Looking Over Your Shoulder
We’ve all had it. That feeling of getting ahead in your business strategy just far enough only to stop and think – what’s everybody else doing?
It’s not a great place to be in. We’re taught to innovate and keep our eyes straight-ahead, focusing on our own work. But imagine how invaluable it would be to know what all the other food and beverage manufacturers are thinking, specifically how the best of the best operate.
How Leaders Get it Done
A recent study from The Aberdeen Group gives an inside look into what true leaders in the food and beverage industry focus on to achieve operational excellence. It’s centered on three key areas to achieve business success – production efficiency, product quality and safety and sustainability costs. Among the 170 food and beverage manufacturers surveyed, there were multiple key findings:
- Leaders in the food and beverage industry reported a 20% higher Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), 47% fewer delayed shipments as a result of quality issues, and 5% reduction in waste to landfill.
- Followers experienced an increase in energy consumption and zero change to wastewater costs, while leaders saw double digit improvements.
The gaps between the leaders and followers are pretty impressive—creating an opportunity to learn what the leaders are doing to stay ahead. What are the key factors that drive operational excellence? Download the full report here to discover more examples of the four key performance criteria to distinguish leaders from followers.
Download the ReportHow They Do It
Executives in the food and beverage industry are generally managing enterprises that are asset-intensive, at the mercy of global commodity market and face both low margins and high demand visibility. Given these industry characteristics, companies must find new ways to achieve operational excellence.
A key finding in the study distinguishing leaders from followers has to do with decision making.
The Aberdeen Group found that not only are followers less efficient and less likely to meet delivery targets, but they also take almost a full day to respond to shipments with quality issues. This greatly limits their ability to minimize disruption and identify a root cause. Without the ability to track and trace shipments quickly, the risk and impact of recalls can be substantial.
According to the study, leaders are also 48% more likely to use analysis to improve operator productivity. By monitoring the data they can assign operators to complete tasks in real time as changes occur within their operations. This has a real impact on production efficiency.
Become a Leader
The report concludes with seven strategies to execute on your quest to leadership. The first step is to improve the flow of manufacturing data across the enterprise to increase visibility and optimize performance.
The bottom line is that the leaders surveyed are employing operational excellence initiatives with modern technology solutions. They’re digitizing their production processes to turn information into actionable insight—combining people, process and technology to move the operational excellence needle in the right direction.
In order to get there, however, it takes time and discussion. At our solution-focused annual user group, PIB 2016, we spotlight challenges and host breakout sessions to inspire conversation. The event includes success stories and presentations from a wide array of industries including manufacturing, food and beverage and many more.
Check out our operational excellence track of the PIB 2016 agenda today.
Learn More about PIB 2016
