12 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING
As supply chains around the world remain shocked by global disruptions, Australian Manufacturing remains strong, steady, reliable, and cost-competitive, and businesses are starting to see the benefits of a local, reliable supply chain.
In October 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the Manufacturing Modernisation Strategy, a $1.5BN plan to help boost the capacity and quality of Australian manufacturing.
This is a bold move that shows confidence in bolstering the Australian manufacturing industry, as well as a much-discussed ‘manufacturing-led COVID recovery’.
In light of this, we have compiled 12 reasons why Australian manufacturing could work for you, and why you should consider CCS for your locally manufactured packaging and printing needs.
Australian Manufacturers typically have a much shorter lead time than overseas manufacturers. At CCS, our lead time between initial contact and a final custom product can be as short as 7 production days depending on the type of product and embellishments.
Overseas manufacturing turnaround time, particularly for customised products is typically 1-3 months, excluding transport time. In these uncertain covid times, lead times have been known to stretch for months, with factors such as factories closing, reduced staff capacity and COVID outbreaks causing process delays.
2. SHORT TRANSPORT TIME
Manufacturing on-shore in Australia greatly reduces the transportation time of the final product to the final destination. For example, at CCS, because our manufacturing occurs in Sydney, transport can take 1-3 days between leaving our facilities and arriving at your facilities (depending on your location, and where you are based in Australia). For some clients who have facilities in the Sydney area, it can be as simple as a quick car ride over.
Products manufactured overseas need to be freighted across to Australia, generally via ocean shipping. During non-COVID times, this generally took between 22-31 days. Currently, due to the unprecedented increase in demand for international shipping, ongoing wharf strikes, global shortages of shipping containers and more, transport time has blown out significantly. It is common for delays to last over 6 months in today’s climate.
3. SHIPPING COSTS
The cost to ship a typical 20’ shipping container filled with stock has increased in price substantially. In August 2020, a 20’ shipping container would have cost $950 for the transportation of goods. It has since blown out to over $3000, with no indication that prices will drop in the future.
4. PAYMENT OPTIONS
Most overseas companies require upfront payments for the entire stock order.
At CCS, we are accommodating to all sorts of payment plans, depending on individual circumstances.
5. SMALL BATCH (MADE TO ORDER) QUANTITIES
If you order custom packaging from overseas, it has to be shipped to Australia. The minimum order quantity is also extremely high overseas, you would typically want to fill a shipping container full of stock, which would mean order quantities typically begin in the thousands or tens of thousands of units.
At CCS, our minimum order quantity begins at 500 units. This allows for us to adapt to companies of all different sizes and budgets, as well as allowing our clients to have greater flexibility in their packaging design. Clients love that if they change their ingredients, have a limited release roll out, or want to update their packaging, our just-in-time delivery system allows those changes to be easily made – without having to get through months of stock first.
6. STORAGE
If you are ordering smaller quantities of packaging more frequently, you do not need to worry so much about storage. If you are ordering six months plus of stock at a time from overseas, managing the logistics of storage becomes much more expensive and complicated – hiring storage space, ensuring stock is safe and secure. By ordering smaller quantities more frequently, the amount of storage space required is diminished significantly.
Additionally, if for whatever reason, the design of your product has to change, you are stuck with large Qty’s of incorrect product in storage. Running more frequently with smaller batches will eliminate the risk.
7. QUALITY CONTROL
At CCS, we have been manufacturing in Australia for 33 years now. Our average staff tenure is over 15 years, so our experience and knowledge in the industry are extensive.
When manufacturing onshore in Australia, we operate at a certain standard that might not be commonly met overseas.
8. PERSONALISED SERVICE
Our service is highly personalised – we work with you to create whatever customised packaging or printed product you need in the packaging space.
We encourage clients to visit us on-site to meet with our account managers, look at our previous work samples, and conduct factory floor walkarounds.
Our clients can attest to our attention to detail, and our ability to work with clients to create their perfect packaging solution.
9. CUSTOMS COST, INSURANCE, GST, & FLUCTUATING CURRENCY
When ordering packaging solutions from overseas, the price generally fluctuates throughout the year depending on the exchange rate. Additionally, GST must be added to the price of imported goods (cost of goods + transport cost + insurance cost + customs duty), which also increases costs. Some of these variable costs make it difficult to predict the full cost of the final product, particularly in advance.
10. LOW RISK
At CCS, we are very happy to create sample products and packs for our clients. Our clients can look at small-batch prototypes of the final packaging product, before committing to purchase larger amounts of stock.
If purchasing overseas, the first time you experience your final product might be after you’ve ordered 6 months of stock.
11. ETHICAL & SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN
We are FSC® Certified, which means that we use stock from sustainably sourced forests.
We are a signatory of the ILO, which means we do not use any slave labour in our supply chain.
12. STRONG CONSUMER SENTIMENT FOR AU MADE PRODUCTS
At CCS, we are members of The Australian Made Campaign. This is one of the most recognisable and loved brands in Australia.
Contact us today for a no obligations chat about how we can help you with your print and packaging needs
