What about the continuity of animal nutrition plants across the globe?
It goes without saying that COVID-19 has disrupted the nutrition industries. The measures that have been taken in the past weeks have affected both our personal lives as the way our industry is functioning. These are challenging times that trigger us to look at business continuity on 3 levels:
- ensuring continuity in the supply chain,
- securing and guaranteeing production,
- the attention and care for people (employees as well as customers and suppliers).
In a series of three blog posts we go more deeply into all of these aspects. We start this first article with the supply chain challenges.
Disruptions in the global supply chain
Globally speaking, the raw materials and end product supply chain has been disrupted heavily. As a result, business continuity plans are in full swing. But what is worrying the European industry right now are the possible disruptions in the feed supply chain once the product has been shipped away from the manufacturing plant. Inland transport can be a problem in terms of timely availability of raw materials or products. Measures put in place by several countries have slowed down or even paralysed transport. EU commissioner Ursula von der Leyen issued a statement that delays on borders have to stop and she urged countries to unlock their borders for freight vehicles to cross within 15 minutes; Interesting because road transport accounts for 75 % of freight shipments within the EU. These measurements are expected to have positive effect on the supply.
In China, where the outbreak began, several feed manufacturers have confirmed that production is back to a production level of 80-90% but at the same time, there are also several reports of production backlogs, low stock levels and a shortage of key raw materials. Also US and Russia face strong fluctuations in prices and all supplies that are coming in now, are with a delay. It is possible that the situation in April/May gets worse and the delays get longer.
Source: FeedInfo’s Covid 17 Roundup: https://youtu.be/mKrsHea-3cQ
How can software steer you through disruptive times?
Manufacturing stable and qualitative products can only be guaranteed via flexible recipe management tools that are based upon accurate supply & material information (availability, price & quality). Using incorrect info as basic input inevitably leads to wrong conclusions and production. That is why a sound connection between your ERP system and your formulation software is of the highest importance.
Adifo’s MILAS solution provides all relevant stock and supply data and sends it automatically to your formulation system. Your formulation system then needs a central environment where all this critical information can be gathered, accessed and used for correct decision making.
In Adifo’s BESTMIX solution all this critical information is gathered in the Multiblend environment.
What is Multiblend?
Multiblend is one of the strongest calculation algorithms within the BESTMIX formulation software. It allows you to determine the optimal ingredient allocation for multiple production sites in 1 go! And this for multiple periods taking into account the availability of ingredients and alternative buying opportunities. This means that during optimization, the need for ingredients for one product will influence the need for other products.
Via global constraints on your materials and powerful what-if scenarios, you can solve any logistical issue, anticipate to market fluctuations and evaluate the use of alternative materials. This results in a clear overview of the consumption per production site and per time period. When the results are approved, reports and labels can be created in 1 go for all the products in your plant. This information can then be sent directly to the ERP system.
In these disrupted times, it is a good idea to have a good look at your ERP and formulation system and evaluate how strongly they are interconnected (bi directional). In the end you want to make the right purchase and production decisions that make your business going.
