Win in Relationships with Contract Packagers

What is a contract packager?

Contract packagers (CPs) are also known as co-packers, contract manufacturers, co-manufacturers, or even toll processors. Whatever you prefer to call it, a CP is typically an organization whose purpose is to engage in manufacturing and/or packaging a product for another entity. They exclusively provide services rather than products for sale. CPs tend to be specialists in what they do and how they do it. They may work with high-speed automatic equipment or manual labor. In PacMoore’s case it’s a combination of both. The most common industries where contract manufacturers specialize include pharmaceutical packaging, food, cosmetics, consumer goods, and club store products. Each of these fields has nearly endless categories where manufacturers specialize even more narrowly.

Relationships are a two way street – how to set up a successful partnership

As the client in your relationship with a CP, you may be accustomed to a mindset that they should do all the work and you should reap all the benefits. To a certain extent this idea is justified, but it may not reward you in the way you expect. Your CP certainly wants to meet and exceed the project requirements, but they can’t do it without you. If you allow the CP to engage in your process, getting them involved as early as possible and keeping them informed of new developments when they arise, you’re providing a better opportunity for cost savings, time savings, and success. Along those same lines, many contract manufacturers like PacMoore have pilot equipment available for test runs to be scaled up when ready. You should feel comfortable using CPs for test runs, and letting them act as an extension of your own company. It’s in our best interest to protect your IP. PacMoore extends this principle even further than most co-packers to establish trust – we do not manufacturer our own products to compete with our customers.

Benefits of Hiring a CP

Companies hire CPs for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is to avoid capital investment. Hiring a contract manufacturer allows you to conserve capital versus investing in buildings or equipment costs for services like dry blending, sifting, consumer packaging and re-packing. These processes require the right equipment and facilities, which already exist in a specialized contract packager.

Another huge benefit to outsourcing to a CP is the trusted quality and excellence of the end product. The people behind the machinery have the experience to know what works and what doesn’t. They already have the quality food certifications you’re looking for – whether organic, gluten-free, kosher or even halal.

Perhaps most importantly, turning to a CP means you can focus on your core business and do what you do best rather than taking the time to expand your manufacturing and packaging systems.

These are only a few of the benefits of hiring a co-packer. Read more about the benefits of hiring a contract manufacturer in this other PacMoore blog post.