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The IPM Method:
Step 1 — Discover & Plan

Clarity That Protects ROI

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The Value of Discovery & Planning

Every packaging automation project begins with listening. In Discovery & Planning, IPM works closely with your team to identify facility constraints, automation goals, and growth objectives. These sessions are not about checking boxes. They are about building trust and clarity together.

By asking the right questions and exploring options through an OEM-neutral lens, IPM helps you weigh trade-offs and make informed decisions. The process is collaborative, with your operational realities and long-term objectives at the center.

Through disciplined scope freeze, we lock alignment early. This conserves resources, prevents ambiguity, and positions your project for reliable, uptime-driven performance.

Discovery Sessions to Assess Constraints and Set Goals

Every project begins with alignment. In this phase, IPM partners with your engineering, operations, and leadership teams to confirm opportunities and primary constraints. Structured discovery meetings establish a clear picture of your facility, from floor space and utilities to operational bottlenecks, ensuring that nothing is left to chance.

Together, we define automation aspirations and line control goals with precision and clarity. Uptime expectations, control requirements, and scalability targets are clarified early, establishing benchmarks that guide every design decision.

With an OEM-neutral lens, IPM evaluates every option based on performance, not preference. This collaborative alignment reduces uncertainty, accelerates decision-making, and ensures your project roadmap is engineered for uptime from day one

Key Milestones in
Discovery and Planning

IPM turns discovery into a structured roadmap.
Each milestone builds clarity, reduces risk, and locks the project onto a clear path forward:

Discovery
Meetings

Engage stakeholders to confirm opportunities and primary constraints.

Automation & Line Control Goals

Define uptime expectations and automation aspirations.

Preliminary
Deliverables

Draft preliminary layouts, budgets, schedules, and risk assessments.

Scope Freeze

Mutually lock success criteria to conserve capital and eliminate ambiguity.

Formal Proposal

Present the optimal OEM-neutral solution, costs, and project timeline.

Purchase Order

Secure the project path with purchase order acceptance.

Budgets and Risk Assessments
That Build Confidence 

Once discovery is complete, IPM works with your team to turn insights into actionable outputs. Together, we develop the tools that guide confident capital planning and reduce project risk.

Preliminary layouts show how the packaging line will fit within your facility and align with product flow. Draft budgets and schedules establish financial clarity and set realistic timelines. Risk assessments identify potential constraints, prioritize mitigation strategies, and confirm feasibility before execution begins.

By collaborating on these deliverables, IPM creates a shared foundation for success. Every decision is grounded in facts, aligned with your goals, and positioned to move efficiently toward scope freeze

Scope Freeze That
Secures Alignment

Scope freeze is a pivotal milestone in packaging project planning. It is the disciplined checkpoint where IPM and your team confirm alignment on the problem, the solution, and the measures of success.

By locking scope early, capital is conserved, ambiguity is eliminated, and costly scope creep is prevented. With success criteria agreed upon, every decision moving forward is made with precision and discipline.

This stage gives you confidence that resources are protected and the project is positioned for rapid ROI. Scope freeze ensures every step ahead is taken with clarity and discipline

Proposals That Validate the
Right Path Forward

Every proposal is developed with a good-better-best perspective. Options are presented with the same care and discipline we would apply if the investment were our own. By viewing solutions through your eyes, IPM ensures that resources are allocated wisely and that each path forward reflects both performance and commercial outcomes.

Once the proposal is accepted, your purchase order secures the path into Design & Engineering. At this point, every element of the project is authorized and ready to move forward with certainty, ensuring a seamless transition from planning to execution.

From Discovery & Planning to
Design & Engineering

The clarity achieved in Discovery & Planning does more than protect resources. It builds momentum. With scope frozen and a validated proposal in place, your project moves into Design & Engineering fully prepared for execution.

Connect with an IPM Expert

Connect with IPM

Name(Required)

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