Never mind the Scrooges out there now complaining about wall-to-wall Christmas TV ads – for contract packers the festive dash began months ago and isn’t far off being all wrapped up for another year. The pressure on factory scheduling is keenly felt at this time of year. So much so in fact, that when a surprise job drops – especially one with big volumes, tight turnarounds or both – a whole operation can grind to a halt if flexibility hasn’t been adequately allowed for. It’s not just a challenge at Christmas either, surprises can appear all year round. There are, however, three steps you can take to keep your business ready for the unexpected.
Mix your labour Striking the right balance with your staff is vital. On the one hand, your core contracted staff bring experience and reliability. On the other, flexible workers are invaluable for meeting short term peaks in demand – their availability is to your benefit while your higher rates of pay are their compensation. Neither of them on their own can give you the pace and finished quality that you need, but together they can give you the right combination of skill sets to suit your business. Putting in place a staff charter of agreed working practices will help make sure each worker, whether they’re permanent or flexible, know what you expect of them, and what they can expect of you.
Sure up your ops Being flexible takes great planning, so be sure you have confidence in your systems before taking on big jobs at short notice. Unless your existing processes can already deliver high quantities to a high standard year round without issue, turning around big unexpected volumes fast and successfully is probably out of the question. Instead, take time to make sure your systems are slick, well planned out and structured to allow for fast implementation when needed. This way not only will you be able to deliver new productions quickly in future, but you’ll do it right too.
Seize your supply chain This is often the place where a slick project with the right labour mix will fall down under pressure – those supplier problems ‘out of our control’. Except they don’t have to be. While it’s tempting to leave responsibility for the supply chain with the client in order to limit responsibility or liability, that course of action benefits no one when things go wrong. And they do. Having total visibility of supply chain as the contract packer is a must for flexible working. Having total control is even better. Both give you more chance of making sure everything arrives with you when you want it and in the right condition. You can plan around any delays in advance and react to events early.
