Tips To Overcome Packaging Workflow Challenges

With an overall increase in demands for the products, the need for personalized and consumer-centric packaging is growing with the passage of time. It is surely good news for the businesses and marketing firms but it is also the fact that maintaining printed food packaging and labeling is becoming quite challenging, especially when you are not printing digitally.

Here, you are going to have to make sure that you are managing the workflow challenges. In this article, we are going to discuss how you can keep up with the market requirements.

Tips for the workflow challenges

There are a few things that you may have to consider in order to overcome the challenges.

• First, you have to see how long it takes for a process to be approved before it is brought into action. The main purpose is to remove any contacts in the approval process that are not absolutely necessary. Every contact point involves a study of the process and then approval of that process. Increased number of contacts can lead to a lengthy approval process. As a result, the efficiency is affected.
• You will have to ensure proper communication between all of the nodes involved in supply chain. This communication is necessary to deal with any issue at any point of the packaging process. Occurrence of any issue doesn’t have to stop the entire packaging process. Effective communication can help the technical or managerial staff to quickly know about the problem and go for the right solution.
• Make sure that you are holding meeting with each point of contact in a week in order to review production for each SKU. If you have a larger business with too many contact points to manage, this weekly meeting can be of huge benefit. Ask about what is required at every contact point in order to fulfill every need related to packaging at every SKU.
• When you are in the business of production and packaging, you are going to have to make sure that you are organizing everything in a nicer way. Establish an advanced database in which the information about every SKU needs to be stored and updated. This information should be available from separate folders. Authorize only the concerned people to make change in the information related to every SKU.

Remember, you need to know about the ins and outs of packaging and labeling process in order to manage the packaging workflow. Keeping an eye on the entire process and holding meetings with the technical and managerial staff will help you remove the hiccups and accelerate the process.

Common Problems Related to Shrink Wrap

The best thing about shrink wrapping is that it is quite easier and cost effective. There are two main things that you require for a better shrink wrap; i.e. plastic film and heat. It means that you can use a roll to pack your products to provide them safety against several factors such as temperature change and hard impact.

Nevertheless, there are some problems even with the shrink wrap. In this post, we are going to discuss common problems which can happen during and after the shrink wrapping of the product.

Dog ears

Dog ears commonly refer to the excess film seen around the corners of a package. These are the triangular protrusions and, hence, resemble the dog ears. The major reason for appearance of this issue is the lack of shrinking of the film around the product. A few ways to solve this issue are worth mentioning in this regard.

• First, you need to make proper assessment of the heat applied to the film. Make sure that the film gets wrapped around the product appropriately and it doesn’t damage the product when it is cooled.
• Check the size of film that you are using. If the size of film is bigger than what you need for packaging, it may end up creating these dog ears.
• Using lower quality films can also result in the creation of these films.
• Irregular shape of products can also lead to the same problem.

Crow’s Feet

Crow’s feet occur along with the corners for the same reasons as those of dog ears. Hence, applying solutions for dog ears can solve the crow’s feet problems without doing anything specifically.

The major reason for appearance of crow’s feet is the use of excess amount of film. Therefore, you can use smaller shrink wrap to avoid this problem.

Another reason for this problem is related to the insufficient heat provided to the film. Hence, you have to make sure that your machine is producing enough heat to make the film getting wrapped around the product uniformly.

Fish eyes

The round or oval patterns may occur beneath the film if it is shrunk poorly. The fish eyes make the product packaging look like a work done by unprofessional packaging staff. The major reason for the occurrence of fish eyes is the lack of heating to the film. Therefore, you need to check the heating element.

Bad air velocity is another reason for the occurrence of fish eyes. Make sure that the heat source is pushing enough air while applying the heat.

When you are using shrink wrapping process for the packaging of your product, you are going to have to make sure that you are using the correct methods to rectify issues with the shrinking process.

Things You Need To Do Before Moving Abroad

You may know how stressful and overwhelming while moving to another city or state. There are a lot of things you need to get ready for while moving. Now, imagine the level of difficulty when it comes to moving abroad. It’s not just the packing you need to be worried about. As a matter of fact, packing is going to be the least of your concerns because it is highly recommended to move with the fewer items when it comes to relocation to the new addresses located abroad.

Having that said, a few things, which you need to do before moving abroad, are as under.

Packing your items

You will need to move only with your necessary items. Now, you may wonder what those necessary items may be. Let’s discuss.

• You will need to move your necessary electronics with you while moving abroad. While you can purchase everything in the new country, there are a few items like your computer, phone and chargers that you are going to move with you. Here, you will have to make sure that the electronic items you are moving work well with the electric outlets in the country you are going to move to.
• Your medication is something you should not forget while moving to another country. You will need to get appointment from your doctor prior to moving and discuss your plan about moving. If it is the trip of a few months, you can discuss it with your doctor. And if you are planning to move to the new place on long term basis, you will need to note down the contact of a qualified medical professional in the area of your new home.
• The most important of anything is the pile of your documents which you will need to take good care of. Make sure that important documents are properly packed and secured before you are all set to move to the new place.

Overcoming the language and cultural barrier

One thing that is going to challenge you a lot in the new country is the native language. Since you are going to move to the new country and you will have to deal with the locals, you will have to make sure that you have at least the basic knowledge about their language so that you will be able to communicate with them easily. Moreover, learning about their culture is the second most important thing if you want to adjust well in that particular community. You can find training centers to learn about the country you are about to move to.

Furniture and other belongings

In case you are going to move to the new country to live there for several years, it would be better to sell your belongings before moving. However, if you are going to move there for a year or less, you can rent a storage unit for your belongings if you don’t really want to get rid of those valuables.