The high-level issues facing food and beverage manufacturers today might feel like the same challenges the industry has been dealing with for years, but the context in which these challenges exist have changed dramatically.

In some cases, technology is driving the change; in other cases, technology offers the solution.

In this changing environment, successfully managing growth and profitability depend on how well food and beverage manufacturers can evolve while embracing modern technology.

1. Innovation and transparency

The ease of consumer access to a plethora of information, reviews, and opinions of products and their direct competitors has forever altered the competitive landscape. Similarly, consumers are going online to seek a greater amount of detail about products—beyond just ingredients and nutritional value—they
want to know , its country of origin, and its environmental effect.
Consumers are continually looking for new products to try, in greater varieties, along with healthier and better-tasting foods.

Major retailers have responded to these demands by requiring food and beverage manufacturers to make sweeping changes to their products, such as more humane treatment of livestock, greater sustainable food sources, and minimizing environmental impact.

To make these types of adjustments to their product lines, food and beverage manufacturers must make many changes, including transforming the tools they use to provide information. Whether this information is made available via mobile-friendly websites or smart labels, the big amount of data that must be collected  and managed is far greater than in the past.

A market-savvy company will use modern tools, such as digital marketing and social media, to keep both customers and consumers engaged and build brand loyalty.

2. Quality and compliance

The constant push to innovate adds additional pressure to already complex compliance issues. New varieties, flavors, ingredients, and package sizes are just some of the many ways in which manufacturers can innovate in order to explore niche opportunities in an environment where differentiation is key to success. The resulting proliferation in SKUs creates even greater labelling complexity—a new list of items means a new list of potential errors. It is the continuously changing
landscape of quality and compliance.

Customers, consumers, and regulators all expect food and beverage manufacturers to take a more proactive and responsive approach to quality and recall management. Few industries deal with regulations as complex as those of the food and beverage industry. Requirements are rigorous and the risks associated with failure are high. Manualprocesses are too slow, cumbersome, and error-prone to keep up with the pace of change.

Utilizing automated technology to help manage quality and compliance processes is an essential ingredient of the successful growth and profitability of food and beverage manufacturers.

3. Margin pressures

Increasingly complex regulations and the resulting compliance-related costs can cut into profit margins that are already tight from fierce competitive pressures. Barriers to entry in the food and beverage industry have remained low, so new manufacturers are regularly entering the marketplace. Whether rivals emerge due to increasing globalization or by capitalizing on some other market factor, they are contributing to product proliferation and driving down operating margins in
many product categories.

Margin pressure is nothing new to food and beverage manufacturers. Unexpected changes in seasonal supply or pricing can wreak havoc on a food and beverage
manufacturer’s bottom line.

Companies that use robust planning and forecasting tools in concert with end-to-end supply chain visibility hold the key to protecting both customer loyalty and profits.

4. Channel progression

Maintaining customer loyalty and profits can also be influenced by how food and beverage manufacturers products are sold. Like many industries, food and beverage is impacted by the proliferation of e-commerce channels. Consumers are already embracing home delivery of groceries (such as with Amazon Fresh or FreshDirect™), as well as ordering groceries online and then physically picking them up from their local grocery store.

Food and beverage manufacturers need to plan for how these evolving channels will impact business.

Many manufacturers will look to build closer relationships with their retail and distribution partners, while other manufacturers might even offer their own e-commerce channel.

5. Dynamic workforce

Embracing online channels and offering greater transparency are smart choices to make for food and beverage manufacturers. Modern consumers expect modern shopping experiences. But it’s not just consumers who seek this level of engagement. Today’s workforce also have the same expectations from the companies they work for. They want user-friendly solutions, embedded analytics, mobile access, and artificial intelligence that can enable them to work in the ways they want to work and help them be more effective at their jobs.

By ensuring that employees have access to the right tools they need to do their job, food and beverage manufacturers are also ensuring that their employees are in the best position to provide the best service to their customers.

Leading food and beverage manufacturers recognize they can maximize employee productivity by creating a digital work environment in line with modern employee expectations.

Transformative technology

For food and beverage manufacturers, technology can be friend or foe. ERP systems that were implemented years (and often decades) ago can no longer support the complex demands of this industry. Keeping current isn’t just smart—it’s profitable. From cloud computing and collaborative technologies to mobility and analytics, technology holds the key to competitive advantage and growth.

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Published On: septiembre 6th, 2021 / Categories: Blog / Tags: , , /

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