How to Run a Packaging Audit to Cut Costs

Steps

1. Pull 12 months of packaging purchases by item, plus freight bills and damage claims.
2. Rank items by annual spend. The top 10–20 items usually make up most of the cost, so start there.
3. Measure your top-shipping products and their boxes. Note empty space, extra void fill, and boxes that ship at dimensional weight.
4. Look for overlap. Many plants stock several box sizes or bags that could be combined into fewer items bought in larger volumes.
5. Time each packing station and note where people wait, rework, or hand-apply film, tape, or strap.
6. Rank the fixes by savings and effort, change one thing at a time, and track damage and cost for 60–90 days after each change.

• Cutting material to save money, which raises damage costs more than it saves.
• Changing several things at once, which makes it hard to see what worked.
• Leaving freight and labor out of the numbers. They are often bigger than the material cost.

You want a free packaging review. We can walk your line, test alternatives, and show the savings before you switch.

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