At Label Solutions, Inc., we provide valuable resources to help your business succeed. You can find resources in our 8-part blog series featuring the common mistakes made by business owners as they plan their packaging and product labels. With expert industry knowledge, our team wants to help you forgo these mistakes so you can be successful
Today, we address Mistake #3: Not Sharing Your Production Run Schedules With Your Label Provider. Stay connected to our blog for each section of this 8-part series!
Utilize Supply Chain Management
Some of Label Solutions' largest accounts have the most efficient, real-time tracking Supply Chain models in North America. But even they cannot avoid impromptu orders for their products, stemming from an increasingly high customer demand. It is a good problem to have, but it is an issue, nonetheless. Manufacturers utilize Supply Chain Management to notify their suppliers of their monthly order forecasts, which in turn helps suppliers manage their materials and deliveries more efficiently.
Backdate Your Label Production Schedules
On the other side of the spectrum, when small businesses share their production schedules with a supplier, it means that both parties (the manufacturer and label provider) understand when to expect higher or lower order quantities each month. Label providers should backdate their label production schedules, so they have the materials available to handle your busier months while ensuring on-time deliveries.
Best Method Approach
Supply chain management (SCM) models are excellent examples of the best approach. Although SCM's are designed for scalability and real-time tracking, the benefit to you also helps your label supplier. For example, our large retail and industrial manufacturing clients notify the Label Solutions team to produce their labels according to their Supply Chain portal demand schedules. This, in turn, allows label suppliers to allocate production time and materials more efficiently for your last-minute rush orders.
Use an Excel Report
Smaller companies can take a much more simplified approach (without the SCM tracking) to help their suppliers manage their orders — even if they do not use supply chain management. An Excel production report that runs over a 12-month time frame is ideal. If your label provider does not already practice this or a similar methodology, it might be time to start looking for a more proactive label provider. If you're unsure you want to share your information, then you might consider requiring your label provider to sign an NDA (Non-disclosure Agreement).
Contact Label Solutions, Inc. Today
Label Solutions, Inc. offers a variety of products you can choose from to make your label stand out. Whether big or small, we label it all. If you're ready to get your order going, contact one of our friendly representatives to get started on your project.
Be sure to read the next section in our 8-part blog series, Mistake #4: Not Accepting Alternative Sizes of the Label to Allow for Better Pricing.