BY PAVEL SHEVCHUK EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT FOR SERVICES, SIDEL
When balanced with a holistic approach to beverage production, there are five key areas that offer the best opportunity for increasing value.
Beverage manufacturers are under more pressure than ever to deliver products which meet the needs of consumers in terms of trusted, sustainable and ethical brands, are safe and of excellent quality, cater for a range of tastes and meet the increasing demands for healthier products. At the same time their brands need to differentiate their products against competitors.
Flexibility is key to meeting the demands of this new, more discerning customer, as well as the challenges presented by global megatrends such as population growth (particularly in emerging economies), economic and political volatility, globalisation and urbanisation, rising costs of raw materials and energy, intensified competition and the introduction of new media. Services have become an ever more important means to help achieve the flexible production demanded now and in the future.
Through our interactions with beverage producers globally we have identified five key areas that represent the best opportunities for increasing value:
These are the five key areas we therefore focus on in our dedicated Sidel services business unit.
Producers need to protect the product and the consumer’s experience of it, produce the product efficiently, have the flexibility to change products and optimise costs as needed, and get to market quickly and effectively.
If you look at what this means across a supply chain, it’s a vast operation, and one that producers are increasingly viewing holistically when it comes to services. How can I optimise my spare parts inventory and delivery? What maintenance tasks should be outsourced and which should be done in-house? What new technology should I retrofit on my existing lines? How do I lightweight my bottle while still providing a great consumer experience? How do I implement the new bottle design on my existing lines while maintaining high quality control and low wastage? These are the types of questions producers are asking themselves, especially the larger players, and starting to realise that having a partner who helps them analyse all these operations as a whole can provide real value when it comes to making accurate calculations and decisions that genuinely lower TCO (total cost of ownership).
It is about adopting a holistic approach to beverage production, recognising all the different elements that contribute to costs and business growth, and addressing them accordingly as a whole. This is why services is increasingly one of, if not the, main decision criteria for producers when it comes to purchasing new equipment and installing new lines for their products.
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