Ask any food scientist what they do in between their new product development projects and they will typically answer…. “cost reductions”.

Food manufacturers are under constant pressure to lower their ingredient, packaging and processing costs and the responsibility usually falls over into the R&D group. Cost reductions are challenging because the goal is usually to keep the product tasting the same, keep the ingredient statement the same, preferably keep the “order” of the ingredients the same — but at the same time, make the product less expensive.

Earlier this week, we reviewed 7 Popular Industrial Manufacturing Blogs. But, since most of our customers are in the food manufacturing industry, I wanted to weigh-in with my favorite food and beverage manufacturing blogs.

These are the daily subscriptions I get delivered to my inbox every day, so that I can keep up to date on the industry.  I think you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

As a marketing manager, I’m always on the lookout for information and education that I think would be worthwhile to share with our manufacturing customers. I scour the web every day to be able to share information from experts that can make your manufacturing run smoother and even make our own manufacturing line better.

Today, I’ve pulled together the most popular industrial manufacturing blogs for you to peruse. As a manufacturer ourselves, these are the blogs that we know help us— and they can help you too.

A few years ago, the owners at Centra Foods and I started going to food shows.

Lucky for me, I got to choose which shows to go to. Unlucky for me, I had no knowledge of food shows.

In typical Hannah fashion, I turned on my search skills, reached out to colleges, talked to customers and spoke with the show’s event leaders.

I ended up with about as much information as one person could compile. I had charts and comparisons, but most helpful was Rachel Zemser’s insight, a food consultant who reviewed these shows for people like me (and maybe you too). She spoke about the heart and soul of each event, which gave me a feeling of what it really felt like to attend. In the end, her insight helped me make the best decisions.

This article was originally featured on the K3S Blog, and is published here with permission.

Over the last few years, wholesalers have been blessed with paying historically low interest rates on their inventory. But according to a top official at the Federal Reserve, all of that is about to change. Is your inventory ready? Even a small increase in these interest rates will have a dramatic effect on your bottom line.

Smarter inventory replenishment is one solution to help shield you from these potentially catastrophic effects.

Here are 5 relatively simple steps you can take to ensure your inventory does not become a liability as these rates increase.

There are lots of decisions to be made when it comes to buying edible oils and fats for your manufacturing company. 

How do you go about beginning to tackle these choices, and make the best moves for your business?

It’s helpful to start the decision process with a little feedback-- peer feedback that is. Understanding what's important to your procurement peers when they buy bulk oils can be helpful. What factors did they look at? What influenced their decisions?

Your peers have been in your shoes and they can provide insight that no one else can– they often hold the key to helping you make the best decisions.

This article was originally posted in 2015, and is being re-published in preparation for the new year.

Last year, I ran a half marathon. But I didn’t just go out and do it. I made a 16 week plan of the runs that I was going to do every day, and how I was going to build up to my 13.1 mile finish.

Professional goals are no different than personal goals like these, but professional goal setting often falls by the wayside. It’s important do strategic goal setting, both for your job and for your department -- especially if you manage other people.

Your professional goals also need a plan-- a course of action, or a list of small daily steps you’re going to take to help accomplish these goals. Here’s how to plan for improvement in 2015.

Setting goals is an important step to improving.

There are, of course, a number of different kinds of goals. You have personal goals for your life, and you have professional goals for your job. But they’re always entangled, some taking priority over others depending on the day.

The best way to achieve all of them is to lay them out separately, prioritize them, and then make a plan for how you can achieve every one.

Here’s a smart framework for purchasing managers to complete your goal setting for 2015-- not just for your job but also for your life.

The packaging you choose for your raw manufacturing ingredients affects how smoothly and efficiently your production process will run.

If you’re debating between drums or totes, there are 3 parts to decision, and they have to do with how your packaging and production team will interact. If you consider these 3 components thoroughly with your team, you’ll almost automatically walk away with a smart decision.  

The price of olive oil is going up this year. In short, global production is down by 25%, which is causing oil prices to increase around the world. If you use olive oil as a food manufacturing ingredient, this change affects your business and your profit margins.

You probably want to bring your cost of ingredients down -- not up -- right?

This is a common concern and is more challenging to achieve in poor olive harvest seasons. It requires you to look closely at your buying strategy and make some tough business decisions.

As most purchasers already know, an RFQ is a "request for quote".  Why do these RFQs benefit manufactures?

The real benefit comes at the end, when a supply contract is signed to cover the companies ingredient needs over the period. An RFQ is a simple, great way for manufacturers to get the lowest bulk oil price possible and reap a number of other benefits in the process.

In fact, we see 3 major benefits that manufactures get from doing an RFQ for their annual volumes, and signing a contract for their ingredient needs.  But first, we'll review what an RFQ is.

The “fliers” in cheerleading are the girls that fly through the air, demonstrating great acrobatics and agility. They are the highlight of cheerleading-- the life of the party.

But these girls don’t fly on their own. They have four other cheerleaders on the ground, working in perfect coordination to support them and toss them in their air. These four team members are the foundation, the support system that makes everything run smoothly and the flier fly, well… higher.

Think of your business as the flier. And think of your vendors and suppliers as your foundation of four on the ground; the cheerleaders in the background who help you do what you do better. It’s true, your business relies on a variety of vendors to work smoothly, to succeed and to fly high. The better relationship and communication you have with them, the higher you can fly.

As a purchaser, you’re responsible for fostering these vendor relationships, and establishing good communication so that your business can keep growing and improving. Want to keep doing your job better?

Here’s 5 ways to keep improving your relationships with your bulk oil vendors and be even more successful in your purchasing role.

Want to get the best deal on bulk edible oil for your business?  You may not to pry it out of your bulk oil ingredient supplier.  In fact, there's lots of simple things that you can do to help cut your own costs and save money.  Hopefully, your supplier is already suggesting them to you!

Take this list into your next meeting with your bulk oil vendor and try to put as many of these strategies into play as possible.  They will cut your costs, allow your team work more efficiently and best of all, prove your worth as a strategic and skilled purchasing manager.

Have you heard predictions that your bul oil ingredient price will increase because the commodity market is going up? Hearing this news can be frustrating for purchasing managers, because you have no control over the market. You are, however, still responsible for protecting your business from rising costs. So what can you do?

There is, in fact, something that you can still do to cut your bulk edible oil costs in times like this. It all has to do with the global commodity market, where your oils are coming from and your buying strategy.

If you are a new business that's decided to start a food brand, the development of your label will play into your branding.  It will connect you  with your target market, and eventually will affect your total sales. The label creation process is incredibly important.

As important as the design comonent is, it's also key to make sure that you include specific information on your labels; both information that your customers want to see and that the government requires for food sales.

As the key marketing person in our own company, I am responsible for designing and developing our own Bella Vina labels.  Part of this job involves making sure that all of the key components are listed.

Want to make sure that you're including everything on your labels that you should be?  Here are the most important label components so that you can market your new food brand as strategically as possible-- and still meet all of the FDA & USDA labeling requirements.