For many industrial companies, there’s nothing quite as valuable as a regular, consistent, large-volume customer. Such a customer provides regular cash flow, predictable work, and a bit a of certainty in what can often be an uncertain business environment.
Repeat customers may form the foundation of your business. If so, every shipment you send to those customers should represent a fresh cash flow and increased profitability. However, what if you’re actually sacrificing profitability and suppressing your margins with those repeat shipments? You may be doing just that with your packaging materials.
These packages are built with a high level of durability,
so they can be used many times.
It costs money and labor hours to produce packaging and then load the product into the crate or container. If you’re building a new package for each repeat shipment, those costs can quickly add up. While the package may protect the product’s quality while in transit, it ultimately ends up in the customer’s dumpster.
The good news is that there’s an alternative solution that could substantially increase your profitability with your biggest, most repetitive customers. It’s called rotable packaging. If you haven’t heard of it or examined it, now may be the time to do so, especially if you send repetitive shipments to customers.
What is rotable packaging?
Rotable packaging is packaging that can be reused multiple times. It’s often made from plastic, but can be made from other materials, like engineered metal. Usually, a rotable package is custom designed and manufactured for your products in order to maximize quality protection.
Your packaging partner designs and manufactures the packaging to meet your needs. You then package your products and ship to your customer. They unpack the products and send the container back to you so you can reuse it for the next shipment.
Often, these packages are built with a high level of durability, so they can be used many times. Rotable packaging offers a number of unique advantages, including:
Reduced cost.
One of the biggest benefits of rotable packaging is reduced cost for both materials and labor. The reduced expense for materials is clear. When you reuse packages, there’s less need to build new packaging, which means expense for materials.
However, you will also likely see a reduced need for labor during the packaging process. Since your rotable package will be custom designed, it can be engineered in a way that makes it quick and easy to pack and unpack. Additionally, as your team gets more experience with the pack, they will likely gain greater efficiency in the process.
Enhanced quality protection.
Custom-engineered packaging can be one of your most valuable tools in protecting product quality. A packaging engineer can analyze your product and the distribution process to identify potential risks.
They can then design, engineer, and produce packaging that minimizes those risks and enhances protection.
For example, many rotable packages are made from plastic. That means they can be engineered in such a way to form a tight fit around the product, thus reducing the risk of movement within the container. Rotable packaging can also be designed to protect against extreme temperatures, moisture, and many other threats.
Increased sustainability.
Reduced material usage doesn’t only lead to lower costs. It also delivers increased sustainability capabilities. That could be especially important if your customers have sustainability objectives in their supply chain or if you’re working to attract new business from companies that value sustainability. You may be able to use your rotable packaging as a selling point.
There’s no need to manufacture new packaging with every shipment, especially if you send that shipment on a regular basis to the same customer. Consider rotable packaging as a way to reduce costs, protect quality, and increase your sustainability capabilities. A packaging company can help you decide whether rotables are right for you. 
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