Frozen Corn Manufacturing and Its Supply Chain: Case Study Using SAP–LAP Approach

Abstract

Supply chain performance concerns with overall coordination and management of all the business associates involved in the chain. All the associates share a common platform for achieving smooth business practices. The temperature control supply chain becomes more and more crucial for fresh and processed food. The major reason is that different products require different type of supply chain management (SCM). The task is to manage SCM of shorter shelf life and different type of temperature control requirement. Fresh fruits and vegetables require plus 8° temperature and frozen fruits and vegetables require minus 12–18° temperature. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze a case study of manufacturing process and supply chain of frozen corn for A1company (Name of company is disguised) and to look into its status of supply chain performance. A1 is a leading processed food manufacturer and marketer in India. A case study method is selected to study processed food sector’s supply chain performance in terms of frozen corn manufacturing and its supply chain. A situation-actor-process (SAP), learning-action-performance (LAP) model has been applied to analyze the case study on A1. The situation is showing a present scenario of the organization. Actors are the SCM participants. They are influencing the situation to evolve different business processes. The various learning issues have been analyzed. The suitable actions are followed by the impact of SAP on the performance of A1’s SCM. The individual quick freezing is a unique manufacturing technique. It is used to convert fresh vegetable and fruit into frozen. It is helping A1 to maintain consistent quality of agri product like corn in its frozen form. It is crucial to maintain cold chain during manufacturing, at the storage time, transporting to distributors and at retail. It is crucial to make consumers aware about storage of frozen vegetables in deep freezer of their refrigerator. The SAP–LAP model is used to describe the soft and hard issues of frozen corn manufacturing and its SCM coordination in a managerial context with reference to a dynamic SAP–LAP model as applied to the A1. The SAP–LAP model presents the situation of frozen corn manufacturing and cold supply chain of frozen corn. The exercise is to identify the gaps in cold supply chain management. The synthesis of SAP leads to LAP. It bridges the gap of flexibility in suggesting improvement actions or the learning from the present situation, actors and processes. This is a unique approach to analyze quantitative and qualitative issues of supply chain performance initiatives in a single model and its impact on the performance of the supply chain.