Companies in the food and beverage industry can use Power Platform to improve food safety, supply chain management and operations on the shopfloor. Here are 11 common use cases and a methodology on how to move forward.
It is estimated that 85% of organisations will be ‘cloud-first’ by 2025, recognising the speed, scalability, flexibility and efficiency such an approach brings.
Cloud-based platforms have been evolving to provide industry-specific solutions and services, enabling businesses to better address their unique requirements, regulations, and workflows.
However, there are often still gaps between what standardised cloud platforms offer and the needs of individual businesses.
With low-code / no-code development solutions like Microsoft Power Platform, food businesses can speed up their digital transformation and enable business users (citizen developers), promoting rapid innovation, cost efficiency and enhanced employee engagement.
Extract maximum value by identifying use cases
Every organisation has its unique challenges, processes, and requirements. While Power Platform offers a range of capabilities, a one-size-fits-all approach may not fully address the challenges your business faces, whether they are related to workflow or food industry-specific demands.
By identifying your specific use cases, you can strategically allocate resources and efforts towards creating applications that directly target your pain points. This ensures the solutions developed are aligned with your organisation's goals, helping you extract maximum value from the opportunities Power Platform offers.
However, use case identification can be difficult for a number of reasons. For example, the complexity of some processes might make it hard to envision how Power Platform could streamline them.
Resistance to change from stakeholders can also hinder progress if they do not feel engaged or understand the reasons for change.
This underscores the benefit of engaging external expertise to aid your Power Platform journey through discovery and value mapping. This teamwork will guide you in identifying your key use cases and prioritising by significance and benefit. It enables the delivery of small, impactful projects that offer value early and progressively.
Power Platform use cases in the food industry
Power Platform enables the creation of custom applications, automations, and workflows that address business needs in safety, compliance, supply chain and on the shopfloor, helping fill process gaps that might not be fully covered by standard core systems.
This flexibility fosters a dynamic environment where continuous improvements can be quickly implemented, allowing businesses to meet the changing demands in the food industry.
Here are some of the common use cases we see from our customers:
Food safety and compliance scenarios
- HACCP* compliance – Power Apps can be created to help capture logs, perform risk assessments, and generate comprehensive audit reports that demonstrate compliance with food safety regulations. *Hazard Analytical Critical Control Points are guidelines and the basis for ISO 220000.
- Food safety audits – Apps such as digital checklists, automated report generation, and a system for tracking and managing corrective actions helps maintain and improve food safety standards.
- Product recalls – Power Apps can be built to improve the handling of recalls. This includes real-time tracking of affected products, assessing the scope of the issue, co-ordinating actions to mitigate risks, and generating records for compliance reporting.
- Energy monitoring and sustainability – Developing a Power App to monitor energy consumption and environmental impact allows businesses to identify areas for energy savings and sustainable practices.
- Food labelling compliance – Power Apps can assist in tracking ingredients, nutritional information, and packaging details, helping companies meet regulatory requirements and avoid labelling-related issues.
Supply chain scenarios
- Waste management and reduction – A Power App can be built to track waste generation throughout the supply chain, offering insights into areas of waste and opportunities for reduction.
- Quality management – Apps can be developed to monitor materials received from suppliers, allowing businesses to assess quality, analyse potential risks, and take action based on real-time insights.
- Supplier audits – This app could include standardised checklists, digital documentation, and communication tools for evaluating new suppliers and ensuring they meet required standards.
Shopfloor scenarios
- Shift handover reports – Shift handover reports can be streamlined through a Power App which enables supervisors to input machine statuses, track production progress and communicate vital updates during shift transitions.
- Issuing of PPE – A Power App improves the tracking and distribution of personal protective equipment such as masks, ensuring employees have the necessary gear to maintain workplace safety.
- Start-up checks – Start-up checks can be streamlined with a Power App which offers digital checklists. Operators follow these checklists to ensure equipment readiness and operational status before starting the production line, mitigating problems and maintaining high product quality.
How to increase value using Power Platform
While the use cases above provide a general framework for food and beverage businesses, the exact integration of Power Platform into your organisation will depend on factors such as company size, product type, production processes, regulatory requirements and your business’s unique challenges.
Navigating this intricate landscape on your own can be challenging. This is where our expertise at Columbus comes into play. Working together allows us to craft a targeted strategy which considers both your business and technical needs, creating a project where your unique challenges are met. We can help you define a critical application, identify key stakeholders, establish necessary security measures, and recognise areas that can be managed by the business itself.
Best practice doesn't conclude with a platform set-up. Sustaining success requires a continual focus on security, monitoring, and application lifecycle management. To mitigate risks, consider our assistance in establishing policies and governance frameworks for the effective operation of the Power Platform.
Our collaboration will involve workshops designed to:
- Enhance your understanding of the possibilities of low-code technology and the Power Platform for your business.
- Identify potential use cases through both individual and collaborative work, pinpointing areas in your business for digitisation and automation.
- Prototype prioritised solutions and rank ideas based on their business value and implementation complexity.
- Develop a better understanding of what is required for building a Centre of Excellence.