Food & Beverage Manufacturing Industry Reference Architecture
Business capability maps, value streams, and strategy maps for the Food & Beverage Industry.
The Food & Beverage Manufacturing industry stands at a pivotal juncture, marked by rapid technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and an ever-growing emphasis on sustainability. You are constantly challenged by:
- A lack of clarity while capturing the right information, engaging the right people, or linking with the needs of the business and aligning with operational technology (OT).
- A lack of business and IT-aligned view of mission, strategy, goals, objectives, processes, projects, and measures of success.
- Presence of OT and IT silos that miss the big picture and don’t understand the need for a synergistic approach for successful outcomes.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
Using an industry-specific reference architecture is critical to understanding, modeling, and communicating the operating environment and the direction of the organization. This will enable measurable, top-line organizational outcomes and the unlocking of direct value.
Impact and Result
Info-Tech recognizes the value in business-IT synergy. Info-Tech will:
- Demonstrate the value of IT’s role in supporting your F&B manufacturing business capabilities while highlighting the importance of proper alignment between organizational and IT strategies.
- Apply Level-2 business reference architecture techniques such as strategy maps, value streams, and capability maps to design usable and accurate blueprints of your F&B manufacturing operations.
- Assess your initiatives and priorities to determine if you are investing in the right capabilities. Conduct capability assessments to identify opportunities and to prioritize projects.
Food & Beverage Manufacturing Industry Reference Architecture
Business capability maps, value streams, and strategy maps for the Food & Beverage industry.
Analyst Perspective
Tackle disruption, end misalignment, and enable IT-led value realization.
The Food & Beverage Manufacturing industry stands at a pivotal juncture, marked by rapid technological advancements, shifting consumer preferences, and an ever-growing emphasis on sustainability. This industry has witnessed significant transformation via innovations in food processing and packaging, the integration of artificial intelligence and robotics in shop-floor processes, and a stronger focus on health and wellness products.
Sustainability has become a cornerstone of the Food & Beverage sector and there is a heightened awareness among consumers and manufacturers alike regarding the environmental impact of food production. This consciousness is driving the industry toward more sustainable practices, ranging from sourcing of raw materials to waste management in production processes. Additionally, adoption of plant-based alternatives and the exploration of lab-grown foods are becoming essential components of the industry's response to the growing demand for sustainable and ethical food choices.
The future of the Food & Beverage Manufacturing industry will be shaped by a confluence of technological innovation and evolving consumer expectations. The increasing reliance on data analytics, IoT (Internet of Things), and fit-for-purpose technologies for supply chain transparency and efficiency points toward a more interconnected and informed production landscape. As the industry navigates challenges such as global competition, regulatory compliance, and changing consumer demands, the role of IT becomes increasingly indispensable in providing innovative solutions that enhance productivity, sustainability, and profitability.
Shreyas Shukla
Principal Research Director, Manufacturing Industry
Info-Tech Research Group
Executive Summary
| Your Challenge | Common Obstacles | Info-Tech's Approach |
| You are a CIO or head of IT who wants to:
Improve your organization's understanding of business capabilities. Communicate how IT can support the creation of new products. Sharpen IT's alignment and focus on organizational outcomes and value by using technologies that produce the most reliable and high-quality outcomes. Before executing any strategic initiatives, use this blueprint to understand how the organization creates value. |
You are constantly challenged by:
A lack of clarity while capturing the right information, engaging the right people, or linking with the needs of the business and aligning with operational technology (OT). A lack of business and IT-aligned view of mission, strategy, goals, objectives, processes, projects, and measures of success. Presence of OT and IT silos that miss the big picture and don't understand the need for a synergistic approach for successful outcomes. |
Info-Tech recognizes the value in business-IT synergy. Info-Tech will provide:
A means to build your organization's capability map by defining its value stream. The ability to define your strategic focus by understanding the organization's key capabilities. A means to assess these key capabilities, processes, and applicable technology support. A way to adopt capability-based strategy planning by identifying and mitigating capability gaps. |
Info-Tech Insight
Using an industry-specific reference architecture is critical to understanding, modeling, and communicating the operating environment and the direction of the organization. This will enable measurable, top-line organizational outcomes and the unlocking of direct value.
Industry Overview:
Food & Beverage Manufacturing
The Food & Beverage Manufacturing industry involves comprehensive processes that start from sourcing high-quality raw materials to producing consumable products through various methods such as mixing, cooking, fermenting, and preserving.
Quality control is paramount in ensuring food safety and meeting health standards, involving rigorous testing procedures. Packaging, a critical step that serves both protective and marketing purposes, also needs to adhere to regulatory and consumer preferences.
Distribution and logistics play a vital role in maintaining product quality and meeting market demand. The industry faces numerous challenges, including ensuring food safety and regulatory compliance, managing complex supply chains, balancing production and logistics costs, adapting to changing consumer preferences, reducing environmental impact, and integrating new technologies for improved efficiency and quality control. These challenges require constant innovation and adaptability to maintain competitiveness in a dynamic market.
The Food & Beverage industry is currently navigating significant economic challenges such as inflation, supply issues, and labor shortages. Post-pandemic resurgence of economic activity has led to supply chain disruptions, creating imbalances between supply and demand. This situation has been further complicated by global events and regional wars, which have affected the availability of essential ingredients and packaging materials.
The Food & Beverage industry is undergoing significant changes due to pressures from changing consumer behavior, tightening regulations, and the additional scrutiny on the widely adopted just-in-time (JIT) logistics model.
Figure above: Value Chain for the Food & Beverage Manufacturing Industry
About Info-Tech
Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.
We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.
Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.
Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst
Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 9 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.
Guided Implementation 1: Build Your Organization’s Capability Map
- Call 1: Introduce Info-Tech’s industry reference architecture methodology.
Guided Implementation 2: Use Business Capabilities to Define Strategic Focus
- Call 1: Define and create value streams.
- Call 2: Model Level 1 business capability maps.
- Call 3: Map value streams to business capabilities.
- Call 4: Model Level 2 business capability maps.
Guided Implementation 3: Assess Key Capabilities for Planning Priorities
- Call 1: Create a strategy map.
- Call 2: Introduce Info-Tech's capability assessment framework.
Guided Implementation 4: Adopt Capability-Based Strategy Planning
- Call 1: Review capability assessment map(s).
- Call 2: Discuss and review prioritization of key capability gaps and plan next steps.
Contributors
- Chris Goodhue, Managing Partner, Info-Tech
- Kevin Tucker, Principal Research Director, Info-Tech
- Dr. Nihar Kumthekar, Asst. Professor, Operations & Supply Chain, University of Southern Maine
- Naga Sravani SK, Senior Business Analyst, McCain Foods