The Skanem Blog India

Is your label supplier prepared for a crisis?

Written by Sujesh Pandalangat | 8 Aug, 2023 6:00:00 AM

Unpredictable global crises or interchangeable framework conditions can significantly impact your supply chain and business operations. If you can’t receive your labels on time due to extended lead times or delays, you won't get your products onto the store shelves either. A label supplier with a contingency plan can help you avoid severe consequences.

Your ability to maintain normal business operations should be important to your suppliers.

Here at Skanem India, we have a contingency plan for deliveries in demanding times. Our Pan India corporate model and long experience as a global label manufacturer with multiple sites in India allow us to reduce adverse ripple effects, ensuring business as usual – even during times of crisis.

With our modern and local manufacturing sites in Mumbai, Guwahati, Baddi and New Delhi, you can be assured delivery, regardless.

Historically, global crises always have and always will pose a threat to any supply chain. Based on current trends, it’s likely that big and small crises will occur more frequently than before. According to Susan Lund of the McKinsey Global Institute, this reflects the planet's rising temperatures, which in turn causes more frequent natural disasters.

Additionally, global supply chains are becoming increasingly complicated and more vulnerable. The pandemic was a wake-up call for many companies regarding supply chain management (SCM). SCM is all about evaluating the logistics of your complete value chain, such as:

  • Procurement
  • Warehousing
  • Transport
  • Customer logistics
  • Strategic supplier alliances

Your current label provider should not represent a missing link in this chain.

Read more: 7 indications you should change your label manufacturer

Ensure delivery of unique labels and special materials

The label plays a vital role in your production chain and is there to profile and sell your product. Your labels are uniquely and optimally designed, fitted, and manufactured for your specific brand, range, and products.

Perhaps you use a particular colour, embossing, foiling, code, or ink? Or the paper quality or logistics you need are tailor-made and not easily recreated, making it crucial to uphold production and delivery from your label supplier?

Back in March 2020, there was a global shortage of certain plastics due to the corona pandemic. Because Skanem India is organized across multiple sites, our factories could quickly come to each other’s aid, ensuring none of our clients experienced delivery problems with packaging. Whenever there were capacity problems locally or shortages of special materials and inks, one of our factories would print or supply for the one in dire straits.

That way, we could secure both material access and printing capacity. This allowed us to extend service within logistics and warehousing capacity throughout our sites in Mumbai, Guwahati, Baddi and New Delhi, and our customers' production units.

Read more: Do you have a sustainable plan for your packaging and labelling?

Choose a label supplier with a good contingency plan

Reducing the likelihood of unexpected occurrences is a challenging task. Earthquakes, fires, floods or pandemics will continue to play out, regardless of human intervention. The most effective approach is to mitigate the consequences of these events. Collaborating with suppliers with a robust contingency plan is essential for protecting your supply chain.

When was the last time you checked your supplier's contingency plan? And is it only theoretical or thoroughly tested? At Skanem India, we drill ours – not only as a test but as proper production support – every week of the year.

Therefore, before a disaster occurs, you should check whether your label provider has a plan B and how well this backup plan works under pressure. After all, what happens if your existing supplier must close its factory tomorrow? You probably wouldn't get your labels at all.

Read more: Labels: A window between brand and consumer

As a client of Skanem India, a global crisis wouldn't significantly affect your delivery. We have many factories across India that will quickly come to each other's aid. We produce and deliver labels of the same excellent quality, no matter where our labels are manufactured.

Want to ensure that your labels can be delivered during a crisis? Contact us here.