The Chetan Jain Column: Designing for cost-efficiency and scalability

Today, if you consult for cost efficiency and scalability, you may receive regular points that may or may not be related to your organisation. Ambiguity still prevails, and it might result in losses and delays.

Many of my discussions with sourcing teams have revolved around price, but that changed when we had deeper discussions and clearly understood the difference between cheap and cost-effective.

The basic problem I face with cost efficiency and scalability strategies is that they are often considered a sign to stop innovating and settle for something usual or dull. Being cost-effective is about thinking creatively and finding innovative ways to reduce the budget while making a striking impact.

I will share some points that were very efficient in my organisation, and you can benefit from these too.

One, opting for shrink sleeves over paper or self-adhesive labels. I know many of you may counter my thoughts; however, I believe that shrink sleeves offer good cost benefits compared to paper or self-adhesive labels. They provide full coverage, more branding options, and a smarter look than paper stickers. And more so, they promote less felling of trees.

Minimal design and the use of fewer Pantone spot colours can reduce costs. Opting for clean and impactful design consists of using simple and basic inks. The design should incorporate a few inks to create a striking appearance. Playing with a smaller number of design elements and colours is the key to being impressive yet cost-efficient.

One of the most cliche options for reducing costs — going for high MOQ flexible packaging options. This might be a problem for startups or new products in the market, yet cost is significantly reduced with gravure printing. If somehow, your MOQ is low, then opt for flexo or digital printing to optimize savings on cylinder costs.

For a new product to be released in the market you may hire R&D services to provide KLDs, 3D ARC, designing, print press mock-ups, among other things, and exhaust your budget. Alternatively, you can reduce costs by hiring a converter with R&D services. This service will pay you back with big gains later on. You may not need to conduct multiple trials, your packaging is through a few processes only, and packaging will be done without any wastage.

In my experience, most brands prefer converting partners who can work on fast production and have storage facilities. These key points can help them cut their work pressure along with costs, which are detrimental to their budgets.

Now, let’s take scalability as a criterion for growth with shrink-sleeve packaging. I will again take you to the basic concepts. Major FMCG organisations in India do opt for these strategies. They work on their quantity, fast production time, or specialisation. For organisations in flexible packaging, specially shrink-sleeving, you may consider the following points:

An HIP framework empowers your organisation to deliver faster results with specialised printing. This method of printing, which is an amalgamation of various printing techniques, produces superior results to cater to the market rapidly.

Providing specialised products in low quantities and at low costs can surely attract a flood of orders. These two exceptional points are not offered by everyone in the market. Still, if you propose this offer, your business will surely scale.

Finally, faster output has an impact that no one else can match for scalability. To build your market, fast development acts as fuel. If you want to increase your production, fast development is the key.