The Hidden Cost of Packaging: Ownership

Ever wondered about the hidden costs of packaging ownership? From occupying valuable warehouse space to incurring unnecessary expenses, the impact can be significant. Delve into the hidden costs of owning packaging supplies and how Skybox can help you maximize your revenue by optimizing your space utilization. How much of your square footage is actually contributing to your bottom line?

The Opportunity Cost

Every inch of your facility holds the potential to generate revenue. How do you make sure you’re using the square footage efficiently?

Consider the area dedicated to storing packaging supplies. It’s not just about missed opportunities; it’s about the financial drain those materials represent. In today’s competitive business world, efficient space usage is vital for boosting profits.

Let’s dive into a key metric: revenue contribution per square foot. This figure reveals how effectively you’re using your space in terms of time and money. If your warehouse is mostly filled with inventory, chances are your contribution numbers aren’t where they should be.

Understanding revenue contribution per square foot is crucial. Without it, businesses risk inefficient space use and missed chances to boost earnings.

The True Cost of Packaging

All of those packaging materials taking up space? They’re not just idle—they’re actively costing you money. When you tally up the expenses of storing corrugated packaging and supplies, the true cost becomes clear. Instead of maximizing value by filling your floor space with your own profitable products, you may adding cost by storing packaging supplies that you don’t need to. SkyBox can help you reduce your inventory of supplies with our Next Day, Same Day service.

Skybox’s Solution

At Skybox, we get it: you need to make more while spending less. That’s why we’re here with solutions to trim down your packaging footprint. By optimizing your space and streamlining your packaging processes, we help you reclaim valuable square footage and boost your revenue.

Don’t let packaging ownership drain your profits. With Skybox’s innovative Solutions, you can uncover hidden revenue streams and propel your business forward. Discover how Skybox can slash your packaging costs and boost your bottom line.

Everything In and Around the Box

 

Getting your product to your customer takes more than a box. Packaging supplies ensure your product arrives safely and elegantly to your customer exactly how it left your shop. At Skybox we make great boxes, but we are more than that. We specialize in everything in and around your box. That way you always have the packaging you need when you need it.

Stretch Film

Stretch film protects your unitized product during transit. This highly functional tool reduces product loss, prevents worker injuries, and discourages load tampering. Cost-efficient product protection relies on specific properties such as break strength, cling, clarity, tear resistance, and static discharge. A Skybox expert will help you find the lowest cost yet most effective film for your needs.

Carton Sealing tape

Safely securing your product in the box is a critical step in getting it to your customer. Carton sealing solutions (TAPE) is an important way to keep your packages safe and secure in transit.  A good carton sealing solution delivers a high quality packaging experience to your customer,  giving them a properly sealed package that is still easy to open, visually appealing, and not damaged when it arrives. Choosing the right sealing methods saves you money and time, improves productivity, and makes sure your customers get what they ordered.

CUSHIONING AND VOID FILL

Imagine– the box safely arrives to your customer, but your product is in pieces. Specific products may require additional protection inside the box with cushioning or void fill. Additional forms of protection are used to secure your product and prevent movement by locking it in place. Cushioning and void fill secure and shield your product from vibration, impact, or shock during transit. Using the right method of protection ensures your product always arrives at its destination safely in one piece.

Poly bags

Poly bags are highly customizable protection against weather, tampering, and dirt. These highly functional, durable, and cost-effective workhorses are a great option for what you need to ship. Skybox can customize bags to meet any need, and we stock a wide variety of poly bags in many different shapes, sizes, and thickness to accommodate your product packaging.

Find what you need with skybox

Skybox Packaging is more than a box manufacturer. We sell the top trusted packaging supply brands, making sure you have everything in and around the box to get your product to your customer. 

We have decades of expertise getting products to customers, safely, elegantly and at the right cost. Let us create a complete packaging solution for your team.

 


Learn more about how Skybox can partner with you to design and execute a better packaging system for your products so you can get back to making and shipping the products your customers love.

Who’s Managing Your Packaging and Why is it You?

Packaging is one of the least expensive items in the supply chain, yet it takes up a lot of the space. The average corrugated carton sells for less than $1. The average cost of storing packaging often outweighs its value. Certainly, the cost of handling it, counting it, and managing it, makes owning corrugated an expensive hobby.

Here’s the thing: The corrugated industry wants you to manage your packaging. Why? Because it is an inexpensive product that costs a lot to manage. They prefer to focus on setting up the machines and let them run, consuming tons of paper as they go. The last thing they want to do is incur the cost of warehousing, just-in-time manufacturing, or just-in-time logistics. They have convinced buyers all over the world to take on managing their own customer experience for a few percentage points off the cartons.

And the box costs $1.

So, the buyer saved a few cents and dumped the burden of managing the inventory on YOU, the operations team.

There is an alternative.

Skybox Packaging has decades of experience working with our customers to develop world-class on-time-in-full corrugated and packaging supply systems. Our proprietary process ensures that you have your packaging when you need it without storing it all over your facility. We have hundreds of clients that benefit from focusing on making the products their customers love, without the burden of developing an in-house packaging distribution company to ensure they have the packaging they need on-hand. 

Why don’t you let us do that? 

Learn more about how we can set you up with a system that assures that your packaging arrives WHEN and HOW you need it without the overhead of storing and managing it in-house. No more, no less.  

Supply Chain System: How to Effectively Communicate with Your Team

The supply chain strategy always lands on the operations team. When it’s good, it’s good, but as the last two years have shown, when it’s bad it’s horrendous.

Many operations suffer from complex supply chains, complicated logistics, long lead times, costly and inadequate substitutes, and ever-increasing warehouse burden to store items that do not contribute to the bottom line. Most of the time, breakdowns in the supply chain occur because of external issues that are completely out of your hands, but sometimes, the real missing link isn’t on some foreign shore. Sometimes, the breakdown in the supply chain is due to poor communication.

As an operational leader, you know exactly who needs to be where, what they need, and when they need it. From your vantage point, you can clearly see the whole supply chain and operations, from receiving to manufacture to shipping.

But without communication between production and manufacturing, marketing and fulfillment, development and distribution, optimal design and profit opportunities can be easily overlooked. Worse, regular lapses in communication can result in serious delays, missed deadlines, and lost customers.

 

So what does this have to do with your packaging?

Here’s the thing: so many of your headaches in operations are the result of an overly complicated production process; damaged goods, either from the manufacturing floor to the warehouse, from the warehouse to the distributor, or from the distributor to the customer; long lead times; or products that don’t stand out from the competition. 

Packaging plays a part in each and every one of these issues. Your production process relies on packaging to protect your product, packaging to advertise and market to customers, packaging to display your product in the stores, and packaging to ship your product from your production floor to its final destinations. Those are four key points in your operations where packaging can slow you down or completely derail your ability to deliver.

BUT, If you are able to streamline communications so that every player in your organization has a voice at the right time, you’ll be far more likely to deliver a quality product on time, undamaged, within budget, and at a profit. And most of this could be solved if YOU weren’t managing your packaging system in the first place. 

Skybox Packaging has decades of experience with comprehensive, custom packaging solutions. We’ve worked with hundreds of businesses who have found ways to be more efficient by clearly communicating with their teams across their operation and by removing the burden of managing your packaging system and storage yourself. We help you iron out these and many other packaging-related issues, beyond supplying you with your packaging needs. 


Let us know how we can help you bridge the communication gaps that are causing breakdowns in your supply chain. Learn more about our custom corrugated solutions and how Skybox can keep packaging issues from being the source of your production delays.

How Sustainable is Your Packaging?

It’s no secret that single-use packaging is wasteful. In fact, consumers and regulatory agencies alike are concerned and calling for change.

If your company is embracing sustainability to meet consumer demand and to be more environmentally friendly, it’s time to ask the question: How sustainable is your packaging?

What is sustainable packaging?

Simply speaking, sustainable packaging is: 

  • The use of any kind of material that is good for the environment. 
  • Or simply using less packaging materials.

It’s an approach that reduces your company’s footprint on the environment. 

The types of sustainable materials can run the gamut from recycled cardboard to recyclable mailers.

While it’s ideal to look at your entire lifecycle of your product’s impact on the environment, your company can get some quick wins by looking at the packaging for your products.

Choosing better packaging

When you’re considering making the switch to more sustainable packaging, consider these factors:

  • Test the packaging to minimize product damage. If product damage increases and you have to replace more product, you won’t be making any sustainability gains.
  • Think outside of the box. Work with a sustainable packaging provider who can give you options, for example a beverage carrier that employs a plastic alternative and uses less material, while still showcasing your branding.
  • Evaluate recyclable alternatives. If your company ships products, consider curbside recyclable mailers.
  • Work with an expert. Before you change your processes or packaging, work with a packaging expert who can help you consider the alternatives and help your organization achieve sustainability.

Join the thousands of companies making a commitment to reducing energy and water usage and cutting greenhouse gas and air pollutants.

As a partner in the Atlantic network Skybox utilizes old corrugated containers (OCC), and the Atlantic paper mills produce 100% recycled material for use in our packaging solutions. We can help you find sustainable packaging solutions so your company can make its desire to be sustainable a reality.


Skybox Packaging is not only dedicated to getting you the best displays, product packaging, and shipping materials, we also want to help you make a positive impact through your sustainability efforts. Learn more about how we can help you reach your sustainability goals.

 

Common Packaging Mistakes in the Warehouse and How to Solve Them

Packaging, warehouse operations, and shipping systems are probably not your favorite part of your business, but handled poorly, they can be your demise. Here are the most common packaging mistakes we see manufacturers make:

Favoring Design over Practicality

The consumer might buy your product because of your flashy packaging, but if the product is damaged during shipping because of flimsy or inadequate packaging, it will cause you all kinds of headaches. Your package design should protect your product from environmental damage.

It’s also important to choose a material for packaging that is lightweight enough to reduce your load in the warehouse and your shipping and delivery costs. A heavier package means a bulkier package, which can lead to more strain on warehouse equipment and dropped products.

Favoring Protection over Promotion

There is, however, an important balance between practical and pretty. Like it or not, consumers judge books by their covers. When designing your product packaging, keep in mind that there are two types of packaging: internal packaging and external packaging. Your internal packaging will showcase your product on the shelves for consumers to see. It needs to be marketing driven while protecting the product it holds inside.

External packaging, on the other hand, is all about function and utility. Its primary purposes are to contain the internally packaged products, protect them from damage, and ensure they arrive at the proper destinations. This means making sure your external packaging is sturdy, easy to move, and labeled adequately. When you design your product packaging with shipping in mind, it’s possible to find ways to be more efficient, like using pallets for warehouse storage.

Ignoring the Cries of Tree-Huggers

The movement toward more sustainable packaging is not going away. According to the EPA, containers and packaging alone account for nearly

 one quarter of the material reaching landfills in the U.S. Many consumers make their buying decisions based on whether the material the product comes in is recyclable. It’s a marketing decision as well as the common sense, responsible approach to packaging.

Use lightweight materials (like recyclable plastics and paperboard) to reduce shipping costs and reduce waste going into landfills. Corrugated cardboard packaging is also extremely lightweight, versatile, sturdy, and easy to recycle. It’s also easy to customize so your external packaging is appropriately labeled for warehouse management.

As an Atlantic Packaging partner, Skybox Packaging supplies 100% recycled corrugated packaging and provides a cost-effective and reliable option for eco-conscious customers.

Poorly Labeled External Packaging

You’ve got your beautiful internal packaging tucked neatly within your external packaging, but now there’s a problem. The boxes are blank. The labels are buried on the inside of the packaging. No one knows for sure which product is in which box. 

Poorly labeled external packaging creates confusion and disarray in the warehouse. Mis-picks and mis-packs are an operational profit drain that originates in the warehouse, causing damage to both your physical product and your brand’s reputation. These errors cost you in lost products and lost customers. 

Make sure your external packaging has clearly identifiable print & barcode labels. Once that is taken care of, you’ll need to make sure your operations staff understand the process they need to follow to ensure the right products get to the right place, both in your warehouse and when they’re ready to ship.

One of the best ways to do this is to establish a system that rewards employee compliance, accuracy, and productivity. This incentivization helps keep your inventory records accurate. Without lost or mis-picked products, your company will gain an increase in profits. The best place to tighten up profit leaks is by identifying mis-picks.


At Skybox, packaging and warehouse operations isn’t just part of our business—it is our business. We specialize in designing packaging solutions that work, from design to delivery, ironing out and helping to maintain the operational system. Learn more about our services and how we can work to avoid these common packaging mistakes together.

Top Challenges Procurement Managers Face

It’s a challenging time to be in procurement right now. Every area of the supply chain seems under a different kind of strain. It’s procurement’s responsibility to order the necessary parts and supplies from companies all over the world in order to complete the manufacturing process and have the proper supplies on hand to get orders shipped.

The two major factors that are keeping you up at night if you’re in procurement (really, any area of business) are supply chain disruptions and inflation. Obviously, it takes more than just one business’s input to get the ball rolling again, but understanding these issues and how each of us affects the other can make a big difference when the world keeps screeching to a halt.

Supply Chain Disruptions

In order for your plant to maintain smooth operations, you have to be able to access the parts you need to build your product. The Covid pandemic set into motion what is now years of supply chain delays and disruptions around the globe as various companies lock down to prevent the spread of disease. Ongoing disruptions continue with new Covid outbreaks globally that impact specific organizations and countries, slowing part production, shipping, and delivery. And now, to top it all off, the war between Russia and Ukraine has made gas prices skyrocket, slowing down transportation so that even if the parts are made, they can’t be moved, at least not as efficiently as before.

Once your parts finally arrive, unexpectedly, it’s go time. Production has to swing into full gear, and orders need to be fulfilled ASAP. The last thing you want is for your outgoing products to be delayed due to warehousing, fulfillment, or delivery, but supply chain delays can cause even more issues on this end as well, waiting for someone else to take care of your product packaging and get it out the door.

Inflation

Just when the supply chain seemed like it was starting to sort itself out, gas prices started soaring, affecting the cost of every single product and process under the sun. In order to combat transportation costs, everyone is working hard to consolidate shipments to make the most of every truck on the road. When it’s time to ship, you need a packaging and fulfillment partner that is ready to hit the ground running with fast and flexible services to keep your products moving.

 

Now is the time to choose a packaging company that can meet your needs with efficiency and agility. Skybox Packaging has the flexibility and experience to work with you through these unpredictable times so that your business isn’t held up by packaging problems but can continue on its way as soon as you’re ready to roll.


Explore Skybox’s corrugated packaging solutions today.

 

Corrugated + Packaging Solutions: The Skybox Way

If you’re like most purchasing agents, product managers, and brand handlers, your product comes first, and rightly so, but that means that packaging is often an afterthought. What will it ship in? How will it look to the consumer? And how many different suppliers are required to pull it all together?

Countless. From design to creation, prototyping to printing, packaging to shipping, and warehousing to fulfillment, there’s a lot that goes into getting your product from your manufacturing floor to the consumer. 

If you’re spending all your time and energy connecting with a different supplier for every single step of your packaging and fulfillment process, let us be the first to tell you that there are other ways to manage the packaging part of your production process.

The Skybox Way

Skybox Packaging is more than just a corrugated manufacturer and packaging supplier. With decades of experience fine-tuning a system for full-service, custom corrugated packaging solutions, we are a key partner who want to simplify this part of the process without sacrificing quality design and creative input.


Discovery

You might not even realize just how much stress this part of your business is causing, so imagine for a moment an initial meeting with your supplier to showcase your product. You’re gathered together with our team of designers to dream up the best possible solution for your product’s packaging with the team of people who are going to make it happen.


Plan 

After that meeting, you can go back to your office and breathe while we begin designing potential packaging solutions, from product packaging to partitions, displays, and build ups. Our team will put together a prototype for your review, and once we’re all happy with the results, it’s off to printing.


Deliver

But we don’t stop there. We’ll make recommendations for your product protection, both inside and outside the box, during shipment—which we can supply— and the automation to save you time and labor.


Adapt

We’re excited to provide excellent service, quality packaging, and creative design solutions for custom corrugated packaging, as well as a full line of product protection, both inside and outside the box. These things can be far more than commodities—they can make or break your bottom line.


We love to enter into a collaborative partnership with businesses to simplify your life and give you space to do what you do best. It’s the Skybox Way.


If you’re working with other vendors for your corrugated packaging and product protection, give us a test run as your potential partner. We’d be happy to help you out. Learn more about Skybox’s Packaging Solutions or give us a call today.

Mailing Address

Skybox Packaging
PO Box 1567
Mansfield, OH 44901-1567

Shipping Address

Skybox Packaging
1275 Pollock Pkwy
Mansfield, OH 44905

Contact

Phone: (419) 525-7209
Toll-Free: (888) 672-6948
Fax: (419) 525-7210
Email: Support@SkyboxPackaging.com

Follow us on:

© 2024 Skybox Packaging. All rights reserved.

Build Your Custom Solution

Give us a little bit of information so we have the right person ready to reach out to you.