Smart Planning Helps You Keep Your Cool
It’s summer, temperatures are soaring, and many of us are looking for a way to beat the heat. If you have a sweet tooth, then you may be one of the many worldwide who turn to the cold sweet snack we love in the hot weather—ice cream! So many enjoy it, that approximately 15 billion liters (33.06 billion pounds) of ice cream are consumed worldwide each year.
No meltdowns over ice cream production
World records aside, there is a lot of planning and production that needs to take place before that frozen dessert makes it to us. From ice cream producers managing their supply to forecasting and addressing changing trends, questions like what and when to produce need answers.
A main challenge is to avoid excessive inventory while maintaining enough stock for warm weather and not wait for summer to begin to make ice cream. It starts with planning and building inventory at the end of the year by implementing reliable demand forecasts plus sound inventory and production management. Manufacturers also need to be flexible with their initial plan to meet demands accordingly, and monitor the effect of these changes on the supply chain.
Synchronize inventory management with ice cream production processes
Frozen foods operations in the ice cream industry benefit from warehouse management systems to reduce movement in freezers to maintain temperature, gain complete inventory visibility, monitor workflow, and manage returns, receiving, and picking. In a cold storage environment, energy and workflow efficiency is key to minimizing product loss. Warehouse management systems (WMS) allow supervisors a complete view of operations and machines, ensuring that processes run smoothly to meet both cold chain regulations and customer expectations. This enables management to future-proof supply chain operations, maximize supply chain efficiency and agility while finding smarter, faster ways to optimize costs.
Plan for one of the hottest seasons and don’t sweat it
The planning and optimization of the inventory build-up starts typically 6 months in advance. This ensures that the relevant products are available in the correct quantities during the peak season. If there is visibility of every aspect of the supply chain, adjustments can be made immediately. Through strategic planning, decision-making capabilities are based on demand, capacity, and performance history, and with the help of this reliable and accurate data, are significantly improved.
Deliver an efficient supply chain promise
The ice cream supply chain typically starts with production followed by transport in a refrigerated truck. Before loading, the trucks are cooled to ensure the ice cream remains in compliance with guidelines. Ice cream is then typically shipped by the refrigerated transport truck and arrives at a storage location such as a retailer distribution center. It is then kept in a freezer section of the facility and from there, store orders are assembled and shipped to retail stores.
In fact, some might say that distribution has been reinvented with the advances in technology, which proves to be incredibly beneficial when faced with unprecedented disruptions. DELMIA Supply Chain Planning and Optimization (SCPO) empowers the ice cream industry with reality-based planning and optimization for this kind of complex business processes–from the supply chain, logistics, and various workforce operations. Overall, ice cream production includes adpating and driving more sustainable operations for everyone. For ice-cream producers, it’s a balancing act between order fulfillmen, inventory, production, and the supply chain while trying to improve operational efficiency by being more environmentally friendly. For us ice cream eaters, it’s simply a matter of taste: with our without toppings?
DELMIA digital marketing expert, editor of the DELMIA blog, and a strategic marketer with a background in the manufacturing industry.