How To Combat The Labor Shortage With Your Food Manufacturing Software
From remote work to supply chain issues to labor shortages, COVID-19 has changed the business landscape for a lot of industries. Many of these changes and their consequences are unfortunately out of your control. Fortunately, we have some tips and tricks you can use to combat the labor shortage for your food manufacturing business.
With the highest percentage of the national “quit” rate ever reported by the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey occurring in August of 2021 and a survey of 52 economists by The Wall Street Journal finding that 22 believe workforce participation will never return to its pre-pandemic levels, combatting the everlasting labor shortage may seem daunting. And you’re not alone in this thinking. According to Geoff Freeman, president and chief executive officer of the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), “As the COVID-19 pandemic has worn on and supply chain pressures have intensified, we have run out of slack in the system. The labor shortage is driving the majority of issues in the supply chain, and the paltry additions today — for CPG companies and industries they rely on — create an untenable situation for manufacturers.”
So, what can you do? According to Food Logistics, “while there are many things that need to be addressed in order for the labor gap to shorten, innovations need to begin in order to prevent future supply chain disruptions” and 54% of companies plan to invest in workforce management technology as a response, according to Blue Yonder. Additionally, according to Food Engineering Mag, “food and beverage manufacturing increasingly relies on modern technology such as smart data capturing and analysis, inventory and operations management, value optimization, and personalized training.” So, perhaps the answer is in leveraging technology…
Automating Manual Processes
To answer our earlier question of what you can do to beat the labor shortage, we offer the solution of focusing on automating your manual processes with the help of your software. While the most obvious area for automation may be in using machines in your factories, it goes beyond that to the office. Automating operational processes allows a single employee to have greater bandwidth and make more of an impact by reducing their time spent on mundane, non-essential tasks while also ensuring your data can be relied on. Together, these systems can “support revenue growth while promoting resilience and sustainability in times of disruption and market uncertainty” while bringing “benefits that improve efficiency and productivity, while raising the quality of finished goods” according to Food Engineering Mag. NorthScope was designed with this exact goal in mind.
NorthScope is an ERP system built specifically for food manufacturers that provides useful automations and integrations, allowing you to ensure data accuracy and saving you time by eliminating manual data entry. By eliminating manual data entry, you’re improving efficiency and productivity by repurposing the time it would take to fix avoidable mistakes and spending it working on more important tasks that will help your business succeed. Additionally, because NorthScope was built for your industry, you can avoid the unnecessary workarounds and time sucks because when your software isn’t built for your industry, it doesn’t provide the tools you need to run your food business. That means you have to create workarounds and juggle spreadsheets and manual notes and, even worse, manual data entry multiple times to get the data you need. That’s a waste of your time and time equals money. Plus, with a system that can increase efficiency, your team can spend that freed up time on things that will continue moving your company forward instead of on menial tasks like data entry. You deserve that time back in your day to focus on the things that matter than will help your business succeed. And you can get that time back with an ERP system that’s well-rounded and offers a single solution to all your needs: a system with fully integrated Sales, Inventory, Purchasing, Accounting and Payroll capabilities as well as fully integrated capital improvement project tracking, trace register integration, barcode data collection integration and EDI integration. When all of this exists in a single solution, your day-to-day is more efficient and stress-free.
Book a demo to learn more about how NorthScope can help you automate manual processes and get you time back in your day to help beat the labor shortage.