Packaging supply to The Point, Market Harborough and across Leicestershire. Cartons specified to the product, protection specified against the failure, consumables resupplied against consumption rather than against a purchase order.
The Point and what leaves it
Space is usually the binding constraint rather than price. The better buy is almost always the longer run, and the longer run is exactly what a unit with a bench and limited floor has nowhere to put - which is a stockholding problem dressed up as a purchasing one.
The mix also means both parcel and pallet traffic leave from the same few streets, and a pack specified for one of those routes is usually wrong for the other.
What that means for a unit here is fairly specific.
- A line list review, which on most units finds a range longer than the despatch profile needs.
- A short carton range fitted to what actually leaves, rather than the accumulated list.
- Pallet consumables for anything palletised: film, strapping, layer pads, corner protection.
- Protective materials chosen against the failure mode rather than by adding more of whatever is to hand.
- Call-off on printed and bespoke work, so run quantities do not need floor space.
| Business | Despatch pattern | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| Light assembly | Low volume, specific | Right-sized cartons, fitted protection |
| Manufacturer | Pallet and parcel both | Carton ladder plus protective range |
| Distributor | Pallets to a schedule | Pallet consumables and outers |
| Trade supplier | Collected and delivered | Heavy duty cases, strapping, film |
| Importer | Bulk in, broken cases out | Heavy outers plus a part-case pack |
| Online retailer | Parcels daily | Postal boxes, mailers, void fill, printed tape |
The businesses in a mixed commercial area and what each tends to order.
The Point and the wider Market Harborough area
In Leicestershire, Market Harborough is known for Light manufacturing, distribution and food and drink. The Point serves that base, and the common packaging issue across the units is not price but fit - a size chosen years ago for a product that has since changed.
The Point sits in the LE16 area, with A6, A14, A427 and M1 (J20) providing the connections. Neighbouring Lutterworth and Leicester share enough of Market Harborough's industrial profile that we frequently supply all of them off one specification.
Delivery into The Point runs on the same pattern as the rest of LE16, off stock held centrally rather than made to order. For consumables that is the whole point: tape and film are consumed continuously and an empty shelf stops a bench rather than slowing it.
Everything here is supplied through packaging services in Market Harborough, and the service pages behind it set out each material range in detail.
The ranges a unit at The Point orders
What a Market Harborough account usually covers, roughly in the order it gets used.
- Cartons and cases - single and double wall, postal boxes, heavy duty and triple wall where weight demands it. See packaging supplies.
- Stockholding and call-off - run quantities produced once, held centrally and released as you consume them. See packaging stockholding.
- Printed and bespoke - printed cartons, tape and inner wrap, and made-to-size cartons where a standard line costs more than it saves. See bespoke carton manufacture.
- Tape and sealing - polypropylene, vinyl and paper tape in hand and machine widths, plus dispensers and case sealers.
- Postal and ecommerce formats - mailers, letterbox packs, book wraps and padded envelopes. See postal and parcel packaging.
- Films and stretch wrap - stretch film, shrink film and barrier film, specified by gauge and containment force rather than by roll.
- Void fill and cushioning - paper fill, air cushion, bubble and loose fill, specified against the failure rather than the shelf. See protective packaging.
Delivery and resupply at The Point
Supply into The Point runs off central Midlands stock rather than to order. Standard lines are an ordinary delivery into LE16; printed and bespoke lines are produced at a sensible run, held, and called off as the bench consumes them.
The mechanics are on packaging stockholding, and packaging stockholding in Market Harborough covers how supply works across Market Harborough specifically.
What consolidating changes
Packaging on an estate unit is usually bought from whoever was nearest at the time, which over a few years produces a line list nobody designed: a size ordered for a product discontinued two years ago, two tapes because nobody cancelled the first, three void fills for the same job. Shortening that list almost always buys better than negotiating on any one item in it.
If you want that looked at properly rather than quoted like-for-like, a packaging review examines materials, storage, carriage, labour, damage and waste together.
The short version
- A line list with twelve months of usage shows the opportunity faster than any conversation about price.
- Standard lines are trade quantities with no fixed minimum; run quantities apply to printed and bespoke work.
- Call-off is what makes run quantities practical for a unit with limited floor space.
- The outer, the protection and the consumables are three decisions, and most ranges only make one of them deliberately.
- Units at The Point, Lutterworth and Leicester are supplied off the same Midlands stock.
Frequently asked questions
Can you look at what we currently buy?
Send the line list with rough usage. It usually shows whether the opportunity is specification, range or quantity - see packaging review and cost reduction.
Our goods keep arriving damaged. Where do we start?
With how they are being damaged rather than how much protection to add. Photographs of items as they arrived identify the failure mode - see protective packaging.
Can several units on the estate buy on one account?
Yes. One account with deliveries split between units is a normal arrangement, and it is often what makes a run quantity economic.
Can you specify packaging for a product we are launching?
Yes. Send the product or accurate dimensions and we will specify against it, with a physical sample approved before any production run on anything bespoke - see bespoke packaging.
Do you supply other estates around Market Harborough?
Yes - and Lutterworth, Leicester and Kettering are supplied from the same stock. See packaging services for every location with a page of its own.
Do you supply pallet consumables as well as boxes?
Yes - stretch and shrink film, strapping, layer pads, corner and edge protection and board tops, on the same delivery as the outers. See industrial packaging.