“From companies suffering from business contractions due to the tough economy, to new acquisitions that are being reorganized and streamlined by their new holding companies, we have identified five company profiles that are perfect candidates for our Tier One Parts Consolidation programs.”

1) Companies Hurt by the Tough Economy or with Labor Issues

During the recent tough economy many OEM companies had to lay off workers. From staffing shortages in the packaging, shipping and warehousing departments, to less staff in accounting and purchasing, these companies are prime candidates for Fapco’s Tier One Parts programs. These companies benefit from keeping staffing costs low through partnering with Fapco.

2) Mid-sized Companies Short of Manufacturing Space

Many mid-sized OEM manufacturing firms captured additional work from downsized plants in their systems, influx of additional models to build, or new acquisitions and consolidations. Manufacturing space is at a premium in these facilities. Sacrificing and relocating packaging, warehousing, product staging and freight consolidation space increases the manufacturing footprint. Fapco’s Tier One Parts Consolidation program helps its OEM customers concentrate on what they do best—building great products.

3) Manufacturing Firms Leasing Facilities

Fapco can help cut costs with its Tier One Parts Consolidation program for OEM manufacturers that have outgrown their leased facilities far before their lease is up by freeing up space in the existing facility for more manufacturing. For those looking to lease more space for warehousing, small parts quality inspection and packaging and distribution, Fapco can transfer these leasing and equipment costs to its facilities and can reduce the OEM’s overhead.

4) Labor Problems or Lack of a Qualified Workforce

The lack of qualified people, high turnover rates, and high retraining costs to staff a packaging, warehousing or distribution facility has driven many OEM manufacturers to consider consolidating and outsourcing these services to Fapco, contributing to a healthier bottom line.

5) Manufacturing Regulations or Specification Changes

Many companies that build parts in their own facilities must change processes to meet new, tighter regulations or quality specification changes. This can include product standards, packaging standards and inspection specifications. Current suppliers can no longer meet these quality standards so they come to Fapco to take specific processes off site by utilizing Fapco’s Tier One Parts Consolidation processes and use it for Tier One automotive parts for an example.

Gardiner summed up the similarity he has found after Fapco’s Tier One Parts Consolidation systems are employed.

“We’ve found their customers are usually happier,” concludes Gardiner. “They’re getting their parts on time. How do you quantify that? All we know is that customers are telling us pretty frequently, ‘Our customers are a lot happier than they used to be.’ That’s big on their end. Customer satisfaction – that usually pays offs for our OEM customers.”

The packaging experts at Fapco can help you with nearly any packaging needs, providing top-quality cold seal technology, clamshell packaging, along with many other types of part kitting packaging. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

The post Tier One Spare Parts Consolidation: 5 OEM Profiles that Benefit Most appeared first on Fapco.

When OEMs implement vendor consolidation practices with a full service contract packager such as Fapco they utilize one of the most progressive vendor management models available in logistics today. OEMs consolidate parts purchasing from multiple suppliers into one supplier and streamline their supply chain to better control quality and improve parts flow during peak demand periods.

Four Key Benefits of Consolidating Parts Purchasing to One Full Service Contract Packaging Firm

1. Consolidation with a Tier One contract packager lowers transportation costs.

Transporting parts to and from one location is more cost efficient than transporting freight from multiple locations. Freight is a key aspect of inventory. More volumes shipped to and from Fapco translate to lower per unit freight cost on parts.

2. OEMs improve quality and lower costs through parts inspection with a tier-one parts suppler/contract packager.

Fapco’s in-house parts inspection team (see article page five) assures that OEMs with tough expectations benefit by improving quality assurance. Fapco’s quality assurance managers follow the same procedures and guidelines as your in-house quality assurance department. Receiving all vendor parts at one location and inspecting and rejecting parts with Fapco’s team, assures that parts sent to the OEM for distribution, aftermarket or even production are virtually flawless. Fapco’s parts inspection process reduces cost of receiving, inspection and inventory of bad parts for the OEM. It’s important to remember this is not a parts consignment and fulfillment program. As the Tier One supplier, Fapco owns the parts and has a high stake in making sure the parts are right.

3. Consolidating vendors to Fapco’s Tier One program results in reduced soft costs of management, administrative and accounting functions.

Take the burden of dealing with multiple parts suppliers off the books. Fewer bill payments and fewer vendors to pay reduce cost associated with cutting checks. At an estimated cost of $100 just to open a P.O. number in-house, OEMs save a bundle with Fapco purchasing the parts. Fewer vendors also translate to fewer mistakes in accounts payable to improve the OEM’s credit rating. There are also soft cost savings in terms of procurement–not having to handle and track so many different vendor orders pays off.

4. Control capital management and the cost of parts ownership until parts ship using Fapco as your Tier One parts supplier.

With Fapco as a Tier One parts supplier, OEMs control the cost of ownership until the part is actually distributed. OEMs eliminate parts staging and warehousing. OEMs save additional revenue related to the incidence of returns and delays at the manufacturing facility or distribution centers. The result is lower overall inventory and cost of ownership. With Fapco having Tier One contract packaging services in place, manufacturers benefit from virtual JIT parts ownership. Fapco owns the inventory from the vendor until fulfillment time.

Wrap it Up

• This consolidation model allows for immediate soft and hard cost reductions across the supply spectrum for the OEM.
• Over time, this model may even move vendors to improve pricing because of increased volumes, more predictable production schedules and regular shipping to one Tier-One supplier–Fapco.

Whether it’s cold seal,  contract packaging or blister packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

The post From Contract Packager to Tier One Supplier appeared first on Fapco.

Investing in Clients

“There’s a sizable investment we make with our Tier One clients,” said Fapco President and Founder Larry Gardiner. “With this particular client we’re currently running at about $550,000 in inventory that we’re turning about 10 times in a year. Our inventory turns play heavily into what our costs are. We also have a carrying cost to cover overhead and to maintain the inventory.”

“Typically when a new business starts with us, they have never thought before about all of the idiosyncrasies associated with parts inventory that they have to deal with. Initially with this equipment manufacturing client, we had over ¾ of a million dollars in inventory. And they had another two or three hundred thousand dollars. We had to work together to determine the appropriate levels and inventory turns. It’s a real partnership.”

Providing Leadership

“Our role in the partnership is to be the project leader. This requires a lot of meetings where everybody involved sits down around a table and we determine what is going well and what isn’t going so well, and what we can do to fix it.”

“During the process with this particular equipment manufacturing client, we worked out the bugs for several months, and I am sure the general manager of this partner company today would say that now we’ve got things working pretty smoothly. Once the process startup bugs start to smooth out—you’ve got about six months of negotiations and working through the detailed logistics—then you start running the real and whole program. This is when they started to see real savings in costs.”

Saving Money

“This project wouldn’t have made sense if there wasn’t a cost savings to the client. They simply wouldn’t have done it. There are several factors to consider. For instance, you will always have price increases on components and the client will have to approve the price increases before we can buy. You’ll also have suppliers that won’t perform and we’ll have to go back to them and negotiate a lower price or suggest an alternate supplier.”

Dealing with Change

Other ways Fapco partners with clients is by recognizing when their business changes and making the proper adjustments. “When we first took on this client, they gave us lead times that were significantly different than what we had initially set up in our business model for them. They also laid off some staff, so they lost some of their knowledge base. Even so, we were able to work through these issues and resolve them.”

The Payoff

“Once everybody is finally on the same page, it all begins to work. Then as you fine tune the process, the costs go down and down and down. And what we’ve found is their end customers are usually happier, too, because they’re consistently getting their parts on time. How do you quantify that? The client we’re talking about in this case was getting new orders and word of mouth advertising to buy more of their new equipment. That’s true customer satisfaction.”

Whether its reverse logistics, kitting and packaging, or blister packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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“Believe me, this is a daunting process for the management teams of many OEMs to wrap their heads around. But our experienced staff and unique customer service systems—from initial startup, to continuous improvement once the system is up and running—make this custom full service solution something for every OEM to consider. This first segment of a three part series of Outside The Box, is dedicated to answering the questions OEMs have when starting this process with Fapco in three distinct steps.”

OEM QUESTION #1: “How do I begin the process of turning my existing integrated parts management supplier process over to a single-source, Tier One parts supplier? I have hundreds of suppliers and I don’t know where I should begin.”

ANSWER: The Fapco team has a Tier One consolidation “Starter Kit” to help guide the process for the OEM.

“We prefer to start the process with a statement of work which includes everything that an OEM customer is going to expect Fapco to do and what key elements they are going to bring to the table,” states Fapco President, Larry Gardiner. “We call this our ‘Starter Kit.’ It lays out the scope of work to be done and enables everyone at the table to understand the needs and demands of both the customer and Fapco.”

Fapco has an organized approach to establishing OEM Tier One consolidation needs:

• Does the OEM want Fapco to purchase all the components from the supplier?
• Do they want Fapco to perform inspections of the incoming components?
• How many suppliers will Fapco be consolidating for the OEM?
• What are the negotiated prices the OEM is currently paying?
• What is the negotiated supplier lead time?
• Who is going to pay the freight costs of the parts coming in?

“Everything that’s going to be expected of us here at Fapco needs to addressed in our ‘Starter Kit,’” answers Gardiner. “Next we would typically ask for a representative group of parts with the release quantities to prepare a quote. From the Starter Kit Q&A process the OEM customer begins to understand our structure, pricing and processes, and can start looking for savings opportunities involved in doing business with our Tier One program.”

Our quoting process at Fapco provides a breakdown of the price into component costs, labor, packaging materials, receiving, warehousing, shipping and any other associated components.

“This way our customer can tell what each component entails as well as what the associated burden costs will be” explains Gardiner.

“Our new customer can then take a look at the detailed cost analysis and see some aspects that fall in line with their own cost estimates,” states Gardiner. “They also see others where we may need to help them lower costs a bit. It’s a productive partnering negotiation. When we complete that process, we are ready to work out a contract.”

The President of Fapco went on to explain that the contract negotiations will include the following:

• The length of time the contract will be in effect
• How obsolescence will be handled
• How the customer sales forecast will work
• Any other business issues including quality and performance issues

“The bigger the supplier base you are consolidating, the more time it takes to negotiate the details,” states Gardiner. “The consolidation takes time. These negotiations include establishing credit, terms, and minimum buy quantities with all the suppliers to be consolidated. This can include three or four hundred suppliers; and all of the required communications exchange.”

Gardiner stressed the importance of acquiring honest and realistic forecasting from both the OEM customer and its suppliers.

“Sales forecasts will tell Fapco what to buy and when to ship it to the customer. We prefer a weekly sales forecast. And typically our customers also have emergency orders. If a part is needed today that has a four week lead time from the supplier, we must be honest and tell them we can’t do it, unless we’ve got a safety stock policy in place. This is why accurate forecasting information from the OEM customer is such a key component to helping them cut cost with our consolidation services,” states Gardiner.

OEM QUESTION #2: “How are we going to cost out this program? Will you provide a structure for my financial group to follow?”

ANSWER: The Fapco team has over 36 years experience in cost analysis and estimating Tier One consolidation for OEMs.

Fapco’s Controller Ken Douglas is as deeply involved in the cost analysis process as its president. A graduate with a degree in accounting, Douglas has been providing detailed cost accounting since 1977. He was with Clark Equipment before joining Fapco in 1980. His cost analysis and estimating team is involved in all aspects of the financial details for Fapco Tier One programs.

Douglas explained the customer requirements for on-time delivery, product quality, agreement on payment terms, definition of order process, inventory turns and shipping methods are the prerequisites to begin the cost analysis and estimating process.

He said he usually works with specialty buyers for large OEMs, and purchasing and engineering teams with smaller companies.

“Once the scope of the customer needs has been completed, then the detail work begins,” answers Douglas.

“The new customer needs to provide some representative part numbers of the various types of products to be processed. The customer also provides us volumes by product type to give a good representation of the overall business. The representative part numbers should have a bill of material, supplier source and location, supplier cost of the component parts, minimum buy quantities of each component part, supplier lead times by component part, supplier payment terms and packaging specifications. Our team is here to help guide the customer through this process using our expertise and templates from proven, successful programs that are already up and running.”

He explained that most of the time, the potential customer has already established the suppliers of the component parts. They have already negotiated the cost of the components. Their engineering and quality departments have approved the supplier. This makes the process more about documentation than discovery.

The Fapco team then begins their work to analyze the in-house processes and procedures, equipment, floor space, manpower and administration required to provide the service levels to meet the Fapco quality policy “We Delight Our Customers.”

“The packaging process is engineered and work flow determined from receipt to shipment,” explains Douglas. “Fapco’s costs are then applied to the various aspects of each element to produce and deliver the finished product.”

Our experience and expertise in this process makes it a far less burdensome task than most OEMs expect. Many of our OEMs are enlightened by the many efficiency gains and begin to understand as they streamline their former in-house systems.

Gardiner explains how these first two steps to Tier One consolidation are expertly controlled and orchestrated by the dedicated Fapco team.

“These experienced Fapco team members are assigned just to them. We understand the OEM is taking a risk by doing something they’ve never done before. They also begin to understand that we are very much partnering in that risk. We’re going to be investing a good amount of money in their inventory as their new, single Tier One supplier. Our goal is that new OEM customers are delighted with the service they are receiving and begin to join forces with the Fapco team to cut their costs even further, improve service to their customers and become more competitive in their industry,” Gardiner concludes.

OEM QUESTION #3: “What about the information exchange? Do you have the IT experience to handle all of our suppliers? Are you compatible with our current systems? Is your IT department robust enough to handle us?”

ANSWER: Fapco’s IT department has been working with the Big Three automakers for over 30 years and they can handle whatever the OEM needs.

Director of IT for Fapco, Dennis Cooper, has been with the company for over 18 years. Since the 1970s, Fapco has continuously served some of the most demanding clients in the world—the Big Three automakers of Detroit.

“This exchange of data has become second nature to us,” states Cooper. “We are required to do it to do business in the automotive industry. We’ve been doing EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) with major automakers since 2000—because we have to.”

Cooper explains that many companies who don’t do business with major automakers simply don’t have Fapco’s capabilities in EDI. “We can do anything the client needs us to do when it comes to IT. We can do what the large companies want or what the smaller companies need. That’s the big difference between Fapco and other strategic parts integration firms. Many are very rigid and can only do it one way—not here at Fapco. We specialize in customizing solutions for our Tier One parts customers.”

Connectivity and network security are also a non-issue when doing business with Fapco. With redundant high speed access to the Internet, Fapco has stable and ample bandwidth for doing daily business. For security in the automotive industry, Fapco was one of the first 200 companies in North America to have access to the ANX (Automotive Network Exchange) network. This specialized Extra-Net provides secure data exchange in the auto and medical industry—a private worldwide Internet highway providing access only to its members. This adds a higher level of security for Fapco and its automotive customers. Fapco accesses the mainframes of the major automakers and exchanges EDI within this secure network. Fapco runs nine servers—three Unix-based and six Windows-based.

After meeting directly with the new customer’s IT department, Fapco’s IT team sets up a test environment to start the data exchange process.

“Both IT departments sit down and determine how we are going to work together and who the key players are,” Cooper states. “The exchange of data between two companies is always on a unique, case-by-case basis. We can customize it to suit the needs of any customer.”

Many smaller customers provide their forecast and requirements with Excel spread sheets. Others have web portals to download info. Depending on the size of the company, there may even be a specialized EDI department.

The start-up process will be different depending on the customer and how we will exchange data. We always do testing of the data exchange to and from our customers to verify that the format and content will upload into our systems correctly. For Standard EDI data transfer, the format of the data is an industry standard format that feeds the data into Fapco’s and the customer’s system without human interaction. We test every data format that will be exchanged between Fapco’s and the customer’s systems. Testing of the data exchange can take from a week to a few months depending on how simple or complex the data is. Once we are done testing and sure that the data exchange formats are correct, we can then start exchanging real time data between our two companies.

Common data we exchange is planning and forecasts, scheduling with releases, ship schedules, inventory, advance ship notices and invoicing. There are many more types of data we can exchange depending on customer specific needs. We can also help you with nearly any packaging needs, providing top-quality carton packaging, automated packaging technology, cold seal packaging, along with many other types of part kitting packaging. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

The post Tier One Consolidation Process: 3 Easy Steps appeared first on Fapco.

Our third and final installment in this series describes the long-term results of using Fapco for Tier One Parts Supplier Consolidation. Fapco President Larry Gardiner explained these results in a brief Q&A session:

Result #1: Keeping Pace with the Industries We Serve

“We don’t stop working with our clients once the system is in place and running smoothly,” said Gardiner. “We are very aware of the constantly evolving needs of our customers and continue to adapt our services to match the changing marketplace and business practices of our clients. We do this by adding new software, new systems, new procedures, new equipment and new knowledge through training and certification, like Materials Management Operations Guideline Logistics Evaluation (MMOG/LE), ISO9001:2008, Lean System thinking, and Servant Leadership principles.

Result #2: Investing in Our Clients Long-Term

“Teaming up with our integrated parts flow management team will prove our serious commitment to manage and warehouse bulk inventory and special parts that may not be shipped until years later,” said Gardiner. “The bulk of a client’s inventory will be managed to minimum quantities for each specific part number but a quantity of parts is also kept ready in anticipation of future sales. To put it simply, we continue to be there for our clients days, months, and even years after we enter into a contract with them. Part of our Fapco/client partnership involves a financial investment on our part to keep their parts on hand. This is made possible by building a relationship of trust with our clients that is unmatched in this industry.”

Result #3: A One-Stop Solution For All Of Our Clients’ Growing Needs

“A real long-term benefit of Fapco is that we are a ‘Full Service Provider’ or ‘One-Stop Shop’” explained Gardiner. “We can handle just about any need that our clients develop in relation to Tier One Parts Supplier Consolidation and Spare Parts Management as their business grows or changes. We offer completely customizable Vendor and Warehouse Inventory Management in a wide array of markets. Fapco can handle complete online integration, ordering and fulfillment processes, and replenishment systems—with fast turnarounds. Besides innovative packaging solutions, vendor and spare parts packaging, and part kitting, we also handle other niche services like end of life parts warehousing and fulfillment, or private labeling. Fapco simply does it all.”

The packaging experts at Fapco can help you with nearly any skin packaging needs, providing top-quality cold seal blister packaging, along with many other types of packaging. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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“In this case our bar coded label can designate the actual bay door of the distribution center, or the dock number of the port the goods will be shipped from,” said Hurt.

“We have a fast turnaround to handle seasonal fluctuations. When the volume demand goes up, we can meet the demand right away. Some parts come in and go out the next day. One customer we have calls us up and delivers the parts the same day. On a couple of occasions, they dropped the components off and actually waited for an hour and took the parts we had finished with them for a rush order. Only by having all the elements on hand in the warehouse is this kind of rapid response service possible,” concluded Hurt.

The packaging experts at Fapco can help you with nearly any packaging needs, providing top-quality private labeling products, cold seal blister packaging, automated small parts kitting and parts procurement, along with many other types of packaging. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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Fapco is heavily invested in machinery and automated systems, such as automated part kitting and parts procurement, to expedite any large volume small parts kitting and packaging challenge.

Steve Hurt, supervisor over a variety of Fapco’s automated systems, addressed this investment as he pointed out the attributes of the line in full production, “Just one of these bowl counters represents an investment of about $65,000.  It allows us to count small parts for packaging. We dump the bulk parts into the bowl, set the counter for a number to count, and an electronic eye counts the parts as they go into a hopper. Once it hits the count needed, it opens up the hopper then automatically drops it and seals it in the pre-printed bag,” he pointed out as the machine ran through its cycles.

The investment in these machines pays off by lowering the costs for Fapco customers and increasing the total efficiency of the operation.  “The first week running this set we did 250,000 parts in about four days in just one shift,” stated Hurt.

Automation gives Fapco the capability of packaging small parts into kits–such as six bolts, six nuts, and six washers bagged and labeled–at dramatically higher speeds and volumes than cumbersome in-house, hand packaging departments.

“We can also print out any information on the bag the customer wants.  A customer we have right now was hand bagging everything and were falling further behind each day.  After their first order ran they were amazed.  What took them one shift with six people working three days, we did it in one shift in one day with two people.  It’s an enormous savings on labor,” concluded Hurt.

Let Fapco’s Investment Pay Off for Your Company 

Fapco has the capabilities to provide you with some of the most reliable automated packaging for small parts. Using our solutions, you’ll benefit from packaging systems that can handle products in high volume while maintaining consistent efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Here are a couple of those specific systems that we can implement in our operations to give you the reliable packaging that you need for a wide range of products. You can learn even more about our processes when you consult with one of our packaging professionals for a complete custom packaging solution.

The Kit-Veyor

One Kit-Veyor has the capacity of fitting six bowls of different parts to be bagged together.  Six different parts are packaged into one bag automatically. The machine is loaded and then does the work with one operator. A precise scale at the end of the line double checks for missing components and expels any package with missing or extra parts.  The system is so adaptable it can be set up for a run in just a half an hour and can then run 50,000 pieces individually put in bags in one shift in any combination of kitting and packaging.

Label and Package to your Specifications

High-speed semi-automated systems such as Fapco’s Maximizer increase capacity for small to medium sized items (up to 3.5 in. X 3.5 in. X 10 in.)  This results in up to 20,000 units processed per shift.  Chipboard, clamshell, bagging, skin, blister packaging and up to six color printing is available in-house at Fapco.

Get Reliable Packaging for Small Parts in High-Volume at Fapco Today

Regardless of the specific needs of your application, you’ll be able to benefit from top-quality packaging solutions that serve as a worthwhile investment. Your products will be consistently protected from damage while helping ensure that your operations are efficient. We have all of the resources required to help you get exactly what you need today. Contact us today and one of our experts will be able to help you determine which solution is ideal for your business.

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Take a close consideration at automated packaging technology before considering any in-house packaging possibility.

The Auto Bagger with Printer

This machine is designed to fill, seal, label for identification, and is adjustable from small to larger bags.  It can handle a variety of sized parts, such as for custom small hardware parts. Fapco bagger sealers will increase production, simplify the bagging operation and decrease packaging costs.  Fapco has over 20 baggers of different levels of complexity.  Average cost around $35,000, total Fapco investment, over $800,000.

Cold Seal Packaging

If you are hand picking and packing items into boxes, cartons, poly bags, bubble or padded mailers, then Fapco’s automated cold seal machinery could be a very cost effective and labor saving option for you. Cold Seal packaging works to create a secure, movement free package ready to ship.  Fapco has two state-of-the-art cold seal machines—Average cost, $85,000, total Fapco investment, almost $200,000. 

Skin Packaging

Skin Packaging is the process of adhering a flexible plastic material to a printed-paper board for the purpose of packaging a product for display, shipping or protection. Product instructions, pictures, warnings, warranties, as well as prices and sizes can be printed on the back and front.  Fapco has two machines worth a total of $200,000.

Blister Packaging

Blister packs have been a popular choice in packaging for many years, providing a cost-effective means of effectively displaying a product line.  A blister package is made up of two separate elements: a transparent plastic cavity shaped to the product and its blister board backing. These two elements are then joined together with a heat-sealing process.  Fapco’s investment in blister packaging technology is well over $50,000.

Shrink Wrapping

One of Fapco’s most affordable solutions, heat shrinking is one way of sealing shrink film to a package.  After the shrink-wrap is cut and drawn across the package, a conveyor belt sends it through a tunnel, heating and sealing the shrink film.  It is one of the easiest packages to open.  Fapco has 5 shrink wrap lines with over $100,000 invested.

“Manufacturers make products.  That’s what they know.  They’re not necessarily good packagers or retail providers after the packing is complete.  Pulling this business in-house can be a volatile and expensive prospect.  If one of your staff is pushing in-house operations, call Fapco for a plant tour and we will provide you true, cost effective solutions,” concludes Fapco President, Larry Gardiner.

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There are two types of customers that Fapco Inc. can help with contract packaging to support the retail environment. The first is the large manufacturer who may be used to doing some of their packaging in-house or using strategic partnerships with small specialty contract packaging firms.  These larger manufacturers may push products to regional distribution centers that then fulfill to the retail stores on demand or to the one-off, do-it-your-selfer ordering a part from home.

The second group of manufacturers are smaller, would like to increase sales to the retail sector and sell their wares to the one-off, do-it-your-selfer, but have a hard time breaking into larger markets because they lack the bar coding and sales projection expertise of an experienced contract packager.  The smaller firm is also a good fit to partner with a contract packager because are they unable to support the volume and product tracking it takes to sell direct to the larger retail outlets.

Scott Sloniker, Operations Manager for Fapco, “The bigger companies obviously have the larger volumes that we can help process and turn around for huge, on-demand retail fulfillment.  We can design and present bar coding and packaging solutions, shipping ASNs, (Advanced Shipping Notification) all those services retailers need today to order, scan, put on the shelf and replenish when it goes out the door.”

Sloniker went on to explain that by using a full service contract packager like Fapco, the smaller manufacturer can benefit from the same services as the big league player, “But we also supply the same service to the smaller company that simply does not have the capability in house.  Small companies that don’t have the capabilities of generating ASNs, generating AIAG bar codes, all those things today’s retailers need to scan and move parts in the retail world,” he explains.

Retail “Case Ready” Requirements

One of the services that modern retailers demand is for products to be packaged and shipped in a “case ready” fashion.  Case ready translates to packaging that is ready to stock–packaged and organized in such a way as to make its integration into the retail environment seamless and foolproof.

Sloniker elaborates, “Here at Fapco we have the ability to walk a manufacturer through the paces to become case ready.  We can design and develop tear-away cartons for instance that the retailer can simply place on the shelf, and tear away part of the box to expose the product perfectly lined up and indexed for sale.  Whether it’s in a bag to hang, blister packed cards ready to hang, we help manufacturers, large and small, through the process of making their products and parts case ready for sale,” he states.

Fapco is a contract packaging partner for parts, such as small parts kitting packaging, provides warehouse service and fulfills to retail or aftermarket sale for the automotive, agricultural, lawn and garden, marine, recreational vehicle, diesel engine, plumbing supply and a diverse array of other OEM tier one industries.

“Even paint supply companies that need brushes, rollers and other supplies to support retail operations are perfect for our services.  We are the company to receive direct shipment from the manufacturer, design, package, bar code and prep the product, fulfill the product to the retail or aftermarket venue upon request, and replenish on a continuous basis,” says Sloniker.

Integrating Your Retail Inventory and Tracking Systems into Fapco’s Systems 

Large and small manufacturers seeking contract packaging support of their retail and aftermarket parts sales can rest easy that Fapco can make this process painless.  Larger companies usually specify a particular production line to handle their packaging needs.  These lines are then customized and set up in the Fapco facilities.

“If the company is going to initiate a campaign or blitz associated with ads or flyers we will work with them to design and make ready a display package, and get the parts out to the shelves in advance of the promotional campaign,” stated Larry Gardiner, president and founder of Fapco.  He went on to explain that rarely does the packaged product return to the manufacturer for distribution.  Fapco usually expedites these programs to the client’s distribution center or directly to the retail outlet level.

“Typically these larger programs come to us in a bulk form, such as overseas containers of product.  We then break these down, inventory and track parts with the client’s systems, package to spec and distribute to the sales point.  More often than not the larger firms know exactly what they want in design and packaging.  Smaller firms however may need a bit of extra help with design and integration into our systems and we take the time to get this done right.  At Fapco it’s all about the long-term relationship with the customer,” concluded Gardiner.

Learn more about Fapco’s contract packaging and other services such as cold seal blister packaging.

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From spark plugs to grill accessories, to ATV equipment add-ons or marine outboard motor oil, savvy OEM manufactures know that supporting the brand of their equipment with accessories and parts after the sale increases customer loyalty and increases profits. But many OEMs don’t understand that using a contract packager to warehouse, package and fulfill a wide variety of parts to loyal OEM end users can reduce internal packaging and fulfillment costs.

Scott Sloniker, Operations Manager for Fapco, a major, full-service contract packager based in the Midwest, uses the lowly spark plug as the perfect example for branding and customer loyalty. Fapco warehouses, packages and ships millions of spark plugs each year.

“We’re still doing a lot of spark plugs for OEM manufacturers.  Very few companies actually make spark plugs,” says Sloniker. “There’s probably only two or three spark plug manufacturers in North America. Yet everyone wants to have the brand of plug in his or her car, ATV or outboard that is specified in the service manual. But whether it’s a Smith Brothers plug or big box store maintenance plug, it’s the same manufacturer’s plug inside that box. The OEM was just smart enough to capitalize on this opportunity to brand themselves with loyal customers and take advantage of the profits that come along with this sale.”

Sloniker illuminated the wide range of OEM manufacturers that Fapco can help with full-service contract packaging.

“There’s an incredible array of manufacturer accessories we can help with warehousing, packaging and parts fulfillment services,” he says. “We’re talking about bikes, lawn tractors, boats, recreational vehicles, outdoor grills, hot tubs, motorcycles, chain saws, any type of OEM product maker that builds a loyal customer base can make the decision to take this accessory business from under their roof to under ours.”

Fapco cut its teeth on the parts branding business with decades of consolidation, packaging, kitting and warehousing distribution of parts and accessories for some of the largest names in the automotive business.  The high standards, information technology and quality systems are all in place to handle almost any OEM equipment operation.

“Our automotive work over the years has made us a better supplier of contract packaging,” says Sloniker. “We are now exploring new avenues of OEM packaging and branding for other industries. We can put your brand on it here. The customer is buying the component anyway, why not have us shrink wrap it, box it or card it into a marketing tool–a wrapper or a box that tells people you have branded parts. So it really is about branding with specific parts and service. And again, the parts and service business tends to be pretty profitable.  It’s an arena in which the more market share you can capture from knock-off parts manufacturers, means an avenue for new profits for many manufacturers.”

Let’s get started today with one of our packaging solutions such as our cold seal packaging or contract packaging.

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