Pallets of film nobody can use
There is a corner of the warehouse with pallets of printed film for a product that changed its recipe, sleeves for a promotion that ended, and cartons with the old barcode. Each change was a sensible decision on its own. Nobody knew, at the time, that there were months of the old packaging in stock and another delivery already printed.
Printed packaging is not like plain film. It carries one product, one artwork version, sometimes one customer. When that changes, it is either used up or thrown away.
Why packaging stock gets forgotten
Packaging is bought by purchasing, specified by technical, designed through artwork and changed by commercial decisions. Each team makes its call without the others' information in front of them.
- Stock records show a code and quantity, not which artwork version it carries.
- Printers have minimum runs, so orders are larger than a few weeks' need.
- Recipe or claim changes are agreed before anyone checks packaging stock.
- Customer delistings reach purchasing late.
- Some printers hold stock for you, which does not show on your records at all.
What it costs to find out afterwards
The write-off itself, which on printed packaging is usually the whole value. The storage space the dead stock takes up for months before someone clears it. Rush reprints when a change is agreed with too short a lead time. And unpleasant month-end conversations about stock value.
The packaging stock view we build
- Every printed item is recorded against the products it is used on and the artwork version it carries.
- Stock on hand comes from your stock records, and stock held at printers is recorded from their statements.
- Usage is forecast from your production plan, so each item has a run-out date.
- When someone proposes an artwork, recipe or product change, the view shows the stock that would become obsolete and the earliest date the change could go live without writing anything off.
- Reorders for items with a change coming are flagged, so purchasing orders the new version, not more of the old.
- Delisted products trigger a list of their packaging with quantities, so the last runs can be planned to use it up where the customer agrees.
| Question | Answered by |
|---|---|
| How much old film is there? | Stock by artwork version |
| When will it run out? | Usage from the production plan |
| What if we change now? | Obsolete value on the proposed date |
| Is more of the old version on order? | Open orders with printers |
What the business can decide with it
Change dates are chosen with the packaging in view, instead of being set in a meeting where nobody had the stock figures. Sometimes the change still has to happen straight away, and that is a decision you make knowingly. More often a later go-live date, or a smaller final print run, uses up what is there. Purchasing stops reordering items that are about to change.
Month-end stock value becomes easier to explain, because the packaging that is likely to be written off is visible before the auditors ask. And the question of whether to accept a customer's request for a label change by a particular date can be answered with the cost attached.
Signs this is costing you
- There is a stack of printed packaging nobody can use.
- Stock records do not show artwork versions.
- Artwork changes are agreed before checking stock.
- Printers hold stock you cannot see.
- Reorders have gone in just before a change.