Achieving Automated Visibility

Achieving Automated Visibility

Millions of people become sick due to foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in more rules and regulations from the FDA. Many times, contaminated food or beverages are not caught until they hit the grocery shelves, causing a recall. A recall not only creates a financial burden, but can also damage a company’s brand image. This is only one of the many challenges the food and beverage industry has to face.

With automation on the rise, Lara Sowinski, editor-in-chief, at Food Logistics, shares thoughts from various executives on how they believe the food and beverage industry can tackle unique challenges. Westfalia’s Staci Cretu, marketing communications manager, talks on the challenge of recalls and how having total visibility over food and beverage operations is critical to reduce or prevent them.

Cretu suggests sophisticated track-and-trace capabilities as a solution, utilizing automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS) combined with a warehouse execution system (WES). The combination of the two allows for real-time insight into inbound and outbound inventory, easily locating and tracking the batch where the recalled product originated from. Lastly, Cretu adds that the demand for an AS/RS combined with a WES is on the rise for the food and beverage industry, creating fully transparent facilities.

To read the full article published by Food Logistics, click here