How to Find the Right Dairy Supply Chain Partner for Digitization

When you’re considering dairy supply chain digitization, you must choose the right dairy supply chain partner. Otherwise, you won’t be able to become a true rockstar at managing suppliers, tracking sustainability, increasing revenue, and improving your traceability.

If you choose a dairy supply chain partner that’s not the right, you risk increasing the costs of maintenance, human resources, and industry non-compliance in the long term. That’s not something anyone wants!

But how can you make sure you find the right dairy supply chain partner? Well, today we will help with that! We will provide a guide to help you find the software partner that can fulfill your unique requirements.

Continue reading to discover the most important factors you need to keep in mind while browsing for dairy supply chain partner options! Without further ado, let’s get into it.

4 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Dairy Supply Chain Partner

1) Collaboration

The dairy supply chain partner you choose must be easy to collaborate with. They should consult with you and their onboarding process should focus on understanding your dairy business, including the challenges it faces and the opportunities you’re looking for.

In other words, you should be able to create a shared vision with your dairy supply chain partner so they can help you achieve all your business goals and take your dairy firm to the next level.

Your software partner should go in-depth so they can make sound and practical recommendations based on their understanding of your business and its unique needs. Otherwise, they won’t be able to design a solution with your dairy firm’s best interests in mind.

2) Future-Proofing

The first thing you need to consider when looking for a dairy supply chain partner is future-proofing. You must think not only about what you need today but also about what you will need in the future. Can the software be extended as your business grows and changes?

For example, let’s say that your dairy firm only has a few farms at this point. As such, perhaps the only thing you need is producer payroll in your system. However, your dairy firm will continue growing. In the future, you will need a system that can also handle third-party payments and customer billings, among other things.

Perhaps you will also want to have additional features such as being able to provide hauliers with access to a haulier portal. That will provide transparency by allowing them to look at load reports that show what they’ve brought in and even allow them to make statement requests.

As your dairy firm grows, your needs will change and your software should be able to cover them. If your dairy supply chain partner can’t scale along with you, you will have to buy a separate system for each of your needs, which is expensive and inefficient.

3) Industry Experience and Flexibility

The dairy supply chain partner you choose must have industry experience, especially related to the milk supply chain. As you may already know, this industry is quite complex and there are many rules, regulations, and unique procedures involved. Not to mention the pressures of it.

As such, dairy supply chain digitization is not without its challenges. So, you need a partner that knows the ins and outs. That way, the process can run as smoothly as possible so you can enjoy the benefits of digitization without too much trouble.

Additionally, the world of milk supply chain management is influenced by many different trends. As such, it’s important that your partner is aware of them and can adapt to them. To give you a clear idea, here are some of the most prominent trends:

Carbon emission reduction

Carbon emissions are one of the influential megatrends. The European Union announced this year that the goal is to cut carbon emissions by at least 55% by the year 2030. This type of global trend can mean a lot of different things for your dairy business, so it’s best to prepare for that by getting in-built functionality in the software.

That way, you can meet new requirements that pop up. For example, it would be beneficial to choose software that allows you to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions your supply chain produces with data from supervisor apps and mobile farmer apps.

That data can be fed through a platform such as PowerBI, which is Microsoft’s business analytics service. Then, you could use the analysis to support farmers or suppliers in adopting regenerative agriculture practices to improve the health of the soil and ecosystem diversity.

Sustainability

Lastly, you also need to keep in mind the megatrend of sustainable and environmentally-friendly dairy products. This megatrend has driven the dairy industry to innovate by adopting new practices, using new technologies, and nurturing new mindsets.

If you want your dairy business to move alongside these megatrends and succeed under the requirements that come with them, you need to choose a dairy supply chain partner that has the necessary industry experience to provide intelligent solutions.

Rural growth

Another megatrend is the worldwide growth of rural areas. Investment has been shifting into regions that have never been a part of the dairy industry. This megatrend poses different challenges, such as remotely operating haulage, poorly maintained roads, and determining the most fuel and time-efficient way to transport milk from the farm to the factory.

If your dairy firm is present in remote areas anywhere in the world, you’ll need to choose a dairy supply chain partner that can deal with the challenges of haulage routes around the world.

4) Customer Support

The last thing you must consider when choosing a dairy supply chain partner is customer support. You already know how important it is to have 24/7 support services available to you.

Whether your dairy firm is small or large, local or global, you need to be able to turn to your partner if anything comes up and they must be available at the drop of a hat. The dairy supply chain is challenging and complex, so you need to have the best possible partner by your side.

After all, they will help you navigate toward success. Do your due diligence, compare options, and make sure your dairy supply chain partner ticks all the boxes we’ve presented today.