Factory Performance Audit and Benchmark

Study identifies $1M+ in annual savings opportunity for the average food and beverage plant in North America

This startling information comes from a recent study carried out with extensive, on-site analysis at more than 100 food and beverage plants across a diverse range of product and process types. Using insights derived from this one-of-a-kind study and respected operations management methodologies, CDC Software has designed the Factory Performance Audit and Benchmark, a procedure that helps food plants understand how they measure up and immediately pinpoint where they can improve.

The first offering of its kind to provide an objective view of the plant's overall performance in relation to people, process, and plant opportunities, the Factory Performance Audit and Benchmark provides a comparison of the facility to the world's efficiency-leading and lagging food and beverage processors.

The study revealed that most companies had previously tried to address efficiency issues by focusing on plant performance – yet fewer than 1 in 3 of these programs delivered significant uplifts. Is your company one of these organizations? Would you like to find out how efficient your plants truly are, and would you like to know how you stack up against your competitors? Download our solutions sheet by clicking here. If you'd like to request a Factory Performance Audit and Benchmark, click here.

Below are a few key findings from this landmark study.

Inaccuracy of Performance Reporting

More than 75% of the companies included in the study were running their plants with inaccurate data. Many large organizations ($500M+ in annual revenue) typically scored higher for plant efficiencies than smaller organizations, but there were significant variances between leaders and laggards in both categories.

Inaccuracy of Efficiency Reporting (Reported vs. Actual)

Another significant surprise was the amount of discrepancy between reported and actual efficiencies. Across all plants audited, the average difference between reported and actual efficiency was nearly 9% as illustrated with the graph below.

Too Much Focus on the Plant, Too Little Focus on the People

Many food producers view capital outlays as the greatest opportunities for production improvements, yet the study revealed that only 18% of improvement opportunities were plant-related and 37% of the opportunity focused around people. Across the 4,000+ food and beverage plants in the U.S., this is the equivalent of nearly $1.6 billion in immediate savings.