods, or snacks, or working with apparel, sporting goods, or footwear, it’s time to automate your bagging process and meet (or exceed) your fulfillment orders. What’s even better, is that not only will everyone involved have their needs met through an automated solution, but your business will make more money while you’re at it.
Here are five reasons automating your bagging process will keep everyone happy and make you more money:
Automated baggers like this one are designed to be easy to use, sanitize, and maintain. As a food bagging machine, it works diligently to streamline processes by offering a fast, effective way to load and seal food packages. It delivers a conveyor of bags, pre-opened and ready to be easily loaded. Operating at speeds up to 900 inches per minute, it optimizes food packaging workflow. There’s a coordinated-motion seal flattener which optimally positions bags for sealing. This automated bagging solution increases the speed and efficiency to high-productivity environments that require daily washdown procedures.
Not working with food-related items? Then maybe this other bagger is really the right way to go- perfect for single or multi-line mail order fulfillments (think apparel, fashion accessories, sporting goods and more). This automated solution quickly fills and seals bags up to 22 inches wide so you can fill a variety of order sizes.
2. MEASURED RESULTS
These automated baggers come with a variety of features that make that productivity measurable. You get real-time productivity data as well as the ability to consistently repeat the same output. Consider this example. A company that was predominantly shipping Nutraceuticals was hand loading these products into padded envelopes with up to 10 employees. By switching to an automated packaging solution, they went down to 1 employee and started saving $0.17 per package. Total annual savings: $212,500. With this bagger, the built-in imprinter was used to interface with a database for printing order information, address, and barcodes directly onto the mailbag which replaced the need for separate printing and hand-affixing labels. The point? Implementing an automated bagger while integrating it with the rest of your fulfillment systems allows you the ability to create a reliable and measured result that you can repeat over and over again.
3. ASSISTANCE WITH CHAIN OF CUSTODY
We all know that chain of custody is a critical part of the process no matter what your industry. Automated bagging solutions can do multiple processes at one time, so not only are they bagging the product, but they are tagging it for chain of custody and labeling it, too. Date coding, lot coding, what plant, what facility did it come from, when was it made, what line was it made on, this can all be determined and recorded by the bagger. Combine this with password protected systems, flexibility in integrating with third-party systems, on-board diagnostics and data retrieval and you have a supercharged system for checking job storage and record history all imperative to your business’ chain of custody.
4. PROFESSIONALISM IN BRANDING YOUR PACKAGED MATERIALS
You’ve increased your productivity. You’ve seen measured results you can now repeat. You feel confident about your chain of custody. Next on the list is the professionalism and quality of your packaged materials. If you choose one of our automated baggers, they’ll come with high-quality seals that provide a clean, wrinkle free seal on your bags. We have resealable flaps, re-closable zippers, and tamper-evident perforations.
The SidePouch bags that come with one of the baggers, are available in an assortment of materials that can be printed in up to 10 colors with high-resolution graphics, text, and bar codes which give the packaging an unique and attractive look that can work with a company’s brand and marketing strategy. Their brand is important to them. Issues with labeling and packaging can damage their brand and therefore their reputation with distributors, the retail market and others through the supply chain. So while this one may seem not that big a deal to you, think of the long term impact or result when someone is not happy with the way their product is packaged and labeled. If it will eventually cost you than that is the opposite of what we want. Automated bagging with labeling helps keep the level of professionalism above the bar.
5. MORE COST EFFECTIVE
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, going with an automated bagger is cost effective. You’ll be saving money while also increasing your revenue. There are three main ways that transitioning to an automated bagging process is more cost effective than what you’re doing now.
First, humans are expensive to employ and cause errors. Simple, repetitive tasks can make people slow and make mistakes because they’re less engaged. This doesn’t get better when you must increase their hours in order to meet demands. And you’ll be paying them even more if you’re paying them overtime.
Second, energy consumption. With a more efficient and effective machine, you’re reducing the required energy to create finished packaged goods.
And third, you’re going to save money on shipping costs (which we touched on earlier when addressing measured results). With USPS and FedEx moving away from shipping by weight to shipping by dimension, and offering more shipping bags versus boxes, you’ll be saving yourself significantly in the manner of shipping-related costs.
So, do we have you convinced that automating your bagging process can make you more money? Sounds good, right? Reduce your costs while increasing your revenue?
If not, we encourage you to do more of your own research. We know you’ll come around eventually. If you’re convinced and you feel like there’s no time to waste, we hope you’ll consider contacting us to discover what solutions can work best for your business. This is a long-term purchase and will require budgeting, integration and maintenance, but we are ready and able to have you set up for success. Get in touch with us and we can start the conversation and have you well on your way to money in the bag.
