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Tricorbraun Winepak
Packaging decisions can be difficult and stressful… with many different options it can seem overwhelming and once you’ve chosen what you would like your final package to look like, coordinating supply components can be just as challenging.
Here are 3 key strategies that can help you be more efficient in your decisions and avoid some pit falls when sourcing glass wine bottles, specifically addressing how to plan, forecast and coordinate logistics.
1. Do your research. Who are the vendors that carry the items you need.
- Ask specific questions that will help in your decision:
- Is the glass I’m buying manufactured in North America or abroad (Europe or Asia)?
- This has an impact on logistics and ordering times. Forecasting is critical for glass suppliers as glass manufactures schedule their production 90 to 120 days in advance.
- How often is the glass colour and specific bottle mold running? Typically glass bottles that are not standard shape or produced at heavier than usual glass weights may only be produced once or twice a year. If this is something for which you need continuous supply, be prepared and order in advance.
- Does your supplier carry back up stock? It is critically important to understand how close to your bottling date will they be bringing in your bottles in order to ensure your dates are met. This should be at minimum of 2 weeks prior to your scheduled delivery.
- What guarantees does your supplier have in place in regards to quality? This is important because this varies greatly by manufacturer. Understanding the AQL (Acceptable Quality Limits) standards around colour ranges, neck finishes, label panel and packaging specifications will save you time and money. Being able to react to situations quickly when there are quality issues can be more difficult when dealing with international supply. What is the back up plan?
- What are the capabilities of your glass supplier to resolve problems and how quickly can they react?
2. Are the bottle(s) that you have selected compatible with your other packaging components?
You are likely sourcing other packaging components such as labels, corks, closures, capsules, and boxes. It is important to supply your vendors with bottle drawings that have their manufacturing dimensions and tolerances (called “bottle drawing specification sheets”)which include all the critical specifications. Simply supplying a bottle sample does not always provide the most accurate information as all bottles have tolerances +/- specifications. Suppliers of closures, capsules and labels need to understand what those specifications are, and can be provided by your glass supplier. Label sizing has become an area of concern. Glass manufacturers have recommended label panel sizes for each glass bottle style also known as “molds”. Your glass representative will be happy to provide those to you.
3. For the small lot wine producers, a variety of bottles is not always efficient.
Sourcing end lots or numerous shapes of bottles puts a lot of emphasis for the winery to coordinate numerous packaging materials. Try to streamline your bottle selections to 2 or 3 bottle styles (also known as molds) so you can increase efficiency in forecasting, ordering and supply chain logistics. It will also provide production line efficiencies that gained through longer production runs and limiting production change over- downtime, improving your cost to acquire packaging components.
You can be assured that TricorBraun WinePak will be able to guide you in both your bottle selection as well as all logistics surrounding your packaging needs. We have nearly 35 years’ experience in supplying the wine industry and over 100 years of supplying packaging components.
Please see more about how we can help you get your quality wines to your customers by going to www.tricorbraunwinepak.com
Call Heidi Cook at 604-649-5623