Packaging Changes From Fmcg To Cut Cost

Under  pressure  from rising prices and competitions  major fmcg  have now focusing on cost  reduction strategies  for  their product packaging . Packaging cost  is   a major cost contributor in product costing .

Few of the strategies   are

• Smaller packs  
• Smaller secondary packaging
• Alternative packing material
• Lighter packaging material
• Lesser printing
• Lesser margins  at end seals  ie reduction in cut off length s
• Pre- formed cartons and packaging boxes
• Universal packaging material and cartons for all locations

A report  published in ET

It is not just consumers who are tightening their belts in the face of runaway food inflation. Some of the country's largest consumer products companies such as Hindustan Unilever and Parle Products too are doing the same by reducing the package.


Now, reducing package has two elements: the content of the pack and the material used for making the pack.


While most consumer goods companies have periodically reduced the weight of packets to deal with increasing input costs, packaging firms are working on developing newer, cheaper packaging materials to control costs. The measures include tweaking the size and thickness of packages as well as replacing costly material with lower-cost alternatives.


"We have already deployed some lower-cost alternative packaging into the market," Tetra Pak India MD Kandarp Singh said. "For example, when the norm was for dairies to offer milk in half-litre and one-litre packs, we offered our customers a 200ml alternative in the TFA (tetra fino aseptic) pouch-shaped format and this is the alternative that is finding ready acceptance amongst consumers," he added.

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 The Economic Times