Air-Filled Packing Materials Category Procurement Intelligence Report

Business practices within Air-Filled Packing Materials market are heavily influenced by changing trends across the category as well as within the broader Warehousing and Storage market. Sustainability has emerged as a pivotal theme for procurement decisions related to supply chain. Companies are expecting their suppliers to internalize globally accepted sustainability practices and demonstrate a solid history of putting in practice similar principles. It is worth noting that practices of sustainability are not limited to only environmental impact but has taken a greater meaning of practices that can reduce the overall cost of operations in the long term.

Rise in minimum labor wages across countries such as the US and China will result in increased employee expenses for Air-Filled Packing Materials suppliers who will be forced to pass on a part of this increase to their buyers.

Service providers have begun to use advanced technologies and tools such as loT, predictive analysis and big data for optimal asset utilization, geofencing, warehouse management, and smart inventory management. The efficiencies gained by using new technology and improvement in customer service capabilities are significant. More and more suppliers are moving towards adopting these technologies to realize significant efficiency gains in the longer run, however, it may also increase their OPEX in the short run.

As a result, category managers need to closely monitor the Air-Filled Packing Materials procurement trends and identify changes required in their procurement environment for the category.

Air-Filled Packing Materials procurement best practices are moving towards a level of sophistication which is typically seen in traditional procurement categories. Category managers now have an attractive opportunity to adapt the best practices seen within this category as well as those being leveraged in other non-related categories. This report summarizes the best practices picked from across multiple categories that could work well for category managers involved with Air-Filled Packing Materials procurement strategy.

For example, It is important that buyers assess the operating model of service providers to determine the best-fit case for their organizations. Buyers need to determine if services offered by the providers are comprehensive and involve adequate resource support and a well-defined customizable execution plan.

Buyers should negotiate for administrative control over all technological systems that contain critical data. This will ensure 100% transparency and visibility over logistics operations. In addition, buyers should demand visibility across the entire supply chain using real-time metrics such as mobile and telematics systems.

Buyers must track suppliers' quality management systems to ensure that the products are stored in a hygienic environment and have almost zero probability of occurrence of damages. This is particularly critical for buyers in industries such as food and beverages and pharmaceutical.

Air-Filled Packing Materials procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Air-Filled Packing Materials procurement. Some examples include: