Having open communication and a plan helped Hormel Foods improve the efficiency of its poultry supply chain.
“Now we’re able to have one version of the truth and be part of the discussion phase, so the mission of our customer supply chain is really to be able to create win-wins for Hormel Foods and our customers that eventually flows down and benefits our consumers,” Thor Berg, assistant director, Customer Supply Chain, Hormel Foods, said during Optimizing your supply chain to eliminate waste
Accomplishing this can lead toward a more effective and efficient supply chain, he added.
A streamlined supply chain enables quick changes
Changing consumer demand has a direct impact on the efficiency of the poultry supply chain.
“One thing Hormel is doing is in 2018, right before the pandemic, we created this one supply chain. We brought all of our subsidiaries together and business units together toward one group to create a strategic operation effort to unlock the potential of having all the various supply chains all work together to drive efficiency,” Berg explained.
Hormel Foods operates in many food categories. Specific to the poultry industry, it is the parent company of Jennie-O Turkey Store and Applegate. However, it also is the parent company of Spam, Skippy, Black Label bacon, Columbus Craft Meats and Planters, among other brands.
Having only one supply chain has eliminated “some silos and helped start sharing best practices which now allows Hormel to pivot more quickly to those changing demand signals,” he noted.
An additional benefit is that Hormel was able to standardize the way they collected data about the supply chain, which resulted in further efficiencies.
