Strengthening safety in 3PL co-packing operations 

In today’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) environment, contract packing has become a vital service in the supply chains of FMCG brands, including third-party logistics providers (3PLs) offering value-added services (VAS) such as co-packing. While speed, flexibility, and cost-efficiency are often top of mind for these 3PLs, an often-understated measure of excellence is safety – particularly in the form of traceability and recall readiness. 

For 3PLs that offer co-pack as a VAS, the rising demands from FMCG customers, coupled with stringent regulatory oversight and heightened public sensitivity around product recalls, are prompting a reassessment of traditional operational models. Paper-based tracking, fragmented systems, or reliance on spreadsheets are no longer adequate when it comes to ensuring robust traceability – a cornerstone of consumer safety and brand protection.

Why traceability is a safety issue, not just a compliance check box 

In the past, traceability was often regarded as a box-ticking exercise tied to regulatory compliance. Today, it has evolved into a critical safety function. When a product needs to be recalled, the speed and precision with which a 3PL can trace affected SKUs, identify the source of the issue, and isolate impacted lots can significantly reduce the scale of risk, both to consumers and to the brand customer. 

Without accurate, real-time visibility into materials, production runs, and labor on the shop floor, contract packers leave themselves and their customers vulnerable to risk. A single missed batch number, an undocumented quality control step, or a manual input error can trigger product quarantines, recalls, or worse – consumer harm. In this context, traceability isn’t just about tracking; it’s about enabling immediate action, and operational agility that puts safety at the forefront. 

The cost of inadequate recall readiness 

The financial implications of a recall are well understood, from direct logistics costs to reputational damage and lost business. But for co-pack operations within 3PL facilities, the risks can be more acute. 

These operations often manage multiple products, brands, and configurations simultaneously. A single facility may be switching between snack packs for one brand and seasonal gift boxes for another, and often within the same day. With such high variability, the margin for error increases, and so does the complexity of maintaining batch-level traceability. Moreover, FMCG brands are increasingly holding their supply chain partners accountable for recall readiness. A delay in response or gaps in traceability data can erode trust and jeopardize long-term contracts. 

Digitalization as a defensive and proactive strategy 

Digitalization offers a path forward. For value-added 3PLs, implementing software purpose-built for the unique needs of co-packing enables not only operational efficiency, but safety by design. Such specialized software provides granular, real-time visibility into every element of the packing process. From inventory through production and finished goods output, every step can be logged, time-stamped, and linked to specific work orders and customer SKUs. 

In contrast to disconnected ERP modules or general-purpose warehouse management tools, purpose-built co-pack software captures the nuances of these operations: short-run complexity, frequent changeovers, labor variability, and manual workflows. 

By embedding traceability at the process level, co-pack software reduces the chance of human error, automates compliance documentation, and enables instant retrieval of audit trails. 

This capability becomes invaluable when responding to potential safety incidents. Instead of sifting through paper logs or cross-referencing disparate systems, contract packers can access centralized digital records that show exactly what materials were used, when, and by whom – supporting both proactive quality assurance and reactive recall response. 

Operational benefits beyond compliance 

While safety and recall readiness are primary drivers, digitalization brings additional operational value to 3PLs. For example, integrated quality control checks can flag anomalies in real-time, reducing the risk of defective products reaching the shelf. Digital job tracking allows supervisors to pinpoint bottlenecks and optimize labor allocation, which is particularly crucial in labor-intensive co-packing environments. 

The experience of global logistics provider Kuehne+Nagel and its Netherlands facility illustrates this point. Relying on paper-based systems led to long traceability response times – taking hours instead of minutes – and frequent manual data entry errors. Real-time information became essential to manage complex workflows, improve reporting, and raise service quality. Their manual system could no longer meet the speed, accuracy, and complexity required. 

By investing in Nulogy’s co-pack software, Kuehne+Nagel gained real-time production visibility over its shop floor, enabling faster decision-making and better alignment with client expectations. The system’s granularity allowed them to manage multiple concurrent jobs while maintaining strict quality control and compliance. This improved responsiveness and service quality, while significantly enhancing traceability and recall readiness which is key to ensuring safety and trust in a demanding FMCG environment. Notably, they reduced time spent on order preparation, inventory tracking, and quality checks, cut response times to RFQs by 50 percent, and accelerated recall response times and data transparency by 50 percent. 

Digital safety is the new standard 

Brands are becoming increasingly risk-averse, and for good reason. The consequences of food or consumer product safety failures have never been more immediate or far-reaching, especially in an age of viral headlines and empowered consumers. As a result, siloed reporting or delayed visibility from 3PL partners is no longer acceptable. Seamless transparency, real-time traceability, and assurance that safety protocols are embedded into daily operations are now expected. 

For 3PLs, meeting these expectations is not only a matter of retaining business: it’s about building trust and long-term success. Third-party partners are strategically vital to maintaining a brand’s reputation, and digital traceability is becoming a competitive differentiator in an industry where safety incidents can have long-term commercial and reputational impacts. 

By investing in purpose-built technology that embeds traceability and safety into the core of their operations, 3PLs position themselves not only as efficient partners, but as trusted extensions of their clients’ brand promise. In the age of instant accountability, safety can no longer be reactive. It must be built into the very foundations of contract packaging, and digitalization is the key to making that possible.  

Josephine Coombe 

www.nulogy.com 

Josephine Coombe is Chief Commercial Officer, Nulogy – Europe. Nulogy is an award-winning provider of purpose-built solutions for external manufacturing supply chains. Its cloud-based multi-enterprise platform enables manufacturers and their external supply chain partners to respond seamlessly to a volatile retail and consumer environment, all while reducing waste, minimizing costs, and accelerating growth.The Nulogy platform powers hundreds of contract manufacturing, co-packing, third-party logistics, and raw material and packaging sites all around the world.