“Simply stated, food processors are under the gun to produce compared to other industries,” says Chris Adderton, Advanced Technology Services (ATS) senior account manager, consumer packaged goods. “When comparing cycle time of food processors to overall discrete manufacturing plants, food manufacturers have the shortest cycle time at a median of five hours. Compare this to a median of 18 hours at other manufacturing plants.” Food processors maintain a higher on-time delivery rate of 98 percent compared to 95 percent of other industries, and it’s easy to see why they hardly have time to breathe, according to Adderton. (These data are based on findings from the Manufacturing Performance Institute.)
The cycle of reactive activity puts food processors at a distinct disadvantage with the lowest median machine availability of all manufacturers surveyed at 83 percent, according to Adderton. In addition, food manufacturers are the most likely to increase output in 78 percent of the plants surveyed.