“Lean thinking” in the agriculture sector can help build a more sustainable food system and reduce food waste, new research from Brunel University in the UK found.
The research focused on four large South African fruit growers that practice “forward integrated” supply chains, where they look at cold storage, packaging, transport, marketing and sales. The growers looked for new practices and technology to maximize yield and use resources more effectively, while reducing food waste.
Lean thinking is a way of looking at an activity in terms of the waste generated by ineffective processes. It marries customer satisfaction with employee satisfaction to reduce unnecessary costs to buyers, suppliers and the environment. By training employees to improve processes that create waste, the enterprise ultimately offers more value at less expense.
The main practice of the focus farms was that they talk to their stakeholders often. “In the past, these farmers just kept producing endlessly, which caused a lot of waste and led to considerable losses of money,” says Dr. Manoj Dora, director of large collaborative projects and outreach at Brunel Business School in London (via FoodNavigator.com). “But now, incorporating lean management methods into their day-to-day operations, suppliers are starting to respond to demand.”
Generally, marrying agriculture production with consumer demand, rather than just producing as much as possible, is a challenge for food producers. But by using a forward contracting process - notably, having buyers put their orders in a year in advance and then tailoring their orders a few weeks ahead of delivery date - growers reduce waste and spend less money on resources.
However, Dora warns, lean thinking does not work by creating a new process a single time and then forgetting it. It requires “continuous adjustment and improvement,” he says.
