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Everyone consumes food and beverages—but few know the challenges facing manufacturers and distributors of what we consume. The already demanding business of transforming and handling agricultural products is getting more complex. Beyond shifting consumer tastes and trends, retail and food-service customers are asking suppliers to do more. Recent food contamination episodes have reinforced the need for good manufacturing practices and handling processes, and also raise the specter of further regulations. The three top issues facing manufacturers and distributors of food and beverage products are:
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Offering appealing and fresh products, even as trends shift based on new research or popular notions about what is fresh, healthy, interesting, and convenient
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Complying with new FDA and USDA regulations to ensure products are safe, meet allergy labelling requirements, and adhere to hazard control points and the Bioterrorism Act
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Delivering total solutions to customers, including special packaging, complementary products, timely delivery, and services that vary for every channel and every major retail or food-service customer
Food and beverage companies must employ fresh business practices to profitably meet the challenges these issues present. Processes and systems must keep up with customer and consumer demands as well as new regulations. Piecemeal or manual systems will no longer allow companies to continue to compete successfully.
Global demand for food and beverages is still growing, which means sales growth and profits are strong enough to support capital investment in new technologies.
In order to thrive in this new economy, you need technology solutions to monitor operating performance, flag when projects are delayed or costs are overrun, and analyze profitability.
The right technology can help you:
- Adapt to rapidly changing consumer demand
- Meet regulatory compliance requirements
- Ensure product quality and repeatable processes
Enterprise resource planning solutions integrate nearly all aspects of operations, from harvesting to processing to distribution, and provide detailed business analytics to make timely decisions. |
