US food products company Rich Products has enlisted Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to drive its end-to-end supply chain transformation – enhancing integrated planning and agility, and helping it meet changing customer demands.

Buffalo, New York based Rich’s supply chain supports the manufacture of diverse food products, from cakes and icings to pizza, appetisers, and specialty toppings. Like other food companies in the last decade, it has experienced major shifts in products, consumption behaviour, delivery channels, and the consumer experience.

According to Rich Products, the pandemic has also accelerated the need for more agile and intelligent supply chains.

TCS will help Rich’s deploy a cloud-based planning platform to unify a variety of demand and supply data. Using artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)-based data analysis and a digital twin foundation, the intelligent platform will autonomously predict issues, risks and opportunities.

Rich will use these data-driven insights to increase its agility and accuracy in decision making while addressing business disruptions, transportation management, and changes in consumer demand.

TCS will also establish scaleable integrations between Rich’s current technology landscape and the new platform to ensure end-to-end planning-to-execution visibility and orchestration.

Unifying different systems, including customer, supplier and manufacturing, will provide insights to help Rich’s associates develop investment scenarios and make informed decisions.

“Data are like food ingredients. Unless you are using the proper tools, you may never get the optimal outcome,” said Yexi Liu, chief information officer, Rich Products. “With TCS, Rich’s end-to-end supply chain transformation is focused on harnessing the power of data by adopting agile technologies that will help us optimise operations, meet customer demand, and achieve continued success.”

“Companies leveraging scaleable, resilient, and autonomous supply chain technologies stand to gain a competitive advantage during the pandemic and beyond,” said Dave Jordan, global head, Consulting & Services Integration, TCS. “With our deep domain knowledge, consulting-led offerings, and expertise in AI and ML, we will help Rich’s re-imagine its supply chain to drive optimal investment decisions, while enabling faster product innovation and exceptional customer service.”