Transforming wheat into flour and flour into cakes on a commercial scale offers plenty of opportunities for data analytics to make an impact. Efficient manufacturers use data and analytics to create streamlined operations where the right amount of every ingredient is in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. They can optimize scheduling and the use of equipment, so that neither raw materials nor finished goods waste time in storage.
For example, manufacturers can schedule a production sequence for all items that contain cinnamon to keep storage costs down. Or they can bake all nut-free goods before working on the peanut brittle – to maximize equipment uptime, without threatening the health of their customers!
Data analysis can help producers understand what consumers want and adjust their output accordingly. Should Instagram users convince the world that kale brownies are the perfect Christmas gift, manufacturers with the right data can drop the cinnamon buns and get cracking on the kale to meet demand.
From spice gardens to spiced punch, the secret stories behind some of our seasonal favorites are far more exotic and complicated than first appears. But those stories are also rich in data, which thanks to advanced analytics such as Eka’s Commodity Analytics Cloud we can now use to illuminate the journey and make better decisions along the way. Happily, there are also plenty of data-driven fitness devices available to help us work it all off in the New Year.
