Abstract

This paper investigates the topics of data, sustainability, and production planning and control in food supply chains from the perspective of industrial food producers. To stay competitive in an industry with low profit margins, strong competition, and sustainability concerns, food producers need new solutions. The capture, digitization, and use of producer and downstream supply chain data enable opportunities for using data in new ways to address the existing challenges. This study proposes some principles for sustainable, data-driven production planning and control (PPC) such as capturing real-time data and tacit knowledge for use in PPC. It then investigates how these principles can impact the sustainability for food producers and the overall supply chain, by giving benefits such as reduced food waste, lower inventory levels, and reduced planning time and effort. Future research topics should address topics such as data availability, use of data in PPC, potential value of data, sustainability trade-offs, and the applications of digital technology in PPC.

Highlights

  • Previous studies have highlighted a need to increase sustainability and reduce food waste in food supply chains [1, 2], and companies need to investigate novel ways of increasing sustainability

  • A major contributor to food waste is an imbalance in supply and demand [3, 4], where for instance unsold inventories of perishable products produced in advance of customer orders are scrapped in large amounts in all stages of the supply chain [5]

  • Through the illustrative example of a food producer, we highlight current practices and challenges to show the industry need and desire for datadriven production planning and control (PPC). These are used in the following chapter to develop a set of principles for sustainable, data-driven PPC by considering the challenges of current food PPC, what different types of data are useful to PPC, what new data and technology are available, and how the data should be used within existing or new processes

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Previous studies have highlighted a need to increase sustainability and reduce food waste in food supply chains [1, 2], and companies need to investigate novel ways of increasing sustainability. Data and information sharing in supply chains has long been widely heralded for the potential to better match supply and demand [6-8]– leading many companies to invest heavily in information technologies to manage data and information [9, 10]. Advanced concepts and models for supply chain collaboration and information sharing have been developed, such as efficient consumer response, and collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment [11, 12]. After over 30 years of research and development, few companies share information and proliferation of both technologies and models for supply chain information sharing remains limited [13, 14]. The rise of digital technologies has a potential to transform the way data is used, both to improve current operations and innovate how processes in supply chains are carried out [15, 16]

Objectives
Methods
Findings
Conclusion

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.