How PLM is Revolutionizing the Protein Industry for Sustainable Growth

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Meat. It is a protein source enjoyed by many countries around the world. The global volume of meat sold was 155.5 billion kg in 2023 and is projected to increase to 184.4 billion kg in 2029, according to Statista. Even with growing consumer interest in adding more plants to their diet, meat consumption continues its steady rise, proving that it is a mainstay on consumer’s plates.

As a meat company, there are many factors that play into profitability: source—farms/ranches, quality of the animals, feed, break down/processing, cut specifications, distribution, marketing, certifications, brand reputation and more.

What is PLM?

Once the realm of heavy industry, modern product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions manage end-to-end workflows to drive efficiency into the process, tightening up timelines, improving accuracy in a single source of truth. PLMs have been enhancing the bottom line of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies including food, grocery, cosmetics and retail for years. The protein industry can benefit too. Centric Software® has solutions that address meat, poultry, meat-substitutes, processed meats and meat products.

Connecting everyone

Centric PLM™ breaks down silos by providing a single platform that connects R&D/product development, procurement, compliance, legal, packaging, suppliers and more in one digital space. It streamlines workflows, fosters collaboration, reduces time-to-market and eliminates transcription errors caused by rekeying information from one system to another and on top of all that, facilitates packaging and labeling. This enables a focus on innovation while minimizing redundant, repetitive tasks.

The nature of the beast

Meat, more so than other food categories is complex. The lifecycle doesn’t start at the plant like many food products where ingredients are dropped into a hopper, a product is mixed and then further processed into its final form. The meat lifecycle begins with an animal that requires nutrients, health care and prescribed living conditions. Transparency in the earlier part of the meat ‘product lifecycle’ is essential to a smooth ride upstream.

Centric PLM for meat?

What particular meat industry challenges can PLM assist with? For one, defining, standardizing and automating process flows, cutting out delays in notifications to the next department in the process—and getting information to that team—because it is already right there in the system. Secondly, with vendor contracts that specify all the requirements for the different types of livestock. This includes the feed components, where machine learning and AI-powered algorithms provide an assist. PLM is invaluable in tracking certifications—what type of products do companies sell? Organic, grass-fed, free range? Get automatically notified when certificates need to be renewed.

With respect to compliance, like environmental, social and governance (ESG) laws in the EU and elsewhere, Centric Software’s partnership with FoodChain ID gives users access to regulations from 220 countries. Know the laws for both domestic and international markets and be alerted when those rules update.

Adding value

Margins are higher on value-added products like chicken nuggets, pre-marinated cuts, sausages, deli meats and so on. However, wanting to take advantage of this by looking to add to products can be challenging. Centric Visual Boards™give meat producers a visual representation of assortments with the ability to filter by a number of attributes to find that white space and target innovation efforts.

Packaging, labeling and art approvals are all aspects of Centric PLM. House the steps of product development in one digital space. Work more closely with farmers and suppliers through a vendor portal so external communication is incorporated into the system, facilitating information exchange.

These are just a few of the ways that digitalization of a company’s process enhances productivity. PLM is the foundational technology upon which to build one’s tech stack, integrating seamlessly with other business systems like ERP and communication tools like Slack and Teams.

Centric Software is the ultimate technology partner

With Centric Software’s focus on consumer goods including food, beverages and meat products, industry best practices are baked into the software so users benefit from years of industry expertise. Centric PLM has frequent, regular updates informed by actual customers and industry movement. To future-proof businesses, add Centric Software solutions to the menu. Learn more about how Centric PLM/Visual Boards digitalizes meat process flows from the eBook.