Contract Manufacturing: Leading the Green Revolution

Why use contract manufacturers?

There are so many reasons why this makes sense, including: (1) you only pay for services and expertise, not for the huge costs of building, running and staffing a high-end manufacturing facility; (2) you can take advantage of specific manufacturing capabilities that your company does not have; (3) the contract manufacturer absorbs many costs that you don’t have to foot; (4) you are trying to keep up with (or ahead of) spikes in demand; (5) you can focus on marketing and selling your product and the contract manufacturer can just focus on producing it; and (6) you don’t want the headaches of extensive chain-of-custody documentation requirements, cGMP regs, and record keeping.

One thing I have never heard anyone say, nor I have read anywhere either, is this: Using contract manufacturing is a very green and environmentally friendly way to produce, stock, and ship product!

Consider the environmental footprint of 100 finished product companies using 100 (or more) dedicated manufacturing facilities of their own vs. the impact of those same 100 companies utilizing 10 contract manufacturers, which have multiple clients.

That’s 90 percent fewer land-hogging, byproducts-producing, energy-sucking plants under the contract manufacturing scenario. And that does not mean that the contract manufacturing plants are 90 percent bigger. Since they handle multiple clients, there are numerous efficiencies that they can take advantage of, including rotating manufacturing runs and investing in the best equipment.

In a U.S. economy and global business that is beset by a world of energy crisis-induced pricing increases and logistical gremlins, isn’t it reassuring for marketers and finished product makers to know that there are excellent, and reputable, contract manufacturers who can get you where you need to go? And they do this economically, efficiently and, yes, even sustainably!