How to Trade Your Bulk Off-Spec Dairy and Still Protect Your Brand
If 97% of bulk dairy production is in-specification, how do you manage the 3% that’s off-spec? One thing’s for sure, as long as production is up and running, manufacturing will continue to generate downgrade ingredients. Clearing out the accumulating inventory often falls to an in-house product manager or salesperson. An easy fix for offloading the […]
Do You Recognize These 4 Inventory Accumulation Problems?
As anyone in bulk-ingredient manufacturing knows, inventory accumulation is a nagging issue–one that can test the most squared-away plant manager. For the internal contact person assigned to manage off-spec inventory, the surplus product creates an ongoing challenge. They might rely on in-house tactics for clearing out the problem ingredients, including putting it on a bid […]
Packaging Conversion: What to Expect When Selling Problem Ingredients
Packaging conversion is an important consideration when it comes to selling your problem food inventory. A buyer might be interested in purchasing your unwanted ingredients. But when it comes time to shift the product out of your facility, packaging challenges — such as moving a liquid sweetener from storage tanks to a tanker truck — […]
How a Copacker Recouped Cash on Expired Invert Sugar [Part 4]
If you have expired invert sugar in your facility, you may know that it’s not as easy to recover as its dry cousin, extra fine granular (EFG) sugar. Unlike expired EFG — that can be pushed back through the refinery — invert sugar syrup creates handling challenges, such as heating the product to make it […]
How a Bakery’s Inventory Logistics Challenge Ended with a Cash-Rescue Win [Part 3]
If you’re in food processing and you stop making a product, you might end up with excess inventory. As expiration dates shrink, and you explore what to do with the unwanted ingredients, inventory logistics can create issues — some foods are easy to offload; others, not so much. In the third story of our four-part […]
How This Bakery Recovered Cash From Its Excess Inventory [Part 2]
Last month, we kicked off a four-part series about food industry businesses rescuing profits on problem inventory. This month, in part 2, read about a bakery’s excess inventory success. Excess inventory can be tricky to manage. A canceled order or discontinued food product may result in still-good ingredients sitting in the warehouse. More importantly, every […]
How 4 Food Companies Won Big on Problem Inventory [Part 1 of 4]
As anyone in the food industry knows, problem inventory creates challenges. That includes losing money on the investment, shelling out more cash to dump the ingredients or paying to store the unusable product. However, problem ingredient stories can have a happy ending! In this four-part series, read how each food industry business found a way […]
3 Big Chocolate Trends You Probably Missed This Valentine’s Day
Chocolate trends were most likely not top of mind this Valentine’s Day. Now that red heart-shaped boxes everywhere are empty, let’s look at what’s going on in the chocolate industry (did someone say chocolate cartel?) 1. The global chocolate market forecast A look at chocolate goings-on wouldn’t be complete with some market analysis. According to […]
3 Best Practices for Food Inventory Verification
When your new inventory arrives, you’re probably not thinking about how to offload it and recoup your money. However, at some point, most food-industry companies have to sell obsolete food inventory. It makes sense to have supporting documentation in place—from the beginning—should you need to turn your inventory quickly. Here’s an example of what not […]
3 Holiday Foods with Surprising Histories
In the busy months leading up to the holiday break, food industry businesses (from manufacturers to brokers) handle the many ingredients that eventually grace our festive tables. As we head into the holidays, let’s take a look at three traditional foods and the stories that make them memorable. 1) Remember the bowls of red pistachios? […]
3 Costly Expiring Inventory Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make
Without a doubt, expiring inventory mistakes can get expensive. However, with some adjustments to inventory management, food industry businesses can keep stock flowing into and out of the warehouse. Here are some inventory slipups to avoid. 1. Focusing on expiration dates alone One mistake that warehouses make is focusing on the product’s expiration date versus […]
Corn-Based Plastic: An Economic Boost for U.S.Farmers?
Corn-based plastic, it seems, is the new eco-friendly alternative to petroleum-based plastics. As production, business interest and research pick up speed, corn plastic—while not perfect—could be an economic shot in the arm for U.S. farmers. What is corn-based plastic? Basically, corn-based plastic is a non-petroleum material made by converting corn into a resin called polylactic […]
