Navigating the complex world of beverage production involves much more than just creating a tasty drink. A significant part of the process is the design and procurement of customized beverage bottles, which requires careful coordination with multiple suppliers. This blog post explores how juice drink factories manage this intricate process, ensuring that the final product not only meets the functional requirements but also stands out on the shelves.
In the beverage industry, the customization of bottles is crucial for branding and product differentiation. This entails a series of steps involving various suppliers, from bottle manufacturers to labeling specialists. Efficient coordination among these suppliers is essential to streamline production, minimize costs, and ensure timely delivery.
Keeping readers engaged with the topic is vital as we delve deeper into each stage of the bottle customization process, from initial design to final delivery.
Determining Procurement Needs
Firstly, we need to determine the type of beverage bottle we need to customize, including its structure, capacity, size, whether it requires labeling, the type of cap used for sealing, etc.
Structure
An attractive bottle can entice consumers to buy our beverage, so the structure or shape of the bottle has functional requirements and also serves as a way to attract consumers. An attractive bottle always catches the eye, and with beautiful labels attached to the bottle, it can further influence consumers. Therefore, we need to determine the appropriate structure for the bottle.
Capacity
Capacity is an important parameter, which should be decided based on past sales experience and understanding of our customers. We also need to clearly mark this parameter on the label.
Size
The size of the bottle is determined by its structure and capacity. Once we have determined the capacity, we then balance the relationship between structure and size to finalize the dimensions of the bottle. I believe this is not difficult for a beverage factory, as it can be decided based on past experience or by reference.
Material
Choosing the right material is a crucial requirement. It is influenced by several factors such as price, target consumers, factory capabilities, and the beverage formula. Hence, whether we use plastic, glass, or metal bottles should be decided at the outset.
Labeling
Almost all beverage bottles need labels because they must carry a lot of important information, such as the previously mentioned capacity, what the bottle contains, its ingredients, and two crucial parameters: the production date and shelf life. These details are very important and need to be displayed to consumers. The production date and shelf life can be printed during the labeling process using labeling equipment with a printing system.
Caps
This is also a consideration for beverage factories because it determines how consumers will open the bottle. Whether we use plastic caps or metal caps, and whether they are twist-off or pop-open like a beer bottle, are important details that need to be considered. These points essentially determine the type of bottle we need. Of course, this might not be exhaustive since I am not a bottle manufacturer, but I am thinking from the perspective of a consumer and supplier.
Finding Suppliers
Which suppliers are needed
Once we clearly know the type of bottle we need, we can identify the suppliers needed to achieve this. Therefore, based on the five requirements mentioned earlier, we can determine which suppliers are necessary.
Firstly, we need a supplier that manufactures bottles, whether they are a plastic or glass bottle factory. Once the factory is determined, we can discuss the detailed requirements of the bottle’s structure, capacity, size, and material.
Secondly, we need a label manufacturer since almost all beverage bottles require labels that carry lots of important information. You would not buy a beverage from a store if the bottle had no labels and you were unsure of its contents, right?
Then, we need to find a supplier for applying the labels to the bottles. You might wonder why such a simple task as applying labels requires a supplier. This is because beverage factories usually produce beverages on a large scale, and most use automated equipment for production.
Manual labeling would be time-consuming and inefficient. Thus, finding a high-quality labeling machine manufacturer is essential.
Next, we need a cap manufacturer to provide the caps. This is straightforward to understand; once the beverage is bottled, it needs to be sealed. Once this step is completed, a bottle of beverage is fully produced.
Lastly, naturally, we also need a cap sealing machine manufacturer to provide a sealing machine. Like the labeling machine mentioned earlier, manual operation is not feasible. Using automated equipment is the wisest choice. The above-mentioned suppliers and equipment need to work in coordination to complete the production of the bottle.
How to find suppliers
There are many ways to find suppliers, such as locally or internationally online, or through our existing supply system.
However, what I want to emphasize is how to integrate these needed suppliers efficiently and work together effectively. For example, it is preferable if the suppliers we find are located in one place to facilitate coordination. Of course, other factors should also be considered, such as price, which is an important consideration.
It is also possible to find one supplier through another, such as a bottle manufacturer who may have close contacts with a label factory. Often, these two suppliers are in the same place, which makes subsequent coordination work more convenient and may also result in more favorable pricing.
Similarly, manufacturers of labeling machines will definitely be in contact with label manufacturers because they share the same customer base but offer different products. These two types of suppliers typically benefit from a win-win cooperation. Some labeling machine manufacturers may even have their own label production departments.
They can provide both equipment and labels to customers, which is an excellent combination. Customers no longer need to find a separate label supplier. More importantly, during equipment calibration, the label department can cooperate in real-time, significantly reducing communication costs.
Coordinating suppliers
Once the suppliers are determined, coordinating their work is very important. For example, we should decide what to do first and what can be done simultaneously by different suppliers.
We need to first communicate with the bottle manufacturer about the bottle’s structure, shape, size, capacity, and material. However, during this process, we also need the label manufacturer to help us design the content and size of the labels. The size of the labels can only be determined after the size of the bottles has been finalized. Whether the bottle is regular or flat will also affect the production of the labels and even the customization of the labeling machines.
If the bottle is a regular cylinder, then it is easy to determine the circumference of the labels by just knowing the diameter of the cylinder. If the bottle has an irregular cylindrical shape or an uneven structure, the labels might need to have shrink properties, allowing them to tightly adhere to the uneven surfaces using shrink technology.
If there is no LOGO or specific shape on the bottle, then the labeling machine does not need to perform any positioning function during the labeling process, as it does not matter from which part of the bottle the labeling starts. However, if there is a LOGO on the bottle, the center of the label usually needs to align with the LOGO’s position.
In this case, the labeling machine must have a positioning function. Once it is required that the bottle labels be positioned, then the bottle needs to have a reference point for positioning. At this point, we need the bottle manufacturer to design a positioning point on the bottle. Typically, this positioning point is a notch and must be distinct enough to be detectable by a positioning sensor.
Based on our experience, it usually needs to be at least 3x3mm in size. If these coordination tasks are not considered from the beginning, significant losses may occur later.
For example, if we find that the bottles have been produced without a designed positioning point, then we need to modify the bottle mold. We know that modifying molds is complex and time-consuming, which delays the delivery. Besides requiring the beverage manufacturer to perform these coordination tasks, suppliers can also help coordinate by offering suggestions, as they are often the most experienced.
For example, as a professional labeling machine manufacturer at WireLabelingMachine, only we know how large the positioning point on the bottle needs to be to be detectable by sensors. Bottle manufacturers may not be aware of this size. Determining this size blindly might lead to the inability to position during labeling. Thus, coordinating the work among suppliers is also a very important task for the beverage manufacturer.
What makes a quality supplier
My answer is simple: a supplier that thinks about the problems for the customers is a quality supplier.
Usually, suppliers are only responsible for completing the tasks requested by the customers, which is not problematic. However, in cases like beverage bottle production, it requires coordination among various suppliers. One important detail is that suppliers need to proactively provide various suggestions to the customers.
Each supplier, drawing from their industry expertise, can offer some experiential advice to the customers, significantly improving the accuracy and speed of customer decision-making. This also benefits the suppliers because the customers can feel that you are providing them with advice and references, and even helping them solve practical problems. Customers are more likely to offer more opportunities for cooperation.
As a professional labeling machine supplier, we often provide such references to customers. Sometimes, even though a customer needs to find three suppliers, due to our advice and references, they end up only needing us. Because we can help the customers complete all the coordination tasks.
For example, previously, we only focused on the R&D and production of labeling machines. But during the sales process, we found that almost all customers needed custom labels. Customers always asked us if we could provide labels, or recommend a label manufacturer to them. We did a lot of referral work. Later, we wondered why not produce the labels ourselves?
We could tell the customers that we could both produce labeling machines and custom-make labels for them. Soon after, we established a label production department. After establishing the label production department, customers no longer had to find a separate label supplier, nor did we need to keep sending label samples to customers for equipment calibration.
Moreover, our performance increased. Our comprehensive quotation to customers became lower.
Arranging Production
Once we have coordinated these suppliers, we can arrange their respective productions. First, we need to produce the bottles so that they can serve as a reference for the subsequent production of labels, labeling machines, and caps.
Even though we can produce based on blueprints, a physical reference is the most reliable. During the production of labeling machines for our customers, we always hope that customers can provide real samples for calibration. This gives our engineers the confidence to properly calibrate the equipment.
When the labeling machine manufacturer receives the bottle samples provided by the customers, they can directly test the labeling effects and take photos for customer confirmation.
Additionally, the label department can test the label sizes during production and observe the effects after labeling. This ensures that the products received by the customers are as expected.
Delivery
The last step is delivery.
Usually, the bottle manufacturer will deliver the bottles separately to the customers. The labeling machine manufacturer will deliver the labeling machines and labels to the customers.
After receiving the bottles and labeling machines, the customers can label the bottles. If the beverage manufacturer needs to deliver the labeled bottles to them, the labeling machine equipment might need to be sold to the bottle manufacturer, so that the bottles they produce can directly enter the labeling stage, and finally, the bottle manufacturer delivers the final product to the customers.
Conclusion
The coordination of multiple suppliers to customize beverage bottles is a complex but crucial part of beverage production. Effective communication, meticulous planning, and strategic supplier integration are essential to streamline this process, ensuring that the final product not only meets the desired specifications but also captures the attention of consumers in a competitive market.
You may be interested:
- What Factors Affect the Price of a Bottle Labeling Machine?
- Are Tag Labeling Machines Customizable for Different Applications?
- What are the labels requirements for wire labeling machines?
- How to Manage Labeling Challenges Caused by Uneven Gaps?
