Leaders Q&A: Solve your labor problems with automated packaging

Sean Webb
Director of Automated Packaging Solutions, North America, Sparck Technologies

With unemployment rates at historic lows and companies facing steep challenges on both the recruiting and retention fronts, having the right technology and automation in place has become more critical than ever. Because it’s no longer affordable or even feasible to add more labor to manage the continued boom in e-commerce orders, more organizations are turning to automation for help.

As director of automated packaging solutions for Sparck Technologies in North America, Sean Webb runs the organization’s U.S. operations, which has been working with a growing number of shippers that see fit-to-size automated packaging as the answer to some of their biggest labor market challenges.

In this Leader’s Q&A, Webb highlights the labor challenges taking place in packaging fulfillment right now, and how automated packaging can tackle those obstacles.

Q: What are some of the key trends taking shape right now in the fulfillment packaging environment related to labor?

A: Finding and keeping labor is extremely difficult for most companies right now. This is because companies are having a hard time finding labor. And even when they do find the workers they need, there is more competition for them, they cost more and retaining them has become extremely difficult. As a result, fulfillment operations are really struggling to find and keep the labor.

Q: What other factors are making it difficult for fulfillment organizations to hit their target productivity goals right now?

A: Labor issues often lead to errors, unreliable processes and slower fulfillment times, all of which can negatively impact the customer experience. At a time when most people are clicking to buy, their order is really the only connection that they have to the retailer. In addition, labor rates are climbing higher and higher, with no real end in sight to this escalation.

Automation is a great way to address these and other labor-related challenges and to create flexible, agile organizations that can readily deal with this and other disruptive forces. Even better, automated packaging helps companies effectively repurpose labor for other, more important purposes within their operations. These benefits make automation a real “win-win” proposition for companies in any operating environment, and particularly when labor is difficult to come by and even harder to retain.

Q: How does automated packaging help companies tackle these challenges and remain competitive in a challenging market?

A: You only need one or two operators to create a fit-to-size box every three or seven seconds, depending on the machine. As throughput drastically increases, labor and HR-related costs both decrease. When peak rolls around, companies don’t have to work with temp agencies because their automated packaging machines scale
along with them.

The machine also takes no vacation or sick time, and packaging quality and consistency exist 100% of the time. Finally, companies can upskill employees to more value-added roles, increase production and optimize employee satisfaction.

Automated packaging ultimately helps get packages out the door quickly and in a way that meets customer expectations. This is critical because customers want their packages faster and faster, and in many cases same-day or next-day. As those timeframes continue to shrink, keeping up has become a core competitive advantage that companies can’t afford to ignore.

Q: What does the future hold for automated packaging?

A: Right now, we see that companies are really gearing up to meet the growth that’s occurring in the market, and automation is going to be the key to success. In the past, operations were probably comfortable throwing more labor at the problem—especially in the packaging area. Now, more organizations are looking at how they can create a right-sized package and get it shipped in a very streamlined manner. They’re making these moves, grabbing those benefits, and solving some or all their labor issues along the way.

Q: How does Sparck help companies tackle these challenges?

A: With our technology, we’re giving companies a solution that they can use to very effectively address their productivity and labor issues. Our solutions also create savings that companies can turn around and use to pay for their systems and fund their operations. Our newest model, the Everest, features higher throughput speeds and is really helping some of the world’s largest fulfillment operations meet their customers’ demands. These are just some of the ways that Sparck is helping companies address the current labor market problems, scale up when their customers need them to, and plan for future success.