The Digital Technologies Australian Manufacturers Need To Build A Resilient Supply Chain

1. Traceability solutions

Traceability addresses the “visibility” and “control” pillars of a resilient supply chain. Supply chain traceability is the process of tracking the provenance and journey of products and all their inputs, from the start of the supply chain to end-use.

When we talk about traceability solutions, we are referring to:

• Blockchain
• QR coding
• Track and trace
• Smart packaging

The AgriFood Supply Chain Resilience report by KPMG and Food Agility recently identified the importance of traceability solutions for a more resilient supply chain, but it’s not a new concept.

There are lots of ways to use traceability technologies help address food fraud and food safety issues:

• Use traceability as an anti-counterfeit solution to protect end-to-end product flow from tampering and counterfeiting, and help improve the reliability of Australian brands and protect the income and reputation of members along the supply chain.
• Use traceability to provide greater assurance of product quality.
• Use apps and smart packaging to connect consumers with producers, improve traceability and the relationship between consumers and producers, e.g. smart wine labels

Watch how Campbells Winery used coding and marking to improve wine traceability.

2. Automation technologies

Automation technologies address the “control” and “flexibility” pillars of a resilient supply chain.

Incorporating automated processing machinery into factory operations and logistics improves efficiency, which has implications to the bottom line of manufacturers and producers. It can also reduce reliance on human labour, which helps make a more adaptable and efficient manufacturer. (See how Frozen Sunshine used a Continuous Inkjet solution to automatically print the date code onto packaging, rather than relying on manual labelling.)

Automation can also give manufacturers the ability to produce multiple products from a single manufacturing line. In the case of COVID-19, this made it easier for some manufacturers to pivot and make alternative products.

Another way in which automation helps create a resilient supply chain is by capturing data that can flag problems and identify improvement opportunities. For example, digital diagnostic capabilities allow for real-time monitoring of equipment, which helps lower cost by reducing downtime and wasteful maintenance practices.

3. Cloud-based supply chain applications

During the Covid-19 pandemic, manufacturers have demanded greater visibility into the supply chains of their suppliers, and this is worth continuing to pursue in a post-COVID environment. Access to end-to-end supply chain inventory data and supplier capacity constraints helps members of the supply chain understand the risks and opportunities, and adapt accordingly.

This forms the collaboration pillar.

Cloud-based and collaborative tools can enhance information sharing along the supply chain, which improves the quality and speed of decision making within a company and with suppliers and other external partners, in a secure environment.

This could mean adopting analytics tools and real-time data mapping across climate, domestic and international production, consumption and price data. Collecting and analysing this type of information will allow predictive monitoring and forecasting, enable strategic decision making and help manufacturers and their customers better align supply with demand.

This is particularly important for certain sectors, like the wine industry. The recent AgriFood Supply Chain Resilience report suggested that “end-to-end supply chain optimisation and capacity planning will improve resilience and the ability of supply chain nodes to cope with over supply, achieve premiums and avoid down-selling.”