AUTOMATION & PROCESS CONTROL


Digital collaboration is the way forward


Josephine Coombe, Chief Commercial Offi cer in Europe at Nulogy, explains how digitalisation can deliver on all fronts for outsourced confectionery production.


T


he confectionery sector continues to experience signifi cant shifts as consumer preferences and market dynamics evolve. The implementation of technologies such as cloud-based software, digital inventory management, smart labelling, and data


analytics can offer solutions to help the confectionery industry and its contract packing suppliers, adjust to changing demands in a timely fashion. Of course, quality control continues to be a high priority


for the sector and so brands looking increasingly to outsource their production will want to know that their products always meet exacting quality standards. Digital technology can provide reassurance and visibility with audit trails streamlining and enforcing quality control processes, helping save time, prevent errors and get products to market faster. By digitalising production lines and capturing real-time


data on order status, co-packers are better equipped to provide rapid reporting to their brand customers – a powerful enabler of trust that is central to strengthening long-term relationships. A digitalised shop fl oor can provide faster line performance insights by monitoring real-time production performance and tracking unexpected downtime, as well as being able to quickly compare expected costs with actual costs, without needing to manually compile information.


Enhanced traceability For every contractor working with brands in the confectionery sector, traceability is vital –- and digitalisation is central to providing this information quickly and effi ciently. Unlike manual quality control processes, a digital solution can fulfi l the real-time traceability requirements that brand customers will expect, by tracking the use of lot codes and expiry dates for each pallet produced and enabling comprehensive and


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rapid responses to customer audits and recalls. Digitalisation also has a role to play in inventory management,


helping create effi cient management of stock and the avoidance of waste. By having a good understanding of precisely what stock exists in real time across the business, or where it is within the supply chain, digitalisation enables better decision making and potential over-stocking and obsolete inventory or the expediting of rush deliveries become a thing of the past.


Increased effi ciency Through a digitalised shop fl oor, contract packers can also streamline production workfl ows, improve quality control processes, and accelerate throughput – characteristics which are highly sought by many confectionery brands seeking external supply chain partners. Contract suppliers who still rely on legacy systems,


spreadsheets and old-style trading of phone calls and emails are quickly becoming shackled by the limitations of their manual processes and are failing to provide the levels of support and innovation that are needed today. Cloud-based collaborative platforms unleash the potential for added profi tability by shining a light into the ‘black box’ of the external manufacturing and packing network, enabling a much more responsive operating model. Confectionery brands who rely on external manufacturing


will benefi t from collaboration and synchronisation of activity across the external supply chain. Not only are suppliers leveraging digitalisation to optimise shop fl oor production today, but brands too are also leveraging digitalisation in the form of supplier collaboration solutions to allow them to work more closely with their partners. The external supply chain is now evolving into a digitalised ecosystem – where cloud-based technologies are helping to accelerate interaction and market responsiveness.


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