Jan. 5 - Correction: The changing face of packaging

In 2020, automation in packaging moved up five years by some estimates, as operations managers found ways to keep workers safe while packing orders. View online | Sign up | Forward

Weekly edition | Jan.​ 5,​ 2021 Your Guide to Operations By Shefali Kapadia   BROUGHT TO YOU BY — Oracle NetSuite 6 Tips for Tackling Physical Inventory Counts Inventory and warehouse management systems make physical counts faster, easier and less frequent. Download this infographic to learn how.   Welcome to 2021. A few hours ago, you received an incomplete Operations newsletter. Our apologies. We were so excited for the first Guide to Operations of the year that we jumped the gun and hit send too early. Here is the full newsletter. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.) The changing face of packaging COVID-19 altered … well, pretty much everything in 2020. And many of those changes are carrying over to 2021. Today, we look at the shifts in packaging and how this might play out in long-term trends. Out with corrugated and in with mailers? Smaller automation tools and smaller packaging? Return-friendly slip sheets? Check out the trends here. STAT OF THE WEEK Is cardboard the way to go? Cardboard prices stayed relatively flat this year, as shown by the Producer Price Index below, even as demand grew during the pandemic. But industry executives say producers might push prices higher this year. Dive deeper. Credit: Matt Leonard, Supply Chain Dive Nike's fulfillment plan The athletic brand is planning 30 new stores in the first half of 2021. The goal: expand its footprint to get fulfillment closer to more consumers.  Nike recently opened a fulfillment center outside Los Angeles. It's already seeing initial benefits, like lower cost per unit going into the holiday rush. Read more.  The year of SKU cuts "Trim the fat" was the motto for many CPG supply chains last year. Core SKUs like cleaning supplies faced unprecedented demand, while elastic goods weren't high on consumers' shopping lists.  That drove brands like Coca-Cola and Mondelez to cut SKUs and focus on core products. More details here.  Opinion Poll             How often do you review your packaging strategy? Quarterly or more Once or twice a year Only if we have a change in our SKUs or vendors Almost never Other — hit reply and tell us! Have a poll question you’d like to suggest? Let us know!   Last poll's results are in! We asked: How would you describe your approach to 2021? 20% of you said (A) Enthusiastic! Good riddance 2020; 37% said (B) Cautiously optimistic … I'm hopeful but know there will be challenges; 12% said (C) Neutral. Let's see how it goes; 19% said (D) Dreading it. Many issues and challenges lie ahead; and 12% said (E) Other.                                                 Quick Hits Grocery Dive The pandemic-fueled omnichannel shopping surge is here to stay, according to Nielsen. Retail Dive Most shoppers planned on making a return after the holidays. Harvard Business Review Productivity is about systems, not people. Modern Materials Handling One of the country’s largest shoe companies brought its wholesale distribution operations in house with an automated network capable of shipping 80 million pairs of shoes a year. HR Dive Nearly half of business leaders question their ability to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines in the workplace and 51% do not think employees will follow guidelines. Parting thought Many of you said you're cautiously optimistic about 2021. I put myself in that category, too. Vaccines are rolling out, which (fingers crossed) means a safer world and further reopening of businesses. There, I'm optimistic. But I'm cautious, too. Many important lessons — business and personal — emerged from the pandemic. Will we hold on to that wisdom and take it forward for decades? Or will the teachings be forgotten in a few years, only for us to relearn them when another risk (pandemic or not) comes along? I certainly hope the latter isn't true. I've learned a few lessons from the past year that I want to hang on to for the long term. What about you? What learnings from 2020 are you bringing to 2021 and beyond? Shefali Kapadia Senior Editor, Supply Chain Dive Twitter | Email

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