MICHAEL KIRBY, INDUSTRY SOLUTION DIRECTOR, FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS, ORACLE ASIA PACIFIC

Compliance is a major focus presently in Asia Pacific. Countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan are conducting government sponsored RFID pilots to address food safety and counterfeit concerns. Food and- beverage retailers, in particular, are exploring sensor-based technologies such as RFID, to address challenges around data synchronization and standardization of item registration—this challenge continues to mount with increasing volumes of items to be managed and the corresponding amount of data generated.

Compounding the problem of having to keep track of high volumes of products, food-and beverage retailers typically supply products with short shelf-life, requiring one to two day sales cycles. To meet customer service levels, safety stocks of products need to be planned based on expected demand, while keeping in mind the need to minimize the risk of excess inventories and out-of-date write-offs. Hence it is imperative for food and- beverage companies to ensure supply chain responsiveness by sharing information across the entire value chain – retailers, suppliers and supplier’s suppliers. This will help to deliver a profitable balance between the competing objectives of low inventory levels and superior customer service.

However, real-time collaboration between food-and-beverage retailers and their suppliers in many parts of Asia Pacific is still in its early phases. Companies need a paradigm shift to view technology as a business strategy instead of an overhead. In Asia Pacific, many companies still approach issues such as supply-chain responsiveness and food safety as independent projects rather than as part of a complete Supply Chain Management (SCM) solution that provides significant business value.

In China, for example, there is growing pressure on ensuring high standards of food safety. Being a major global food exporter and with growing consciousness of the Chinese consumer, all food manufacturers and suppliers, including established brands, need to demonstrate both to regulators and consumers that high levels of control are in place across the whole supply chain.

Food-and-beverage companies need to gain better insight into what the market wants and align all business systems to servicing those needs, to gain visibility into their entire supply chain network and to effectively harness the enormous amount of data across the supply chain. Strategic SCM applications such as Oracle Supply Chain Management enable companies to integrate and automate critical processes from supply chain planning to execution, manufacturing and collaboration with external parties via the supplier relationship management components. This allows companies to make better decisions by identifying potential risks and opportunities in real time and ensuring better management of their product life cycles and optimization of their supply and distribution networks. These are fundamental to helping food-and beverage companies across Asia Pacific drive competitiveness, access and protect export markets and achieve profitable growth.