How a Global Consumer Packaged Goods Manufacturer is Saving Over $30 Million

by | Sep 22, 2019 | Case Studies | 0 comments

One of the world’s leading packaged goods manufacturers became the first company to introduce a gluten-free version of a major, national branded food product in 2015. Later that same year, a manufacturing error occurred at one of the plants, contaminating the new product line with gluten. The issue went undetected for more than two weeks. As a result, a number of consumers with Celiac disease became ill after eating the product. Once the problem was discovered, the manufacturer recalled 17 days of production.

Problem

The company needed a fail-proof way to detect gluten contamination throughout their large, distributed supply chain. The manufacturer’s traditional track and trace methods for monitoring certain characteristics of a product, such as the presence of an allergen, were not only ineffective but expensive. It was essential that the manufacturer adopt a new approach or technology that could provide an advanced level of traceability.

Solution

The manufacturer selected ThinkIQ’s cloud-based platform, which automatically deduces the genealogy of raw materials using existing data and new information collected by IIoT sensors. The ThinkIQ solution incorporates several modern technologies, including the Internet of Things, big data analytics and machine learning, to deliver valuable and actionable information that can be used to solve complex business challenges.

Primary Benefits

As a result of implementing ThinkIQ, the manufacturer can detect if a contamination event occurred in their food product at any point along the way during the manufacturing process. The company has an unprecedented level of confidence in their ability to protect the health of consumers and avoid costly product recalls.

Secondary Benefits

The same solution from ThinkIQ was used to drive operational improvements. The manufacturer made changes to the company’s procurement and manufacturing processes based on materials traceability data generated by ThinkIQ. As a result, during the first year after implementing the ThinkIQ platform, the manufacturer saved more than $30M, a figure the company publicly shared in.