UK-based logistics group Kinaxia Logistics has opted to use a cloud-based platform from supply chain solutions provider Nulogy to optimise its contract packing business.
In addition to handling distribution and storage, Kinaxia has been providing contract packing services since the business was founded in 2012, but significantly stepped up its involvement in this particular area following its acquisition of AKW Group in 2018.
Contract packing, also referred to as co-packing, involves outsourcing the final stage of goods production to another company to oversee the packaging of products so they are in a finished state, ready to be shipped.
Kinaxia has heavily invested in its co-packing business, building a 40,000 ft² extension to its dedicated co-packing warehouse in Manchester, taking its total space to 100,000 ft². The warehouse features a ‘bespoke conveyor belt system with automatic in-line labellers and ink jet coding’ as well as an ‘automatic erector to enable shelf ready packaging’. Kinaxia claims that this facility is capable of processing thirty million seasonal gift packs.
Now, the company will replace its previous operations solution with a Nulogy platform that it believes will ‘streamline the company’s co-packing operations to drive efficiency, profitability, and service levels’.
The solution will be integrated with Kinaxia’s Warehouse Management System in the hope that together, the systems will ‘enable improved levels of visibility and operational control’. Nulogy’s platform will provide real-time data from the shop floor, which can be used to assess efficiency and inform decisions to improve this.
Kinaxia Logistics & Fulfilment Managing Director Anita Donohoe said: “The value of data in contract packing cannot be overestimated, and so it was clear the immense potential that Nulogy’s cloud-based software could bring to enhance our operations for our customers.”
She continued: “We look forward to working together with Nulogy to further improve our co-packing value-added services, through increased speed, accuracy, and efficiency.”
Josephine Coombe, Managing Director for Nulogy Europe, added: “As the need for resilient and agile supply chains grows, Nulogy customers are future-proofed through their digitalisation investment, delivering tangible results in efficiency, quality, sustainability, and profitability.”
