Factory Walk-Throughs: What Should You Check When Visiting a Supplier?

In any industry, efficiency, organization, and productivity are critical components to being successful. How productive is your business, and is your business organized enough to maximize its efficiency?

February 26, 2021

Make Supplier Visits a Part of Your Routine:

In order to be successful, it’s necessary to monitor your assets routinely. Whether you’re “popping in” to a retail store to visit with employees, conducting a factory walk-through to observe production, or visiting the office to catch up with your team, there’s one main reason for all of this: Are we successful? If yes, what are we doing to continue to increase our success? If not, have we identified the issue? How do we eliminate waste, reduce risk and work more efficiently to be successful?

Planning Your Next Factory Walk-Through:

In the packaging world, factories are our life-blood. Their main objective is to produce a high-quality product in the most efficient way possible. Factory visits are a critical element in reducing risk, eliminating waste, and ensuring production demands are being met. Of course, not all businesses have immediate access to their factories. For some businesses, their factories are located on the other side of the world, which can pose additional travel, communication, and logistics complications. For those companies whose suppliers are across the water, getting to the supplier takes lots of planning and time, so ensuring that your visit is scheduled and organized in advance will ensure you’re maximizing your time spent.

In-Person Visits or Virtual Visits?

Unfortunately, COVID-19 and our global pandemic have eliminated or, at the very least, made it extremely difficult to travel overseas. With these international travel restrictions and set quarantine schedules, the option for in-person factory walk-throughs is ultimately impossible unless you’re a local citizen. However, thanks to technology, some businesses have been able to work through these complications, using various web interface services to “visit” with thei