Like it or not, reducing costs while improving performance has become a big part of your role as a packaging professional. Downgauging, outsourcing, reverse auctions, just-in-time warehousing, automation, and expanded in-line operations are now common in the healthcare product packaging industry. But are your efforts paying off? Anecdotes aside, what sort of financial and operational benefits have you seen?

Medical device companies may soon have answers to these questions. PRTM, a management consulting firm, is conducting a benchmarking survey to assess how well medical device companies and contract packagers manage cycle time, cost, productivity, and quality within their packaging operations, explains Jitu Marwaha of PRTM.

The survey aims to determine a comprehensive set of operational and financial metrics, specific to the packaging operation, such as:

•Value-added productivity per employee
•Actual and theoretical cycle times
•Average packaging cost per unit
•Direct labor, material, and overhead costs as a percentage of COGS
•First-pass yield, line scrap, and line rework
•Raw-material and work-in-process inventory days of supply

The survey is an attempt to establish industrywide benchmarks that could guide internal improvements and/or contracting decisions, says Marwaha. Questions are intended to delve into the heart of packaging operations, inquiring about issues such as the amount of time spent on receiving, inventorying, packaging, and sterilization. Packaging-related product recalls, line scrap, and line rework are also examined. Indirect labor costs, such as maintenance, material handling, and purchasing, are also considered.

Participation in the benchmarking survey is free, and all survey data will be held confidential by PRTM. No individual company data will be revealed in any communication or publications, PRTM claims. The firm will sign confidentiality agreements, if desired. All participants will receive summaries of the overall results and conclusions. They will even receive scorecards highlighting the performance of their firms relative to other participants, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

This is a unique opportunity. When was the last time you analyzed your packaging operations this closely and got to compare them to those of your competitors, anonymously?

For more information on the survey, contact Marwaha at 650/864-3560 or at jmarwaha@prtm.com. The on-line survey can be accessed on-line. You may also download the survey and mail the completed survey to Jitu Marwaha, PRTM, 444 Castro St., Ste. 600, Mountain View, CA 94041; or fax it to 650/967-6367. Completed questionnaires must be submitted by Wednesday, September 15, 2004.

If you decide to participate, we hope the few hours needed to complete the survey pay off. At the very least, you will have the chance to look at your packaging operations and decisions from a different vantage point.