News

A strong theme at last month’s Total Processing and Packaging show was the need for early dialogue between brand owners and machinery suppliers when new products are being developed.

NO
It’s always preferable to involve machinery suppliers as early as possible in any new product development, to ensure the shortest and quickest route to market. As long as the supplier is in regular touch with its customers, this generally takes place.

The problem that can arise is an over-optimistic expectation regarding machinery delivery for what can be a bespoke system.

As long as this is recognised at the outset of discussions and the project is well managed from both sides, there will be no problems.

Suppliers know that time to market and return on investment for the customer is critical and so it’s incumbent on the supplier to be as agile as possible to respond to the customer’s needs.

Jeremy Marden
Director
Marden Edwards

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YES
I think everybody realises there needs to be earlier partnerships.

With machinery suppliers we want them to get involved earlier with our business and not just our projects. Once we have an understanding of their business and what they can potentially offer, then we know who to involve at the earlier stages.

They need to tell us what’s good for them as well as us telling them what’s good for us.

A lot of suppliers contact us to get involved in projects, but by the time something has become a project it may be too late to get a different perspective on the solutions.

What we are saying is that we want to get involved as a business earlier.

Dave Penrith
Global packaging and machinery manager
Unilever Home care

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YES
But refer to the IoP machine design session on the first day of Total: the sector is divided into ostriches and phoenixes. The ostriches are those who are reluctant to involve their suppliers at an early stage, perhaps in the belief that an open and transparent relationship weakens their negotiation position or puts confidentiality in jeopardy.

This is patently not the case – the phoenixes are a large contingent of forward-thinking companies that do involve machinery designers and builders from the outset.

This partnership approach invariably delivers better finished product at reduced cost and is a much more rewarding relationship for all – brand owner and supplier as well as any other parties such as sub-contractors. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations are far less frequent and problems can be nipped in the bud, rather than being allowed to develop into a major issue that can add time and cost to a project.

Chris Buxton
Chief executive
Processing and Packaging Machinery Association

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YES
Some companies definitely do not involve the provider in the whole packaging process and that can create confusion as this closes the pool of creativity.

Instead, they ask us to get an answer to a specific problem. We are involved in so many different industries and so we know that we can bring the ideas from one industry to another.

What’s important for the customer is the final cost of the product. There are so many factors, for example cost of building and production.

We have customers that have different segments of their organisation and all of them have divided responsibilities. They have their own goals and some of them do not fit together. It’s the ‘throw over the wall’ concept; instead of working together from the beginning, they pass the job from one person to the next.

Friedbert Klefenz
President
Bosch Packaging Technology