Kitting in Manufacturing: A Comprehensive Guide for Food Manufacturers & Supply‑Chain Experts
If you’re juggling throughput, quality, and compliance, kitting in manufacturing can change the game. By pre-gathering everything needed for a job into one ready-to-use unit, you reduce picking time, speed changeovers, and lower error risk. That matters because kitting cuts average parts-fetching time by 43%, with kitted parts retrieved in 1.86 seconds vs 3.29 seconds […]
Food Manufacturing Waste Reduction: Strategies for Sustainable Operations and Cost Savings
Food waste in manufacturing is a massive, costly problem. Globally, about one-third of all food produced, roughly 1 billion tonnes, is lost or wasted each year. In the U.S. alone, we throw away nearly 40% of the food supply, amounting to about 60 million tons per year, worth over $160 billion. These losses represent wasted […]
Discrete vs Process Manufacturing: What Food Manufacturers Need to Know
Food manufacturing plants rely on two main production philosophies: discrete and process manufacturing, each with very different workflows and requirements. In discrete manufacturing, you assemble distinct, countable products from individual components. Meanwhile, process manufacturing blends materials into finished goods that cannot be “unblended” back into their parts. Understanding discrete vs process manufacturing is crucial for […]
Food Contract Manufacturing – A Complete Guide for Growing Food Brands
Picture launching your signature hot sauce without investing millions in production facilities, or scaling your artisan granola nationwide without building a factory. This is how smart food entrepreneurs grow their brands through food contract manufacturing. Instead of tying up capital in equipment and facilities, you can outsource production to specialized manufacturers who handle everything from […]
The Essential Guide to Smarter Yield Management in Food Production
In food manufacturing, every ounce of efficiency counts, especially when raw material costs can surge without warning. Yield management in food production is about getting the most out of every batch, whether it’s potatoes, poultry, or grain, while keeping waste to a minimum. For plant managers, this is often the difference between staying profitable and […]
Top 9 Food Manufacturing Industry Trends To Watch in 2025
Food manufacturers are under increasing pressure to keep pace with rising consumer demand, stricter regulations, and rapidly changing technology, all while maintaining efficient and cost-effective operations. Traditional methods that once fueled growth are quickly becoming outdated, creating inefficiencies that manufacturers can no longer afford to ignore. With the global population projected to reach nearly 9.1 […]
What is Automated Palletizing & How It Works in the Food Industry?
Food manufacturers face mounting pressure to meet growing consumer demand while managing rising labor costs and maintaining product quality. Traditional palletizing, where workers manually stack goods, often creates production bottlenecks, raises the risk of injury, and adds to operational expenses. With manufacturing job openings reaching over 620,000 in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor […]
How Poor Cost Accounting Is Killing Your Profits & What Top Food Processors Do Differently
Many manufacturers believe they have a handle on cost accounting for food manufacturing. However, when every shift change, recipe tweak, co-packing run, or ingredient swap can impact your actual cost per unit, standard costing often reveals more than it hides. Yield losses, labor overruns, packaging waste, and utility fluctuations rarely show up on the surface, […]
What Is Food Inventory Shrinkage & How Can You Prevent It? A Guide for Food Manufacturers
Food manufacturers lose approximately $1.4 trillion annually to inventory shrinkage, with the food industry experiencing some of the highest shrink rates across all sectors. According to the National Retail Federation’s Security Survey, food businesses face shrinkage rates averaging 1.6% of total sales, nearly double the retail average. This challenge extends far beyond simple accounting discrepancies. […]
Inside the Seafood Processing Industry: How Plants and Factories Operate Efficiently
Seafood processing plants run on speed, precision, and control. A delay in sorting or chilling can throw off daily targets, affect product quality, or increase the risk of a recall. For plant managers and operations leads, the pressure is nonstop. High demand, strict safety standards, and aging equipment all add to the complexity. Seafood is […]
