Supply Chain Mapping
Increasingly Smithers Pira's clients are utilizing our technical expertise in packaging and our field based project experience in support of supply chain improvement initiatives. Commonly these projects are driven by a need to reduce costs in the supply chain or to improve customer service. Whether improvement relates to a local portion of a supply chain or to the extended supply system, clients benefit from Smithers Pira's ability to combine technical and commercial knowledge to evaluate lowest overall cost solutions.
Smithers Pira regularly undertakes projects supporting clients with shipment damage prevention (damage reduction) or to resolve a specific damage issue impacting on ability to supply products. These projects commonly involve a mix of field and lab based activity. Field based work involves observation of real life events, damage quantification and process mapping in order to properly understand and document the requirements of product and pack in real life.
In recent years Smithers Pira has undertaken supply chain audit projects around the world, including China, Brazil, Kenya, India and Egypt, as well as extensively in Europe and North America.
Our expertise enables us to provide the following consultancy services:
- Supply chain and site operation review to identify distribution packaging improvement opportunities
- Process mapping to document packaging and materials flow in support of packaging light weighting and cost avoidance, or service improvement
- Complexity reduction/rationalization of packaging components as part of a cost reduction initiative
- Cost modeling of packaging specifications and damage levels, or packaging options, to support identification of lowest total cost solutions
- Pallet cube optimization to maximise pallet and container filling efficiency and to minimise shipping costs.