Durban — The chief executive officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa of global enterprise resource planning software provider SYSPRO, Mark Wilson, says despite South Africa’s massive agricultural potential, it does not have enough local production to meet local demand, and therefore relies on importers to fill this gap.
He said local Food and Beverage (F&B) manufacturers and distributors are becoming increasingly important to reduce this shortage, which will not only ensure food security, but provide a much-needed economic boost in the country.
Wilson said the F&B industry required innovation and technological solutions to assist in finding new ways to unlock efficiencies and ensure that our F&B manufacturers can future-proof our food production.
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is shifting global trade patterns and increasing soft commodity prices, has continued to impact F&B manufacturers. While the price of grain has come down in recent weeks, fertiliser prices remain high, causing some farmers to use them sparingly as grain commodity prices show signs of contraction,” he said.
He said with shrinking profits, increasing raw material costs, consumers changing the product mix they buy, plus spending a smaller portion of their income on F&B products, companies needed to re-evaluate their business plans and use advanced data analytics to make informed decisions.
Wilson added that increasing efficiency through technology, F&B manufacturers could improve visibility and performance in their business, manage changing demand and recipes, while stabilising the industry.
“By utilising AI (Artificial Intelligence) alongside modern, cutting-edge technologies, we are able to take advantage of ML (Machine Learning), which mines big data constantly into one common language,” explains Wilson.
“This makes it possible to gather and process vast quantities of data from a range of sources. AI/ML seeks patterns of performance/meaning in the data, scrutinising the performance and other metrics of each of your organisation’s manufacturing lines, customers and suppliers to predict and identify the business processes that are working well, and those that may require intervention in order to avoid disruptions.”
Moreover, he said waste may always be a drain on food and beverage businesses — such is the current nature of a market dealing in many perishable and processed goods. He said waste comes from food trimming, poor planning, exceeding “safe” shelf life, perishing, and even late logistics/delivery.
Wilson said a purpose-built Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform could have a significant impact on reducing food waste by maintaining and tracking expiration dates in a fully digital database, and helping to guide a “first-expiry, first-out” (FEFO) picking method.
Now, more than ever, for F&B organisations to remain relevant, and thrive in the future, they needed to roll up their sleeves and tackle the digital transformation challenge head-on, so they can create real-world impact and take manufacturing and distribution -- with more appropriate and effective service delivery -- to the next level.
Daily News