The challenges of PPCP in the Food Industry and their solutions

That the food and beverages industry is booming is nothing new. Its turnover grew by 12.8% and 16.9% in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The sector's good figures in 2021 represented 10.6% of the national GDP, with R$766.3 billion coming from the food industry. The number of jobs has also increased in recent years. In 2021 alone, 21,000 new jobs were opened to meet the growth in demand (Sources: ABIA - Brazilian Food Industry Association). This increase is also accompanied by increasingly fierce competition and the need to diversify products to meet dietary restrictions and more demanding palates.

But it's not all flowers in this scenario. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it extreme changes in the scenario that have required even the most planned and visionary companies to act quickly in the face of adversity. The increase in the spread and fraction of demand, the decrease in the portfolio and the visibility of demand were just some of the impacts suffered by industries in various sectors, including the Food Industry. Add this to the diversification of products, taking into account flavors, formats and dietary restrictions (which considerably increase setup times), storage problems and costs, and unless your industry has a good factory Planning and Scheduling process, chaos is bound to ensue.

The Food Industry's main challenges have been highlighted by the pandemic situation. Variability in the supply chain, from supply to demand, has made inventory management even more critical in order to avoid overstocking and stock-outs, just as production management must be even more responsive in order to meet unexpected changes in a timely manner. Perishability (shelf life), storage restrictions for volatile stocks, as well as setup and balancing problems resulting from the increase in SKUs in the modern market are just some of the challenges facing this industry in terms of production planning and scheduling.

The positive side of all this? All these problems can be solved! With the right tools and advice, it is possible to reduce stocks in a healthy and agile way, increase productivity by grouping similar production orders together, reduce stock-outs by identifying them in advance and gain agility exponentially. Not to mention the reduction in setup times, which are traditionally lengthy and complex in this sector.

Production Planning and Scheduling software such as Siemens Opcenter APS can help even the most complex food industries overcome these challenges. We've already told you how Dauper revolutionized its results with the use of Opcenter APS and NEO's consultancy. It's worth taking a look and discovering how a month's planning can be done in just 10 minutes. How Dauper transformed itself and generated results with Preactor.

Want to know more about NEO's work in the food industry? Visit our dedicated page.