I'm kicking myself a little bit right now because I'm realizing I made a pretty basic mistake a couple years ago when I set up my packaging system. I run a small operation in Ajman and when I first started I just picked boxes and materials based on what was cheap and available, not thinking about how those choices would affect anything else. Now I'm starting to look into adding some simple automation to speed things up, and I'm realizing that my mishmash of box sizes and inconsistent materials is going to make that really difficult. I was reading something at khaleejarab.com/warehousing-automation-packaging-choices that made me realize how connected packaging and automation really are if your boxes aren't consistent, automated sealers and labelers just won't work reliably. I'm probably going to have to go back and standardize everything before I can even think about adding machines, which means more upfront cost and more work than if I'd just done it right from the beginning. I guess I'm posting this partly as a warning for anyone else who's just starting out think about where you might want to be in a few years before you lock in your packaging choices. For those who've been through this, did you end up having to redo your packaging setup when you decided to automate, or did you find a way to work with what you already had? Would love to hear how others navigated this.