While there is no silver bullet solution for the supply chain problems the industry is forced to deal with, Produce Blueprints experts’ collective wisdom coalesces into six priorities for alleviating supply chain pain.
There’s so much talk about the abundance of data, analytics, and digitalization that it’s difficult to imagine that many companies lack the business intelligence to make sound supply chain decisions—yet that’s the reality for some organizations.
They don’t have the right data when it’s needed or the data in the right format to derive useful insights, which makes it very difficult to articulate go-forward plans.
“The produce industry moves faster than the reporting, and on top of that, the reporting is tables and tables of data,” explains Martha Montoya, CEO of Agtools, Inc. BB #:355102 “There’s no contextualization of the data; somebody has to start thinking: how do I analyze it?”
Compounding the problem is the broad spectrum of data relevant to the produce industry.
In her research, Montoya found 76 variables that can impact agricultural supply chains. To effectively understand the operating environment, leaders must monitor issues ranging from geopolitical activity to labor availability to weather patterns.
The good news is that supply chain professionals recognize the important role of data in managing a disruptive environment.
However, Montoya notes there’s still much confusion in the market about how to understand the data. This speaks to the value of working with produce industry data scientists who can mine the data, find the relationships, interpret the findings, and deliver actionable insights.
This an excerpt from the Supply Chain Solutions Department from the May/June 2022 issue of Produce Blueprints Magazine. Click here to read the whole issue.
