One of our favorite parts of year end is planning for an exciting year ahead. In working with many businesses in a variety of industries for the last thirty years we’ve noticed that many businesses aren’t including purchasing strategy in their yearly planning. No matter what your business is, if you don’t have thoughtful purchasing strategies in place, you’re losing money. When it comes to purchasing tape from Walker Tape Converting, we’ve got your back. We’re all about working smart and planning ahead to save the most money for our customers. In this blog we’ll be teaching you how to ensure you’re making smart purchasing decisions that save you and your business time and money.
Usage Numbers
The most important thing to know when it comes to purchasing is, of course, your usage numbers. What many companies fail to figure into their purchasing plan is their annual usage numbers. We often see companies either ordering every month or two or ordering sporadically when they are almost out of product. Each of these leads to smaller orders which, in the converting world, leads to larger per product prices. What we always recommend to our customers is to order more product less often. We have an entire blog that explains why it’s more expensive to place smaller orders. You can read that here.
Shelf Life
Each tape product has a shelf life. Luckily, for tapes it’s relatively long. We generally recommend using your tapes within 6-12 months, depending on the product. We guarantee all of our tapes for these time frames. When you order from us we can give you that information for your specific product. Since these products can sit for so long without compromising quality, we recommend calculating how much tape you use every 3-6 months and ordering for a full 3-6 months at a time. You’ll save time and labor dollars by eliminating time spent placing orders. You’ll also save money by placing larger orders. Generally, the most expensive part of production is setup and cleanup. Therefore, depending on the product, the less we have to set up and clean up, the more money you save.
Per Piece Price
When you work with Walker, we make sure you’re getting the best prices on your products. The more successful your business is, the more successful our business is. We ensure you always know your options to reduce the per piece price of your products. We get better pricing from our suppliers when we place larger orders, so sometimes the best option is to place a large enough order that we’ll get a better initial price from them. In almost all cases, it’ll be much less expensive per piece to place a larger order because of the cost of machine setup and cleanup. When you’re dividing the setup and cleanup costs between a larger number of pieces, it makes each piece less expensive. When you place your order we calculate the price for the amount you’re looking for as well as the price for larger amounts so you can see the per piece savings for a larger order. In many cases, it makes sense for businesses to place orders that are larger than they initially planned to save money per piece. For example, if you’re only wanting 200 pieces but it wouldn’t be that much more expensive for 400 pieces, we’re sure to let you know so you can make the best choice for your business.
Inventory
The more detailed you are with your inventory and usage numbers, the more helpful we can be. Any time you place an order with us, be sure you have information on exactly how much you have in house and exactly how much you use so we can be sure you get the best price and help you place the most intelligent order. If you’re working on a new project and have estimated volumes, we can help you with strategies that utilize the efficiencies of larger order quantities.
Because we have product experts, not just sales people, working on every order, we take a close look at each account to ensure our customers are saving the most money on their orders. For example, this year we had a large customer who was placing sporadic orders. In looking at their account and their numbers for the year, we realized that they were going through enough of their product to place larger orders at specific intervals. These larger orders enabled us to offer them a far better price on their products. In the end they were able to save money on each of their orders, and spend less time on ordering overall. It’s amazing what a difference organized purchasing can make for any business.
As you’re planning for 2019, it’s a great time to look everything over and ensure you have smart purchasing strategies in place for the new year. It’s also a great time to look at all of the products your business uses and make sure you have the best products at the best prices. We’re always here to help. We can utilize our excellent supplier relationships to get any tape, adhesive, or remover products in house that you’re using in your business. We’re offering free consultations and free quotes to help you with your yearly planning. Contact us today to get started.
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