If you’re someone who does use packaging a lot, you might not have the right strategies in place. Smart packaging is something that’s great for shifting the focus of your packaging to goods that are inbound. As more and more packaging becomes smart, you want to be able to tell stories that customers want to see when they get the package.

Smart packaging is something that provides more and more opportunities for product protection, and also is great for supply chain concerns too. What are some of the best ways to optimize this though? Read on to find out! 

What is It? 

Smart packaging is basically containers and the packaging SKUs that partner up with 3PL fulfillment options. They basically handle the packaging, the containers, and other technologies.

This usually is “smart” due to the tracking that’s there. The goods that are monitored will record the temperature and other readings throughout the moves, and then, they get uploaded, and you can ensure that everything’s at the ideal temperature, so that they don’t’ spoil.

A lot of modern packaging uses this, interacting with this to get the information together, synching this in order to view your alerts for different options, in the event that something goes awry.  The temperatures and other sensors oftentimes create warnings for those, especially if in the event the van is hot, humid, or even too cold, allowing you to protect the items being shipped, and avoiding the shrinkage during transit as well. 

Begin with the current packaging 

The best smart packaging strategy for you to use is to work with the current packaging and look at the costs and the needs of what you have for orders that are outbound. 

Every single package addition does increase the size and the weight. The smaller the items that you ship, the more likely you’ll want a sensor, a tag, or something that will help to ensure the proper speeds and costs.

Smart packaging offers a chance for the goods to arrive from point A to Point B in a safe manner, and you’ll be able to properly incorporate all of these and reduce the amount of filler and the like to use, in order to offer the best delivery.

There are usually not a ton of changes, and a lot of times, the containers that hold a ton of products and units can usually switch out these small and cheaper items in order to put the sensor in there. larger products are a bigger issue, and this can add a lot more to various orders. 

Sometimes, this makes this oversized, but it’s not a big deal. You just have to work with different and current strategies and try to make it optimized for the carriers to handle more weight.

Refresh This 

You should definitely try to refresh the packaging. Using sensors and other technology means that there will be better tools for this. You can look at what the different companies need in order to get the data, and how to get this out there. 

You might want to implement better Wi-Fi or add the RFID gate to where the loading dock is, in order to ensure the details are in place, and you can alert for signs.

You shouldn’t just have checklists and various data, you should also work on risk assessments, and then clear the paths, offering better support for resolving different issues, pulling out products, and maintaining the reputation that’s there. build a plan to implement these things and change your management strategy so that this is followed. For those sending out the smart packaging to their customers, make this super clear, and you can also build the ideal system.