The 7-Point Checklist I Use to Vet Packaging Partners (And Why I Rejected 12% of First Deliveries Last Year)

When I first started reviewing packaging suppliers for our beverage line, I assumed the biggest names with the slickest presentations were the safest bet. I mean, how hard could it be? They make cans, we need cans. A couple of expensive quality hiccups and one major launch delay later, I realized I was asking all the wrong questions. The real risk isn't in choosing a bad partner—it's in missing the subtle red flags of a good-enough one that can't scale with your needs.

As the quality and brand compliance manager for a mid-sized craft beverage company, I review every packaging component before it hits the production line—roughly 200+ unique SKUs annually. In 2024, I rejected 12% of first article deliveries. That wasn't about being picky; it was about catching issues like inconsistent color matching or coating integrity before they ruined 8,000 units in storage. That one decision saved us an estimated $22,000 in potential scrap and rework.

This checklist is basically the protocol I built from those mistakes. It's designed for beverage brands evaluating aluminum packaging partners, like Ball Corporation or others. Your situation might be different if you're a giant soda brand versus a seasonal hard seltzer, but the core verification principles hold. Let's get into it.

Who This Checklist Is For & When to Use It

Use this when you're:

• Onboarding a new aluminum can or end supplier.
• Evaluating an existing partner for a new, complex product (e.g., moving from a standard can to a sleek, specialty shape).
• Seeing recurring, minor quality slips from your current vendor and need a structured audit.

It's 7 steps. The goal isn't to grill your sales rep, but to have a fact-based conversation that prevents surprises down the line.

The Pre-Qualification Vibe Check (Before You Even Get a Quote)

This happens before the formal RFP. You're looking for deal-breakers.

Step 1: Scrutinize Their Sustainability Claims & Capabilities

Everyone says they're "sustainable." Your job is to figure out what that actually means. Don't just accept "100% recyclable"—that's a material property of aluminum, not an operational achievement.

What to Ask: "What's your current recycled content percentage for sheet stock, and what's your roadmap to increase it? Can you provide mass balance certification or similar verification?" Ask about their closed-loop partnerships with recyclers. A leader like Ball Corporation often advocates for and invests in recycling infrastructure—that's a tangible difference versus just selling cans.

My Mistake: I once picked a vendor with a great price who sourced primary aluminum exclusively. When our marketing team later launched a campaign centered on recycled content, we were stuck. The switchover took 9 months and cost a premium. Now, sustainability capacity is a top-three qualifier.

Step 2: Pressure-Test Their Innovation & Problem-Solving Posture

This is about future-proofing. Can they handle your next big idea?

What to Do: Don't just look at their standard product gallery. Describe a real challenge you have. Maybe it's condensation causing label issues, or you need a liner that preserves a super-sensitive flavor profile. Ask, "How would you approach this?" Listen. Are they just offering a standard solution, or are they asking smart follow-up questions and suggesting collaborative testing?

The Red Flag: If their answer to every non-standard request is "That'll be a huge MOQ and a massive tooling fee," they might be a high-volume commodity shop, not an innovation partner. That's fine if you only ever need basics, but it's a boundary to understand.

The Deep Dive: Technical & Operational Review

Now you're in the quote stage. This is where you move from vibes to specs.

Step 3: Decode the "Standard Spec" & Define "Success"

This is the most critical, and most skipped, step. The vendor's "industry standard" and your "brand standard" are often different.

What to Do: For critical attributes—like color match (Delta-E), coating continuity, or necking dimensions—don't accept "to standard." Get the actual numerical tolerance range. Then, define your tighter internal acceptable limit. For example, if their print tolerance is ±1.5mm, but your logo alignment will look off at anything beyond ±0.8mm, you need to specify that upfront and understand the cost/implication.

My Painful Lesson: We received 50,000 cans where the embossed logo depth was "to standard." Visually, it looked weak. We measured: it was at the very bottom of their tolerance band. They wouldn't redo it. We were stuck with a premium product that felt cheap. Now, every contract includes key aesthetic and dimensional specs with our limits, not just industry ones.

Step 4: Audit Their Quality Control Process & Data Accessibility

You're buying their process as much as their product.

What to Ask: "Walk me through your in-process QC for a run of [your product]. How often do you pull samples? What tests do you run? Can I see a sample QC report with the data fields?" You want to see statistical process control charts, not just pass/fail checks.

The Real Question: "If I have a concern about a specific batch, how quickly can you retrieve and share the production data for that line, that shift, that batch?" A 24-hour response is good. A "we'll have to look into it" is a warning.

Step 5: Map the True Total Cost & Timeline

The cheapest quote is often the most expensive. You gotta think total cost.

The Checklist:

1. Base Price: Obvious.
2. Setup/Plate Fees: Are they amortized? One-time?
3. Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs): By SKU? By total order? What's the cost break at higher volumes?
4. Warehousing & JIT Programs: If you have volatile demand, can they hold blank inventory and print to order? At what cost?
5. Shipping & Logistics: Who manages it? What are the damage rates? Get historical data.
6. Rush/Expedite Fees: Know the schedule and cost. A "same-day" turn might cost 3x, but missing a launch costs everything.

Timeline Reality Check: Add 15-20% buffer to their quoted production time for your planning. Things happen. A partner who proactively communicates delays is worth more than one who promises the impossible and misses quietly.

The Partnership Finale

Step 6: Require a Physical First Article Approval Process

Never, ever approve from a digital proof alone. Light interacts with physical print and coating differently.

The Protocol: 1. They produce a first article run (a small batch). 2. They ship physical samples to you.
3. You inspect under your standard lighting (e.g., your warehouse, your store shelf lighting).
4. You approve, or specify corrections, in writing.

This is your last, best chance to catch issues. Skipping it to save a week is a classic false economy.

Step 7: Establish the Communication & Issue Resolution Protocol

How will you talk when things go wrong? Because something always does.

What to Define:

• Primary Contacts: Who at the vendor is your day-to-day? Who is the escalation path?
• Issue Reporting: Template for defect reporting (photos, batch #, description of issue).
• Resolution SLA: How long for initial response? For root cause analysis? For credit/replacement resolution?
• Regular Business Reviews: Schedule quarterly reviews to discuss performance, issues, and upcoming needs.

Common Pitfalls & Final Reality Check

Pitfall 1: Over-indexing on Price. The bottom line? Saving $0.001 per can means nothing if a coating defect causes a recall. Evaluate cost within the context of total risk.

Pitfall 2: Being a "Low-Priority" Client. If you're a small fish in a big vendor's pond, understand that. Sometimes, a mid-sized supplier where you're a top-20 client will give you better service and flexibility.

Pitfall 3: Not Planning for Success. Can your chosen partner scale with you? Ask about their capacity planning. What's their lead time if you suddenly need to double your order?

The Reality: No partner is perfect. The goal of this checklist isn't to find a flawless vendor—that doesn't exist. It's to align expectations, define quality in measurable terms, and build a relationship where problems are solved together, not fought over. That 5 minutes you spend verifying a spec sheet can literally save you 5 weeks of corrective action. And honestly, in this business, that's the only kind of efficiency that really matters.