Blount Fine Foods Reinforces Supply Chain Strategy With Unified Approach
Fresh-prepared food company Blount Fine Foods is optimizing its supply chain operations across its seven distribution centers and manufacturing facilities.
The family-owned and -operated manufacturer — which produces soup and entree brands such as Panera Bread, Legal Sea Foods, Blount’s Family Kitchen, and Blount’s Clam Shack — is working with Relex Solutions to consolidate systems and create new efficiencies.
Blount was encountering challenges due to a fragmented planning process that relied on manual efforts like spreadsheets. This led to visibility issues surrounding the company’s complex, automation-heavy manufacturing network. As a result, it looked to implement a unified system for demand and supply chain planning.
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Unified Supply Chain Benefits
Jonathan Wells, senior director of demand management at Blount Fine Foods, said in a statement that the investment has provided the company with long-term planning capabilities. The company can now see how changes to sales forecasting or manufacturing capacity availability impact potential service levels so it can strategize in advance.
“This has allowed us to make better decisions and explore alternate paths while linking all of our constraints within our manufacturing and supply chain ecosystem together to realize the true impact of a decision throughout the process,” he said in the statement.
According to its tech partner, the implementation has led to a:
- 5% annual increase in production pounds due to streamlined operations and increased output
- 35% reduction in finished goods waste, which has resulted in cost savings and sustainability benefits
- 2% improvement in production efficiency due to improved visibility
- 50% reduction in forecast error over two years due to improved demand planning accuracy
