Dream big, act smart - Manna Foods dreams big with delaware

Rethinking the food supply chain

Manna Foods has a dream: complete transparency over its supply chain, from the farmer raising crops and livestock to the end consumer selecting the product from the grocery store shelf. This transparency would enable not only the company (who already has the legal requirement), but also the end consumer to accurately trace ingredients – for detailed insights into origin, transport, temperature, processing status, and more.

From empowered consumers and high brand loyalty to greater trust between supply chain partners, such a solution would undoubtedly make waves across the food industry. But before taking the first steps toward this new world of transparency, Manna Foods had some challenges to tackle.

Building a foundation for innovation

Known for its delicious specialty sauces, Manna Foods has experienced a boost in both domestic demand and exports in recent years. To ensure that its business processes keep up with its growth trajectory, the company invested in SAP S/4HANA, engaging delaware as its implementation partner.

S/4HANA is a powerful ERP platform that drives agility, optimized processes, better service delivery and empowered decision-making. Even more, S/4HANA also unlocks the power of new technologies such as IoT applications, predictive analysis, machine learning and blockchain. Manna opted for delaware’s FAST-FOOD template, developed in-house by our experts to tackle the unique challenges of food industry SMEs.

With this foundation laid and with a clear end-goal in mind, delaware collaborated with Manna Foods to sketch out a concrete, SAP-driven path towards its vision of supply chain transparency.

Pinpointing the ideal transformation tool

delaware provides ideation-as-a-service coaching and consultancy services to companies seeking the best approach to digital transformation.

In a series of brainstorming workshops, delaware consultants sit down with the customer to inspire them with new technologies and the potential opportunities they offer. This takes place in view of the customer’s current business model and explores future evolutions in the model that could boost their competitive edge. As delaware already offers a custom-built blockchain template tailored to the food industry, it was identified early in the ideation phase as an ideal transformation tool for Manna Foods.

Solution store: Innovation as a service.

Blockchain: trust through accountability

With this transparency concept, suppliers and processors would submit relevant information to the blockchain about their ingredients via a portal or connections to legacy systems such as S/4HANA. This process would be similar to the one already required by regulators through disconnected, standalone systems. Enabled by IoT sensors, every single step the product takes is accessible to all parties, fostering inter-party trust and accountability and eliminating the need for a 3rd-party regulator.

From easier audits and regulatory compliance to guaranteed safer, high-quality ingredients, the solution benefits everybody along the value chain. Even more, with this solution, the end consumer will be able to scan a QR code on the product’s packaging for detailed information about ingredients, allergens, sustainability, certifications and more.

This new way of working will happen; it’s just a matter of time. However, Manna Foods can’t spark this transformation alone. An entire mindset shift across the ecosystem is needed for this vision to become reality.

Is your company ready to take this next step? Get in touch with our experts!