Break Bulk Consolidation & packaging

 
As we wrote last month, Atlanta is a great place to be doing business. It has recently been named “Supply Chain City” and ranks number two in American cities for supply chain capability. Because of our location in this supply chain hub, we are able to help manufacturers integrate packaging services that facilitate the most efficient supply chain solutions.

This month I want to explain one of the ways that we are able to use our packaging business to streamline supply chain lines. The service is called break bulk consolidation and it can be a great way to make your logistics operation more efficient.

Break bulk consolidation is an ideal service for companies that are managing products that have components manufactured in different places. In break bulk consolidation, we receive products from different manufacturers and repackage them as one product for end users. This service reduces the time it takes to bring a product to market and allows for reduced transportation costs.
 

Case Study: Tractor Parts

 
A company we worked with had a tractor that they wanted to market with a kit of different implements: a loader, a mower deck and snow blower. The problem was that the tractor and each of the implements came from a different overseas manufacturing centers. Ordinarily, a company might be tempted to consolidate and individually package the parts overseas and then ship them to a North American hub. But that solution requires more transportation of parts between manufacturing centers. With break bulk consolidation, it was faster and more economical for each manufacturer to send the parts to a North American regional packager where the different implements could be combined and then packaged as a kit to be shipped to the end users. We received full truckloads of each part and then repackaged them as a kit, sending out truckloads to regional stores. This cut down on time-to-market as well as costs, streamlining the whole supply chain operation.
 

 
To be clear, this was not a warehousing job. Our facility is entirely dedicated to our packaging business and is not equipped for warehousing. But break bulk consolidation enabled us to provide a valuable service that combined receiving, consolidating and packaging. This is a great way to take advantage of the intermodal transportation hub of Atlanta and our packaging expertise, saving time and money while delivering great products to end users.

Get in touch to talk to us about break bulk consolidation and your supply chain.