No vertical market appears to be immune to the hardships and challenges resulting from the unprecedented uncertainty and volatility of today’s geopolitical strife, climate disasters, and global pandemics. Which makes it even that much more challenging for organizations to try to meet consumer preferences and requirements that are always changing.

All of this uncertainty underscores the importance for organizations to focus on optimizing all facets of their supply chain costs—including cost-to-source, cost-to-procure, cost-to-manufacture, logistics, and handing. Supply chain optimization must also factor in the direct labor that drives supply chain activities in manufacturing, distribution, and retail. Total cost has never been more critical to understand and control—regardless of an organization’s industry or sector.

Many wholesale distributors tend to view warehouse operations as a cost center due to labor, equipment, physical inventory, and real estate investments. However, with business models rapidly changing through e-commerce, omni-channel engagement, and innovative services, warehouse operations that are re-imagined through investments in technology can empower a company to gain a competitive advantage. Streamlining and automating processes across the warehouse improve customer and employee experiences and inspire customer loyalty.

A recent article featured in Forbes highlighted survey-based research on practice, priority, and expectation trends of warehouse executives. Respondents chose a warehouse management system (WMS) as their highest priority for technology investment with 96 percent of survey participants noting that the warehouse automation value proposition was expected to increase over the next 3 years. Survey findings indicated that operational changes like labor costs, labor shortages, and increased throughput requirements were all primary factors for companies looking to automation.

Manufacturers in the food and beverage industry are increasingly turning to mergers and acquisitions to keep pace with consumer demands. In an era where speed is critical, many companies seem to find it to be faster and easier to form a partnership or make an acquisition, rather than invest in R&D or develop their own new products and brands from the ground-up.

The factors driving the trend

As economic recovery gains momentum and fuels a robust growth period in the food and beverage industry, expansion hungry manufacturers are eager to take advantage of new trends and the growing consumer obsession with the quality of the food they eat. Healthy snacks, plant proteins, clean labels, exotic taste experiences, neuro-nutrition, and socially mindful companies are all top-of-mind topics for today’s shoppers, especially millennials. Consumers now prioritize locally grown foods, sustainable farming, and organic and non-GMO foods, and are quite willing to read labels and research the origins of their meals, whether it be prepared in a four-star vegan restaurant or picked off the shelf of a corner convenience mart.

Food and beverage manufacturers rely on their R&D and marketing departments to develop new product ideas that capture market share before the competition can catch up. These departments leverage information available in their business systems to help them analyze trends ranging from buying patterns to cost fluctuations. The trouble is, when R&D and marketing rely on business systems that exist in silos— as is often the case with today’s food and beverage manufacturers opportunities are missed, product development is too slow, and costs creep higher. But when a manufacturer understands that every part of the organization has a stake in the product innovation process, and ensures that all the parts are connected, the organization is better positioned to deliver successful, innovative products quickly.

This white paper discusses a number of considerations that food and beverage manufacturers should make when examining ways to accelerate product innovation. This paper also details how digital technology can be the enabler of this acceleration.

The first place most organizations will go for answers to the remote work dilemma is into the arms of technology vendors. They will make the assumption that a new tool, or the enhancement of a current one will be the key to maintaining a productive workforce despite the continued existence of physical distance. After all, Zoom (arguably the most infamous beneficiary of the pandemic) went from 10 million daily users in December 2019 to more than 300 million in April 2020. In reality, there are sequential steps to take well before any new technology is introduced to the equation.

The culture question

The first step is more introspective, as organizations would benefit from a candid evaluation of their culture that may or may not be a strong foundation for a remote work environment. A dispersed workforce presents unique challenges that will quickly test the foundation of trust between employee and employer. Ryan Malone, founder of digital marketing agency SmartBugMedia finds this counterintuitive. "You've invested all of this time in vetting them," says Malone. "Why would you now say I don't trust you, because I'm not staring at you?” Would your organization be able to quickly adapt to this new degree of independence and autonomy, or would there be a temptation to revert to surveillance tactics to validate effort?

Fortunately, evaluations of the planning landscape reveal many organizations are adopting technologies that move towards a de-siloed, network-based approach to planning. For these companies, the primary goal centers around connecting planning capabilities to “a single version of the truth.” To optimize planning capabilities, it crucial to achieve this connection at the enterprise level as well as into the broader supply network.

But to do this involves using integrated business planning (IBP) or sales and operations planning (S&OP) to collaborate and analyze, perform demand planning to improve forecasting, optimize supply planning, and facilitate synchronization. Each of these areas are critical to a successful planning process and are more powerful when integrated and connected across a network.

I recently posted on LinkedIn to ask my colleagues for advice on how to manage my exploding workload. According to the latest Mental Health Index: U.S. Worker Edition from Total Brain, between November and December there was a 48% increase in the risk of depression—a risk level not seen since this past spring. Further, employees’ focus dropped 62%—a record low since the inception of the research in February 2020. While remote working has its benefits, most of us would argue that we need to make some significant changes for this style of working to be sustainable. Below are a few of the suggestions and ideas from professionals that commented on the post.

Introduction

No food and beverage (F&B) company can afford unscheduled downtime. F&B is an industry pressured by outside forces such as consumer tastes and commodity pricing. But what is within control are the operations that get product to consumers. One big way to optimize production is to slash downtime to deliver tens of thousands of dollars back to the bottom line. In this e-book we provide tips on harnessing IoT, data-driven enterprise asset management (EAM), and smart technologies to strike a careful balance between lean efficiency and maximized uptime.

The beverage industry is under constant pressure to change. Sugary drinks, like sodas, have come under increasing consumer scrutiny. Meanwhile, from beer to juices to energy drinks to carbonated beverages, you’re fighting for the consumers’ fleeting attention, which affects how you provide a more diversified product range.

With Infor® Food & Beverage for the beverage industry you get a foundation for greater agility in dealing with fluctuations in ingredients, production capacity, and shipping. Whether you chose to deploy in the cloud, on premise, or as a hybrid of both, Infor Food & Beverage for the beverage manufacturing industry gives you the tools you need to manage all of the challenges your beverage business faces.