5 Ways New Packaging Helped a Company

5 Ways New Packaging Helped One Company Win the Nutrition Race

Food Packaging Program

Winning the nutrition race is no longer a walk in the park for endurance nutrition companies. The sports nutrition industry has exploded over the last several decades, with researchers projecting the market to reach $80 million by 2022. This trend has created a heightened need for precision food packaging for endurance fuel products. The SupplyOne team is proud to work with nutrition companies across the United States and is continually improving the packaging solutions available to customers. Below is a look at 5 ways SupplyOne's Food Packaging Program helped a leading company win the nutrition race.

The Contestant

This "contestant" is a leading supplier of endurance fuel products. The customer is highly regarded for its sports endurance products to help athletes compete in 24-hour and multi-day endurance events. Their products offer a unique and tasty combination of fuel, electrolytes, and hydration and are served in convenient pouches that are easy for an athlete to store and handle during an endurance event.

The Hurdles

A poor quality pouch
The best sports nutrition product in the world will lose its luster if it is packaged in a poor quality pouch. In this case, the company wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the pouch which was easily damaged when packed in the tight confines of a runners pack and had a print surface that allowed their graphics to scuff and did not highlight their graphics to the best effect.
A lack of supplier support
One of the customer's greatest frustrations was the absence of support offered by their supplier. Attempts to collaborate with their supplier to address the issues they were experiencing were ignored, and the overall level of responsiveness to the customer's concerns was poor.
Poor printing quality
The customer's previous supplier relied on a rotogravure printing process as opposed to a digital printing process. This type of printing increases the risk for flaws such as ink dilution and poor ink transfer. The end result is a pouch with subpar graphics.
Consumer dissatisfaction
As a result of the challenges with the pouch quality, consumers began to express their dissatisfaction with the customer. The customer could not afford to have their brand image tarnished and risk losing loyal customers.

SupplyOne's Plan for a Blue Ribbon Finish

The SupplyOne team is always ready to help great companies get back in the race after stumbling. Here are five ways SupplyOne helped this customer overcome the hurdles above and outpace their competitors:

1) Active listening

Active listening is one of the most valuable tools in a Certified Packaging Specialist’s arsenal, and a requisite for all SupplyOne professionals. From the first meeting, the customer’s frustrations and objectives were carefully noted and explored to create an action plan that outlined the steps SupplyOne would take to achieve the customer's desired outcomes.

2) A switch to digital printing

The visual quality of the pouch was improved by switching form roto-gravure digital printing. Switching to digital printing delivers an impressive improvement in quality, as it eliminates problems such as an uneven image appearance and scuffing. More importantly, switching to digital printing enables the customer to make printing adjustments faster and with greater ease.

3) Improved pouch quality

Upon hearing about the customer's dissatisfaction with the quality of pouch provided by their previous vendor, SupplyOne’s Food Packaging Specialists consulted with key pouch suppliers to develop a pouch with the necessary performance characteristics to enhance freshness, improve durability and provide a surface that would allow graphics to pop.

4) Close collaboration with the client

SupplyOne’s Packaging Specialists remained in constant contact with the company owner, production manager and marketing team to ensure that all questions and concerns were addressed. The project included a packaging redesign and the SupplyOne sales representative worked closely with the customer's graphic artist to ensure satisfaction with the pouch design. This close collaboration helped prevent the issues that arose with their former packaging supplier.

5) Samples

When your reputation and brand is at stake, it’s essential to have confidence in your packaging solution. Pouch samples were provided for visual inspection and tests to make certain the sport drink manufacture was fully comfortable with the quality of their new pouch.

A Winning Finish

As a result of SupplyOne's dedicated support and customized packaging solutions, the the company and its customers are enjoying a higher quality pouch, improved graphics as well as prolonged shelf life. They are no longer having to respond to complaints and their confidence in their product packaging is fully restored. As a result, SupplyOne has become the customer's single source for all of its packaging needs.

The Bottom Line

The sports nutrition industry is no stranger to packaging engineering hurdles for their uniquely formulated products. For over 20 years, SupplyOne has worked with business owners to simplify packaging management and increase their product's speed to market providing proven programs, products, services, packaging automation and packaging expertise all from a single point of contact.