Food and beverage companies are failing to optimise profits and customer service because of gaps in supply chain management, research shows.
The survey, conducted by Enterprise Economics on behalf of Lawson Software, compares working practices and processes at more than 200 leading food and drink companies around the world, including the UK and Europe.
It found many companies routinely cope with excess inventory in their supply chain and empty shop shelves because of the continued use of spreadsheets or paper-based methods for sales, production and purchasing planning.
This can lead to lower sales and affect bottom-line performance for both the retailer and the food and beverage manufacturer.
However, Europe led the way in using technology for planning and forecasting to improve supply chain management, with only 1 out of 100 companies still using paper-based methods.
But while it is leading the way in the use of advanced planning tools, 21 per cent are still using spreadsheets for production planning and 30 per cent for sales forecasting.
Manual methods can lead to data errors, particularly during seasonal peaks of supply and demand. Manual processes increase the risk of producing flawed forecasts based on faulty data and adversely affect customer satisfaction by incorrect stocking.
Retailers are putting increasing pressure on suppliers to either improve their supply chain processes or lose contracts.
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