How Conagra Preps Workforce for AI-Enabled Operations
Conagra Brands, which manufactures Chef Boyardee, Orville Redenbacher’s, Birds Eye, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s and Slim Jim products, among others, has expanded its implementation of Microsoft's Copilot platform.
The company first launched its partnership with Microsoft last June to build in generative AI and intelligent automation capabilities that drive increased efficiencies and prioritize responsible AI use through a human-centered approach.
Since then, through an education-first lens, Conagra has helped its employees shape AI for various use cases across the company.
AI Applications
The company has layered AI onto its supply chain function to gain real-time insights into product availability and improve the accuracy of decision-making, resolving problems in minutes instead of days.
“Our systems are all talking to each other already. When you layer in AI, we can move faster and take action — allowing our sites to be more efficient, generating less waste and making better products for our consumers," Ale Eboli, EVP, chief supply chain and transformation officer, said in a Microsoft blog.
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The new tools have allowed Conagra to test assumptions and make decisions grounded in data, simplifying some of the complexity that naturally comes with merging insights from more than 30 manufacturing facilities and distribution and sourcing logistics for thousands of different products.
These use cases are supported by a foundation of proper governance, observability and responsible AI, according to the company. It has built a tool specifically to review risk factors, access and identity management.
An Everyday Tool
Conagra SVP and CIO Tracy Schaefer stated that value from AI is derived from leadership that frames it as a practical, everyday technology. For this reason, the company put heavy emphasis on education and training events to help employees more easily understand and harness AI-enabled tools.
This includes an event titled "AI + Data Day," which showcased real-world use-cases through peer-led, hands-on demonstrations. Additionally, Conagra hosted training sessions and hackathons in partnership with Microsoft, which led to new ideas for specific use cases around content creation and plant productivity.
So far, the company has 1,300 employees trained through the AI + Data Day events, and its goal is to prepare 15,000 employees for the level of AI appropriate to their roles.
“We were very clear in communicating that AI is a capability that helps our people work smarter and more efficiently,” said Schaefer in the blog.
“The ones who are going to win in AI, they aren't the ones with the best technology. They are going to be the ones with the best people,” added Schaefer. “We have proven through our change management efforts that we have a group of employees who are so enthusiastic about learning AI. That gives me confidence that we're going to be winners in this new era of AI.”
