Food prices have risen over 10.9% in the last year. It's no surprise consumers and manufacturers are feeling it everywhere. This leads to companies returning to strategies that keep consumers happy while also maintaining profit margins.
Whenever inflation rises, so does “shrinkflation” – the phenomenon of manufacturers subtly reducing product sizes without lowering prices.
This is a great strategy because it means manufactures can continue to utilize the same packaging equipment and change packaging without having to overhaul capital equipment on the line and save on budgets for new purchases. They can also reduce the strain on consumers at the point of check out.
To push it further, marketing departments also know new container sizes and labels can create an exciting new look and feel on the shelf, making products have a better or improved appeal to consumers against the competition. This is another way manufacturers combat inflation while keeping consumers interested in their products at the same prices.
However, product handling can be often overlooked as shrinkflation rises in manufacturing. As it becomes necessary for manufacturers to shrink the size of their products to maintain profitability, it also becomes necessary to evaluate the change parts on your production line.
Change Parts are the stars, guides, and timing screws on your lines that are changed out to run different
bottles and container sizes. To maintain accurate filling, capping, labeling, and other similar functions, it is paramount that these parts fit your particular bottle or container. While sometimes you can get away with not having particular sets of parts for each individual contains – mostly on rounds – this is not often the case.
Whenever you’re changing to a smaller bottle or container size, it’s best practice to consult your change parts partner to ensure you’ll be running optimally and maintain positive control on these containers with the sets of parts you have. If not, it’ll be important to order new sets of parts before you start running these smaller containers.
In a time where every penny of product saved counts, it’s critical your change parts are optimal for new container sizes. Proper change parts fit means more accurate fills and label placements, which means less wasted consumables and product, as well as improved uptime since you would reduce the instances of having to stop a line for filling and labeling malfunctions. This is also true in other applications on your line.
If your operation is calling for new container sizes, make sure you’re calling for a change parts evaluation. Learn more about Morrison’s change parts process here, or contact us for more information. We want to be your partner.
