The phrase “streamlining your business” sounds impressive. It definitely sounds like a thing you’d be proud to say if someone asked you what you had accomplished at the office. We can all agree that it feels substantial, but what does it really mean?
Streamlining isn’t just a buzzword at Western Industries; it’s a thing we’ve done for a number of clients. The results are specific to each client, but when we’re done, they usually get to enjoy a more efficient supply chain that results in happier customers and more dollars headed to their bottom line. It’s not always an easy process, but we’re the kind of people who like to leave things better than when we found them.
That’s great, but what is it?
What Happens When We Streamline a Business?
Like most great things, streamlining starts small. Usually, it starts inside a box.
As you know, we’re passionate about effective and efficient packaging, but we’re more than just box-obsessed engineers, although many times the customized container is the starting point of this process.
Instead of explaining this concept by discussing warehouses and pallets and logistical capacities, let’s talk about your refrigerator.
Imagine that you were able to personally redesign the container for every product inside your refrigerator. You could choose how to package your butter, ketchup, vegetables, sauces, all of it. You could create packages that were the perfect size. Maybe they’d be stackable, or they’d be color-coded, or they might even have left-handed handles. Who knows – you’re the designer!
By the time you finish, you’ll be able to fit more containers in there, which means going to the store less, saving valuable time, and gas money. Now you’re cooking like an Iron Chef while saving time and money because you’re not headed to the store every day. On top of that, you’ve got perfectly designed containers that protect their contents so you’re not throwing stuff out as often. You’ve just been streamlined!
We can do something similar for many of our clients, although usually on a scale slightly larger than the home kitchen. We start by working on packaging, but the natural extension of that effort is the ability to streamline processes like fulfillment, warehousing, and logistics.
For example, if your existing packing crate currently holds 9 widgets, but we’re able to optimize the packing crate to hold 10 in the same amount of space, our client can store more widgets in the same amount of warehouse space.
If we’re able to improve the customized packaging box and the client fits one more box on a shelf in their warehouse, suddenly their warehouse has the ability to hold more widgets and the storage cost per widget is reduced.
This also means that they can fit more widgets on a single truck, so the shipping cost per widget goes down. And since we’ve done our jobs well, the new, widget-friendly box is going to keep them safe during shipping, meaning that they’ll have less breakage when the customers open up the container. That saves money too.
In the end, we’ve helped our clients find cost savings and improved customer satisfaction at a number of points in their process, and it all started when we improved a simple container.
What would streamlining do at your facility? Don’t worry if you’re not sure, because Western Industries is the expert at getting into processes and discovering all the little changes that can translate into big improvements. Get in touch with one of our specialists, and let’s start working together to find the solutions that unlock your operation’s potential.