Introduction
In the food industry, the supply chain must run like clockwork to ensure profitability and safety. However, even if one of the links in the food supply chain, like the packaging plant, is not putting in peak performance, the whole system collapses, and every other link in the chain is adversely affected, leading to losses and customer dissatisfaction. To mitigate any chinks in the food supply chain, Advanced technology has come to the rescue of food manufacturers to build innovative and efficient end-to-end operations to ensure smooth delivery to end customers. Let’s discuss more insights on how supply chain technologies are transforming the food industry and taking it to new heights.
Top Supply Chain technological solutions to assist the Food Industry
- Use software as a service (SaaS) built on a cloud-based platform
Contrary to on-premises, cloud-based solutions provide better advantages, including grand features, an ability to connect with other platforms, a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), data security, etc.
For food supply chain operations, the best logistics solutions include warehouse management software (WMS), transportation management software (TMS), and asset management software (AMS), along with real-time demand planning, visibility, and inventory management. These benefits, using SaaS can assist food businesses in reducing logistics costs and focusing more on production, thereby maintaining competitive prices that lead to higher revenues. Ex: The data of quickly perishable food items like fresh milk, seafood, or other product ingredients will be recorded on a regular basis so that they can handle honestly before becoming stale.
- Go for a cold chain management solution
Cold Chain Solutions for the food industry
Cold Chain Solutions for the food industry
As per the CEL consulting report, Vietnam’s agriculture sector loses around 8.8 million tons of food every year, which costs about US$3.9 billion, due to a lack of effective transportation management. Also, the report states that only around 14% of suppliers adopt cold chain management solutions, which was very effective. Therefore, food companies must invest in temperature regulating systems for their food products to minimize damage. However, investing in technology to store and monitor cold goods for each shipment will cost a lot. Therefore, leaders may plan to spend a portion of the cost collaborating with third-party logistics providers. The cutting-edge temperature screening technologies of these third-party firms can later be integrated and operated on a cloud platform, reducing the overall cost.
- Utilize solutions to boost visibility
Supply Chain Visibility
Regardless of how food companies manage the cold supply chain, loss in transportation and damage to goods are always possible, especially under unavoidable circumstances like pandemics or border policy issues. At this juncture, the elaborate process of retrieving damaged goods can be challenging for the food industry. Similarly, reconciling receipts, purchase invoices, and related documents can also cause delays when they are not digitally done in the first place.
A better and more practical solution to these issues is the use of Supply Chain Visibility Solutions. These solutions will optimize the food supply chain by managing vehicles in real-time, creating digital documents, and providing reports on logistical tasks. As a result, food companies can save thousands of hours every year due to conventional working methods. In addition, the real-time visibility will also remove fraud in the books or costing errors incurred in logistics activities.
Use Case of Supply chain Technology for the Food Industry
- IBM Food Trust
IBM Food Trust is among the largest networks for customized food solutions in the world, developed to eliminate supply chain inefficiencies, avoid food wastage, strengthen branding, increase food safety, and drive growth. Food companies can select from a plethora of models based on their requirements. The Trace solution endorses real-time traceability, better management, and food safety. The Documents module enhances information movement along the food supply chain, and the Insights module offers deep insights into analytics and efficiencies.
- Connecting Food
Connecting Food company builds digital transparency solutions to develop customers and improve food quality throughout the industry. The company’s platform is powered by blockchain technology LiveAudit. It is a fully digitalized audit module that validates product information prior to publishing in a web app for customers. The salient feature of LiveAudit is its ability to verify every specification related to a raw, semi-finished, or finished product in real-time rather than just ad-hoc or batch-by-batch basis.
Conclusion
Investing in supply chain technology will help reduce expenses and process time for food businesses, enable companies to reach new consumers and increase profits by market capture, or scale-up manufacturing with less labor.
