In the search for cost-saving measures and optimization potentials, packaging variety plays an increasingly prominent role. On average, up to 15 percent of the costs of a product are influenced by its packaging. An internationally operating producer of garden tools commissioned THIMM Consulting to optimize and simultaneously to reduce its packaging assortment.

In fall of 2006 - six months into the project and after an intensive analysis of enormous amounts of data, the results of the assortment adjustment were presented to the company. The outcome is impressive: a reduction of varieties by more than 40 percent, significant savings in pallet space and use of material, and a great increase in productivity.

The amortization time for the entire project was less than 6 months.