Last month, the company announced a deal with Microsoft to help protect its supply chain by using automation to accelerate operations and replicating its facilities online.
Craft has created a “digital twin” in the Metaverse. This allows the company to effectively solve the problem. This tactic should help craft deliver products to grocery stores more quickly and ensure that factories operate as efficiently as possible.
Lorraine Bardeen, CTO of Microsoft Industry Solutions, said: “This means that Kraft Heinz can get their products … quickly into the hands of consumers.”
True Metaverse is an empty virtual world that isn’t ready for prime time, but “Metaverse” is a collective term for all virtual worlds, including the logistics solutions that companies like The Kraft Heinz and Microsoft are pursuing. I am.
Carlos Abrams Rivera, president of The Kraft Heinz in North America, said the deal, which said Kraft was one of the biggest tech investments, “enhanced credibility” and “always there when needed.” It should help make sure you are there. ” .. regardless of the situation the world is facing. ”
However, in other areas, “inventory” [was] I’m trapped in the system. ”
Kraft was paying attention to international trends and could expect a surge in demand for ketchup packets. However, when demand suddenly changed in a particular city or state, craft could not respond very quickly, for example, due to an increase in Covid cases, school-age children staying home.
This is bad for customers who may have come across empty shelves and bad for crafts. That’s because those customers may have turned to competitors instead.
Craft believes that new technologies should help prevent shortages.
The right place, the right time
So how do automation and virtual manufacturing facilities help you put your products on the shelves?
Abrams-Rivera provided this example. West Coast retailers have decided to offer lunchable promotions, boosting demand for their products.
And there are those digital twins. Virtual versions of craft manufacturing facilities can give the company leadership a better view of how they work and what needs to be improved.
A single craft factory could produce several different things, such as ketchup, sauces, and vinegar, Abrams-Rivera said. By digitally mapping these facilities, crafts can better understand design flaws and increase efficiency.
Craft currently doesn’t have a “system that can map the entire factory to see the optimal flow,” Abrams-Rivera explains. Digital twins will change that.
Virtual options also allow Kraft to pre-catch errors by allowing it to simulate a production environment. “Usually you don’t know until you actually run the product on the line,” says Abrams-Rivera. Testing online can speed up the process of bringing a new product to market.
Companies look to the Metaverse
As the Metaverse idea gets more attention, more companies are looking for ways to virtually connect with consumers.
“I think games are the starting point for this new phenomenon we call the Metaverse,” Adam Harter, SVP of Media, Sports and Entertainment at PepsiCo, told CNN Business earlier. “People will live in the Metaverse more routinely over the next few years, so it’s important for brands like us to make sure we’re where those consumers live.”
