Warehousing – Fapco http://fapcoinc.com Contract Packaging Specialists Thu, 07 Jan 2021 18:56:25 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.26 How Do Warehousing and Distribution Reduce Costs? http://fapcoinc.com/how-do-warehousing-and-distribution-reduce-costs/ Mon, 20 Nov 2017 16:45:20 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=3226 Managing a warehouse and distribution can help businesses save money in several ways, keeping processes more efficient and less labor-intensive. Here are some of the specific ways you can use warehousing and distribution to lower expenses.

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Managing a warehouse and distribution can help businesses save money in several ways, keeping processes more efficient and less labor-intensive. Here are some of the specific ways you can use warehousing and distribution to lower expenses.

Have Complete Control Over Inbound and Outbound Freight

This is one of the most important factors in reducing costs and limiting profit. A consultant can assist you with competitive bidding, identifying opportunities to reduce costs without negatively impacting service levels.

Simplify Processes

Over the years, you may find that your company layers new functions over older ones that have been around for a long time. Product flow and order flow may also lose fluidity and make less sense.

You can avoid these issues by closely examining your company’s physical processes regarding order fulfillment and product flow. The fewer steps your processes have, the lower the cost.

Train Better Frontline Managers

Truly effective managers understand that everything amounts to successful execution. Managers should be able to efficiently manage every aspect of fulfillment to reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve order fulfillment quality.

Determine what your managers’ individual needs are, the level of exposure they have to other aspects of your business, and the ways you can improve their understanding of your products, customers, and vendors. You may also want to determine whether online or local training resources are ideal.

Use Third-Party Fulfillment

Third-party fulfillment (3PF) may not be ideal for everyone, but there have been many positive experiences with 3PF as a means to help reduce internal costs. For smaller companies 3PF allows management to focus on merchandising and marketing to help encourage growth.

Implement SaaS Instead of On-Site Systems

Investing in enterprise-wide systems or new order management is something that most companies only do every decade or so because of the time it takes to implement along with the overall investment. However, an SaaS subscription allows businesses to acquire new systems at reduced costs. To determine if this is right for you, you should understand the long term costs compared to the initial purchase and updating of traditional systems.

Continued Improvement

Great marketers and merchants measure everything and continue to make updates to their operations. You can do this by performing an assessment, developing a plan, setting objectives and accountability, reviewing progress, and repeating this process.

This can help ensure your business never goes stagnant and continues to develop and expand, while at the same time making costs manageable and operations more efficient.

Taking all of these into account can help ensure you get the most from your operations, with minimal risk of overspending while increasing your business’s efficiency and cost-effectiveness. You’ll see a difference when you implement one or more of these for your business.

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!

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What Are the Benefits of JIT? http://fapcoinc.com/what-are-the-benefits-of-jit/ Wed, 18 Oct 2017 14:48:11 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=3184 Just-in-time inventory (JIT) enables companies to reduce overall overhead expenses while making sure that parts are still available when manufacturing products. Many businesses use JIT systems to serve customers more effectively while making business more cost-effective.

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Just-in-time inventory (JIT) enables companies to reduce overall overhead expenses while making sure that parts are still available when manufacturing products. Many businesses use JIT warehousing systems to serve customers more effectively while making business more cost-effective.

Reduced Warehousing Costs

Storing large amounts of inventory can be costly, but lowering the amount of inventory you keep stored can reduce carrying costs. Companies that implement JIT inventory models can ultimately reduce the number of warehouses they need to maintain, or even enable them to get rid of the warehouses entirely.

Improved Supply Chain Management

JIT inventory warehousing systems can also assist companies by improving their efficiency and competitiveness regarding how they handle supply chains and assemble their products. An optimally efficient supply chain can lower manufacturing costs, which can also influence customer costs, making your products more affordable while increasing market share.

Better Customer Satisfaction

Using the JIT inventory management model can also lead to increased customer satisfaction, as companies are able to serve them with more efficiency and speed. Companies have more control over the manufacturing process, which makes it easier to issue a quick response when customers request a change. For example, a computer company may use the JIT model to more quickly increase production of a particularly popular model while reducing the number of outdated and unsold products.

Decreased Waste

When companies make use of the traditional method of managing inventory, they can end up with pallets of unsold units that wind up as waste. The company may be required to slash prices to get rid of this unsold inventory, which can also reduce the value of other products, but using the JIT inventory model can help reduce this waste and increase response time.

Using the JIT Model for Many Industries

There are many different business across a wide range of industries that can use the JIT inventory model for their businesses, particularly those that experience frequent demand for inventory while requiring a way to reduce overhead and other costs. Nearly any operation can benefit from the JIT model as a way to improve efficiency and reducing costs.

Disadvantages

While it can be beneficial, implementing JIT inventory warehousing isn’t simple. There can be many difficulties regarding receiving, fulfillment, and shipping, and a single misstep could cause additional issues that require resolving. However, through careful planning prior to implementation of JIT inventory models, companies can stay prepared and effectively manage it, resulting in less of a headache once implemented.

You’ll see a difference in the way your business functions as a result of implementing JIT along with other solutions that make processes more efficient while promoting profitability.

Whether its JIT, small parts packaging, or cold seal shrink wrap packaging, contract packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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6 Reasons Why Inventory Management is Crucial for Businesses http://fapcoinc.com/6-reasons-inventory-management-crucial-businesses/ Thu, 03 Aug 2017 19:31:46 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=3132 If you’re inadequately managing your inventory or not managing it at all, your business is likely suffering as a result. There are many benefits of inventory management, which can help both your customers and employees.

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If you’re inadequately managing your inventory or not managing it at all, your business is likely suffering as a result. There are many benefits of inventory management, which can help both your customers and employees.

1. Increased Overall Efficiency

Employee efficiency can significantly increase your business’s overall health. Without adequate inventory management, you’ll pay your employees to spend time sifting through files, sending spreadsheets to one another, manually write all reports, or visit the warehouse every time there’s uncertainty regarding stock. Instead of wasting money on these tasks, you can avoid them altogether with a good inventory management system. Your employees will be happier if they can spend more time on necessary tasks that contribute to the company, and you’ll be more content with more accessibility.

2. Always Know Where Your Inventory is Located

Businesses with more than one location can suffer when employees need to constantly call each other to find a single piece of inventory, or confirm its presence. Accurately managing your inventory can help you avoid any problems regarding inventory location, including issues regarding tracking down one product that a customer wants.

3. Close Every Sale Possible

Inadequate inventory management can also lead to a loss in sales. There are many ways things can go wrong, such as when employees believe that an item is out of stock and inform the customer of this, only to discover the item later. Employees may also direct a customer to a certain location to find a specific item, only to discover that the location doesn’t have it. The more accurate your inventory management is, the more customer success you’ll experience.

4. Always Meet Delivery Dates

Many businesses can quickly develop a poor reputation if they fail to deliver items on time to customers when items aren’t in stock. In many cases, a lack of knowledge about where items are between the vendor and the store or warehouse can lead to late deliveries. With an accurate inventory management system, you can track your inventory at every step.

5. Change Vendor Order Frequency When Needed

The opposite issue of insufficient storage is having too much. Storage costs can quickly accumulate for many businesses, and many companies wind up putting on a big sale simply because they over-ordered certain items to make storage more manageable. It’s important to keep track of exactly how many of each item you have in stock, along with how much you have on order. Doing so can allow you to change order frequency as soon as you need to, which can help keep your inventory in check.

6. Make Re-Ordering Easier

Using manual Word docs to copy purchase orders can lead to inaccuracies regarding item numbers, currency exchanges, or item spec descriptions. Good inventory management will enable you to copy recent purchase orders and choose specific item numbers and specs from a simple dropdown menu to help avoid errors.

With these benefits, you can see why implementing a solid inventory management system is beneficial to your business operations. Even if your operations are small, automating your inventory management can go a long way in helping your business grow while maintaining manageability. You’ll be able to keep both employees and customers consistently satisfied, while at the same time you can remain happy about how your business runs, without any of the complications that can come with a lack of inventory management.

If you need help with inventory management for your business, Fapco, Inc. is here to help. Simply contact us today and we’ll get started on the integration of a complete, accurate inventory management solution for your company. We also offer top-quality warehousing distribution, small parts kittingcold seal packaging equipment, and more. We also offer skin packaging. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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Streamline Your Parts Fulfillment Program To Save Money And Gain A Competitive Edge http://fapcoinc.com/major-oems-partner-fapco-tier-one-parts-purchasing-programs/ Tue, 22 Sep 2015 17:01:21 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2544 Major OEMs Partner with Fapco on Tier One Parts Purchasing Programs Fapco is not only a Tier One parts supplier — they can also help all types and sizes of businesses with their entire parts fulfillment program. Taking the complexity and cost out of spare parts management is at the core of Fapco’s successful Tier One Parts Purchasing Program. “When we Continue Reading

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Major OEMs Partner with Fapco on Tier One Parts Purchasing Programs

Fapco is not only a Tier One parts supplier — they can also help all types and sizes of businesses with their entire parts fulfillment program.

Taking the complexity and cost out of spare parts management is at the core of Fapco’s successful Tier One Parts Purchasing Program. “When we purchase parts, receive them in-house and convert parts and products, we essentially become part of the manufacturing process supply chain,” states JoAnn Pressey, Materials Manager for Fapco. “We don’t actually make the component parts. We just purchase the inventory on behalf of the OEM and provide it when they need it.”

Whether it’s assembly, packaging, small part kitting, warehousing or shipping to the distribution chain — passing parts management cost savings onto OEMs has become a significant part of Fapco’s business growth.

Pressey explains that this growing business segment makes us a value added contract packaging firm, and a Tier One parts supplier to the OEM.

“When it comes to our major automakers and our niche OEMs, they now consider us a Tier One parts supplier because they simply acquire the parts from us. We are purchasing the parts from the tier two suppliers. We believe this customer/service business relationship to be the wave of the future in value added contract packaging, ” says Pressey.

Top Five Best Practice Scenarios for Fapco’s Parts Purchasing Program

4 Ways to Save Money and Streamline Your Parts Fulfillment Program

1. Limited Warehouse Space

“It is incredibly valuable to partner with an integrated parts flow management supplier who has strategic warehousing services to meet the demands of today’s tight deadlines,” said President and Founder of Fapco, Inc., Larry Gardiner. “At Fapco, we offer completely customizable, one-stop warehousing services to OEM and Tier One suppliers in a wide array of markets. These services are far more affordable and require less labor for an OEM than staffing, equipping and maintaining their own stand-alone internal facility,” said Gardiner.

Parts purchasing is a perfect scenario for many of our clients that lack warehousing space. We can secure the parts and keep them out of the weather in one of its centrally located warehouse facilities. The OEM can then “lean-up” its manufacturing, shipping and receiving space to maximize operations. Parts are then shipped to the supply chain JIT from our facility.

2. Too Many Parts Suppliers in the Mix

Our Tier One Parts Purchasing Program can relieve headaches in receiving, inspection, shipping and accounting by consolidating parts from various sources to one location. Each OEM is assigned a dedicated Fapco Manager to their account. One major industrial compressor OEM has consolidated parts from 245 suppliers into one convenient distribution center at Fapco. This means one contact at Fapco for all parts suppliers, questions and challenges.

“We have the capability of taking customer’s orders through e-mail, fax or integrated online services,” said Fapco’s Materials Manager Troy Taylor. “Every part in our warehouse is stored within our systems in such a way that we can pull parts and fulfill them on an as needed basis. Fapco can pull and ship parts with any shipping supplier a customer prefers, whether it’s FedEx, UPS or airfreight, to meet the tight deadlines of distribution centers or dealerships anywhere in the world. Shipping directly from Fapco eliminates one leg of the freight process and saves our clients money.”

3. Focus On More Key Competencies in Manufacturing

Our Program can also eliminate the need for packaging equipment and all its associated costs. From equipment capital expenditures, to maintenance, to labor and facility overhead, the cost of our customer in-house packaging when partnering with Fapco can result in significant savings. In addition to cost reduction, many OEMs have improved their lean manufacturing processes and improved product quality by increasing their focus on what they do best.

“There’s not a state we don’t ship to,” continued Taylor. “Under the OEM’s instruction, we also load and ship ground, air or various carriers to meet presubscribed cost parameters. Overnight (OVN) parts are also shipped by the customer’s designated carrier overnight for delivery the next day. All of this expertise in shipping and transportation leads to cost savings for our clients. The more legs of the distribution network that we can eliminate for our customers, the less money they will spend unnecessarily.”

4. Better Expediting Emergency Orders

Completely versatile to its customer’s needs, Fapco also does emergency or backorder items. Hot orders that come into the facility are packaged in an expedited fashion and shipped — many times within 24 hours. For one large automaker, Fapco ships Emergency Back Orders (EBOs) for repairs directly to dealerships within one day.

Whatever the emergency, be it a “machine down” in the field or a missed JIT shipment that threatens to shut down an assembly line, having a full range of repair and production parts ready to ship at Fapco provides a simple solution. By direct shipment to a dealership and bypassing the distribution center, or using overnight air freight to expedite a pallet for the assembly line, partnering with Fapco provides OEMs a competitive edge.

Fapco also ships less than truckload (LTL) shipments from its warehouse facilities to regional distribution facilities located nationwide. “We’ve designed our warehousing facilities so that there is no size limit to the part kitting we can handle,” said Taylor.

5. Value Added Packaging Engineering

With the Fapco Parts Purchasing Program in place OEMs benefit from experienced professionals ready to engineer and provide packaging solutions at the lowest price based on high volume purchasing.

Wrap It Up

Customer Service Manager, Jim Page, is a 19-year veteran at Fapco with 30 plus years in the packaging business. Page heads up the Fapco Tier One Parts Customer Care Program for Fapco’s largest OEMs.

“From the major automakers we serve, to international construction equipment and industrial compressor OEMs, our customers are very pleased with our Tier One parts program,” says Page. “They like the streamlined, day-to-day parts consolidation and fulfillment we provide, the warehousing, packaging design, as well as the economies of scale resulting from our volume purchasing. But most of all I think the manufacturer enjoys the efficiencies of the program — such as dealing with just Fapco instead of multiple different parts suppliers. Customers also like having a partner watching their back with inventory ready to ship when working with normal schedules and emergency situations,” he concludes.

Let’s get started today with one of our solutions such as our spare parts management, auto parts fulfillment, or cold seal packaging. We have the capabilities to meet all of your needs, regardless of the application. We’ll help you design the perfect packaging solution for your products.

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Tier One Spare Parts Consolidation: 5 OEM Profiles that Benefit Most http://fapcoinc.com/five-oem-business-profiles-benefit-partnering-fapco-tier-one-parts-consolidation/ Mon, 21 Sep 2015 19:14:10 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2550 In a recent interview, Fapco President and Founder, Larry Gardiner, shared the types of businesses that benefit most from his company’s Tier One Parts Consolidation services. Unlike many corner office executives, Gardiner drives thousands of miles a year visiting many OEM manufacturers. He understands the pulse of business and industry in his field because he stays on the front line of Continue Reading

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In a recent interview, Fapco President and Founder, Larry Gardiner, shared the types of businesses that benefit most from his company’s Tier One Parts Consolidation services. Unlike many corner office executives, Gardiner drives thousands of miles a year visiting many OEM manufacturers. He understands the pulse of business and industry in his field because he stays on the front line of Fapco’s new business development and customer service.

“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!

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Immediate Benefits of Spare Parts Tier One Supplier Consolidation http://fapcoinc.com/five-immediate-benefits-starting-tier-one-supplier-consolidation-process/ Mon, 21 Sep 2015 13:24:57 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2554 The Tier One supplier consolidation process of spare parts can seem daunting for OEMs at first glance. That’s why we began a three-part series of articles entitled “Three Steps to Begin the Tier One Supplier Consolidation Process.” The first article answered the burning question facing many OEMs: “How do I start the Tier One supplier consolidation process?” Part two of Continue Reading

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The Tier One supplier consolidation process of spare parts can seem daunting for OEMs at first glance. That’s why we began a three-part series of articles entitled “Three Steps to Begin the Tier One Supplier Consolidation Process.” The first article answered the burning question facing many OEMs: “How do I start the Tier One supplier consolidation process?” Part two of this series discusses the next stage: “What are the immediate benefits that OEMs realize once they start the Tier One supplier consolidation process?”

1. Reclaim Space

Having Fapco house all of your parts, such as small parts kitting, will open up space in your warehouse or on the factory floor as you transition your parts inventory over. This freed up space can then be used for increased production capacities or other purposes to help generate more income for your company. This additional space could also be sold or leased to reduce overhead costs or generate additional revenue.

2. Stop Worrying About Inventory

You’ll no longer need to have employees spend time on spare parts inventory, packaging, warehousing, product staging, or freight consolidation. With Fapco providing vendor inventory management, inventory overhead cost and volume issues will be a thing of the past. Whether your company has 30 SKU’s or 3,000 SKU’s, Fapco can provide a customized solution to manage your inventory needs and take away your inventory control management headaches.

3. Save on Labor Costs

Fapco handling your inventory, complex part kitting, and parts supply management and fulfillment will reduce staffing in your packaging, shipping, or warehousing departments. Other areas where staff costs could be lowered include purchasing, receiving and accounting. This staff can be reallocated to other departments within your organization to help improve your bottom line or make your company more productive and profitable.

4. Lower Transportation Costs

Transporting parts to and from a single location like Fapco is much more cost efficient than transporting freight to and from multiple locations. Managing rising freight cost is often overlooked but can have a significant impact on your profitability. Having a larger volume of inventory shipped to and from Fapco provides an opportunity for lower per unit freight costs on parts. To put it simply, we help you save money.

5. Improve Quality Control

By using a Tier One Parts Supplier like Fapco, OEMs can improve on parts quality. Fapco’s in-house parts inspection team can improve quality assurance for clients with even the toughest of expectations. Our critical OEM parts replacement and inspection process reduces the cost of receiving, inspection and inventory of bad parts for the OEM. And because we are acting as the Tier One Supplier in the process, Fapco has ownership of the parts, giving us a high stake in making sure the parts are right.

Why Fapco?
“Our Tier One Parts Consolidation program takes a lot of the burden and overhead off the customer. We really free up the customer to do what they do best. We do all of the work of purchasing, receiving, processing, and product distribution,” said Fapco’s General Manager Scott Sloniker.

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

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Small Parts Kitting and Packaging http://fapcoinc.com/small-parts-kitting-packaging/ Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:56:31 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2527 “Combine Fapco’s fully automated parts sorting and packaging capabilities with the expertise of a seasoned integrated parts flow management team that has been handling custom small parts packaging since 1970, and you’ve got the perfect, cost effective alternative to in-house packaging.” Operations Manager for Fapco, Scott Sloniker, explained that Fapco has made small parts kitting and packaging its bread and Continue Reading

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“Combine Fapco’s fully automated parts sorting and packaging capabilities with the expertise of a seasoned integrated parts flow management team that has been handling custom small parts packaging since 1970, and you’ve got the perfect, cost effective alternative to in-house packaging.”

Operations Manager for Fapco, Scott Sloniker, explained that Fapco has made small parts kitting and packaging its bread and butter since the company was founded.

“This is the fast turn business we started with. With automated parts sorting and kitting assembly machines in-house, such as our Kit-Veyors, small parts kitting and packaging that can overwhelm an in-house packaging department are standard procedure here at Fapco.”

THREE SECTIONS TO SMALL PARTS KITTING AND PACKAGING

Sloniker broke down the small parts kitting and packaging business into three segments. “The first is low volume kits – less than 50,000 units per year. Many times these jobs are hand packed in-house at the OEM parts supplier. At the other end of the spectrum are the high volume kits of over one million pieces a year, where it makes sense to invest in the automated equipment to package as the product comes off the production assembly line. The mid-tier segment with runs of 50,000 to one million kits per year is a perfect match for us.”

These markets in the middle, niche markets, are where Fapco shines. These markets usually include replacement part kits, short runs of specialty products produced in the states, and flow-through consolidation of parts from multiple suppliers that are too cumbersome for the manufacturing company to handle.

“This business is what our automated Kit-Veyor machines drive. We take bolts, washers, and nuts, items that will not nest together in the equipment, and package them into ready- to-assemble kits. Those are the types of hardware kits you see in anything from ready-to-assemble furniture to carburetor rebuild kits to retail parts packages. We can package the kit into bags, blister packs, a cold seal, clamshells, skin packs, chipboard or corrugated packaging – whatever the customer needs.”

“One of our greatest strengths in kit packaging is our partnership with fastener manufacturers. The combination of Fapco’s experience and equipment designed to efficiently package at competitive pricing for fastener manufacturers provides a lower total cost for them than kitting in-house,” stated Business Analyst, Mark Tumbleson of Fapco.

PARTNER WITH FAPCO FOR YOUR PARTS PURCHASING, CONSOLIDATING, INTEGRATED PACKAGING AND FULFILLMENT NEEDS

When it comes to volumes of kits under one million per year, Fapco can process these volume packaging system jobs without an OEM dealing directly with all the outside suppliers. Packaging of wide range small parts like overhaul or replacement kits where multiple outside suppliers of gaskets, seals and fasteners all ship to the OEM for sorting, consolidation, kitting, packaging and fulfillment, can be completely taken over by Fapco’s packaging system.

“We’re finding many customers don’t want to manage five to ten items, all coming in from different sources, with a small parts packaging operation in-house. Instead, they would prefer us to purchase, consolidate, kit, package, warehouse and fulfill orders for each kit. Instead of dealing with millions of parts they can just purchase the complete kitting system needed from Fapco,” said Sloniker.

More Than Small Parts Packaging and Kitting

Fapco has expanded its capabilities towards also purchasing and owning the materials, managing parts and inventory management and selling finished packaged goods to the distribution chain for OEMs. The benefit of partnering with Fapco is the customer no longer has to manage hundreds of thousands of individual component part numbers, but rather just a few thousand pre-packaged kits fulfilled when needed in the distribution chain. Fapco becomes the focal point for various OEM small parts packaging and distribution companies, thus reducing overhead, lowering labor, accounting and stocking cost.

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES BENEFIT FROM FAPCO’S PARTNERSHIPS WITH FASTENER COMPANIES

Fasteners are usually the key element inside any small parts package. Fapco’s close relationships with its fastener company partners increase the efficiency of small parts packaging services.

“Instead of us handing all the fastener inventory in-house, the fastener company manages the inventory management, then we order and pack it for our customer as needed. On the small parts kitting side, we manage the inventory based on the end customer needs,” said Sloniker. He explained this could include the OEM designating where to buy the fasteners and how many to have on hand. He said in this economy many manufacturers are going to smaller and smaller lot sizes. “They leverage having just enough inventory available with fastener companies and Fapco.”

THE GROWING TREND FOR SMALL PARTS KITTING, PACKAGING AND FULFILLMENT

Purchase and supplier agreements with Fapco for a small parts packaging kitting system are true partnerships with risk assumed by both parties. These include agreements for minimum buy quantities, order quantities, the numbers of kits per year and the quantities of materials to produce the kits. Labor and material costs are also a factor. Questions like, “How many times a year is Fapco going to that bin to pick and package? Does one component go into 15 other components and is there enough to handle both components? If one kit gets hotter than the others, how will the allocation change?” These are all questions that Fapco and its partner customers are used to working out to make each kitting assembly program efficient and profitable.

“Today we are seeing a trend in companies that would rather pay an outside supplier, even if its more expensive in the short run, so they don’t have the administrative overhead built into their costs. Labor, inventory management, overhead and transportation costs are all included when they do the numbers. They want to just call Fapco and say ‘we need 250 kits and we all do what we do best,” he said.

Sloniker concluded that this packaging system trend continues to build. “For the past five years Fapco has done business with many companies. Some that are terrified of packaging components correctly and consistently in-house, and to those companies that are not afraid of packaging in-house but can’t handle the financial burden of the inventory, labor and equipment that it takes to package products correctly on what they consider to be a large scale. We have the packaging machinery and solutions for both.”

GET TOP-TIER SMALL PARTS PACKAGING AND KITTING SERVICE WITH FAPCO

When you work with Fapco, you’ll be able to see a clear improvement in your business’s small parts kitting and packaging operations. Our packaging and kitting for small parts can help maintain efficiency while providing you with top-quality products. You don’t need to remain concerned about inadequate service and products when you work with Fapco.

In addition to small parts kitting and packaging, we offer many other contract packaging services for a wide range of industries and products. We can provide packaging solutions using kits, bags, blisters, clamshells, custom folding cartons, and other types of reliable packaging systems.

Get Started with Small Parts Packaging and Kitting Today

To start with the design and development of a custom small parts kitting and packaging, or one of our other wide range packaging solutions, such as bag packaging, contact Fapco today.

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Tier One Parts Consolidation and Partnership http://fapcoinc.com/tier-one-parts-consolidation-and-partnership/ Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:05:38 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2490 The success of Tier One Parts Consolidation with Fapco relies on one very important element: Creating an effective partnership. Fapco doesn’t just provide service to their clients. They become a key player on their team. This theme of partnering was an important factor in the success of one of Fapco’s construction equipment manufacturing clients. Investing in Clients “There’s a sizable Continue Reading

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The success of Tier One Parts Consolidation with Fapco relies on one very important element: Creating an effective partnership. Fapco doesn’t just provide service to their clients. They become a key player on their team. This theme of partnering was an important factor in the success of one of Fapco’s construction equipment manufacturing clients.

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 logisticskitting and packaging, or blister packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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Private Labeling and Warehouse Fulfillment http://fapcoinc.com/importance-warehousing-fulfillment-private-labeling/ Fri, 14 Aug 2015 15:06:41 +0000 http://fapcoinc.com/?p=2539 Supervisor Steve Hurt explained that Fapco can warehouse and fabricate the materials to handle any private labeling scenario. Within the internal supply chain Fapco takes bulk goods into the warehouse, breaks them down and repackages them into smaller qualities, applies the labels, and ships through to distribution centers for retail or consumer purchase. “In this case our bar coded label Continue Reading

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Supervisor Steve Hurt explained that Fapco can warehouse and fabricate the materials to handle any private labeling scenario. Within the internal supply chain Fapco takes bulk goods into the warehouse, breaks them down and repackages them into smaller qualities, applies the labels, and ships through to distribution centers for retail or consumer purchase.

“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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