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The world has seen shipping and distribution going to new levels in the recent few years. The rising trend of packaging and shipping products to distant customers shows no signs of slowing down, thanks to the prevalence of e-commerce. This overall growth and changing technologies necessitate every brand to keep their product packaging procedure up-to-date. For this purpose, you will have to pay attention to six main areas of packaging and distribution.

The operational order of these areas is as follows.

• Receiving inbound
• Put away
• Storage
• Picking
• Packing out
• Outbound shipping

Today’s competitive market requires a distribution center to stay as lean and cost-conscious as possible. That is why you have to pay attention to the entire operation instead of looking only at the package that has to go out. You will also find a lot of saving opportunities by optimizing your business operations.

If you are not sure how to work on the entire process of packaging and distribution, you may need to refer to a packaging consultant. A qualified consultant will help you monitor and manage the entire procedure rather than outbound packaging only. Some of the areas of improvement are worth mentioning in this regard.

• The first area of improvement is related to receiving inbound. That is where a business must establish well-organized workstations, proper prep materials, and ergonomic designs to reduce movements.
• Now you need to design put away carts in such a way that they are capable of holding more items. Proper routes must be established for these carts. The location of receiving these carts should as close as possible to the storage.
• Put away carts are emptied in the storage. You can work on custom ways to store items on shelves and racks. The purpose is to maximize cubed space. Proper storage optimization can benefit inventory management and help fix speed issues, product loss, and other errors.
• Like optimized put away carts, optimized picking carts can ease the movement of items from storage to packing stations. These optimized carts allow for the containment of more items to increase work efficiency. Again, proper routing is necessary.
• Packing stations designed for efficiency can help companies achieve their packaging and distribution goals without making things complicated for their workers. It is also essential to equip every station with the right tools and materials necessary for effective product packaging. Factors to consider at this stage are the materials and size of your products.
• While creating packages, it is necessary to keep shipping style in mind. Working on the product packaging for shipping requires you to pay attention to every step and detail to avoid errors. For instance, you do not want to use a large box for a small product due to dimensional weight issues.

These are only a few but fundamental steps involved in product packaging and shipping. You will undoubtedly have to get into details of each of these steps while working on them practically. The best way is to stay in contact with a packaging consultant to prevent anything from going wrong.