ABSTRACT

The report analyzed that Dog Global Manufacturing is improving supply chain management through sustainable operations and high quality supply chain management. The report analyzed the status of the global pet supplies market and the importance of sustainable supply chain management. Two elements were selected as the process for improving supply chain management: sustainable packaging and automation technology. Rather, challenges and questions from the chosen approach were also analyzed in this report. The report contains only a few recommendations for developing sustainable supply chain management.

Table of Contents

Introduction.. 4

Discussion.. 4

Context setting of the global pet care market 4

Relevance of the research topic to contemporary operations management 9

Consideration of best practices and limitations. 11

Realistic recommendations. 14

Conclusion.. 15

References. 16

Introduction

After the COVID-19 effect, every industry wants to make it selves sustainable and competent for the long run in the market. COVID 19 affected the economic sustainability and credibility in the supply chain. The factors in the supply chain need to be modified for the betterment of market performance. In the post COVID market, food production and pet markets are affected with economic and resource related effects. Although in the lockdown period, the market needed to work on the system sustainability and development. Dog Global Manufacturing would also need to change the management approach in the supply chain for better sustainability. All the markets in the time of COVID were affected but the pet care products market was improved. Therefore, it is important to focus on the development of the market for better sustainability and management. The report would focus on the development of sustainability in supply chain management for the selected company.

Discussion

Context setting of the global pet care market

Pet care market is one of the most beneficial markets across the world. In the UK, the pet care market is beneficial and can generate 2.9 billion pounds on an average. Moreover, the veterinary products and services would improve its market share with the value of 2.1 billion pounds in a year (Statista, 2021). According to the report of Statista (2021), pet ownership in the UK has increased in the time of COVID-19. Therefore, approximately, 59% households own pets. The food market for Dogs values 1.4 billion British Pounds.

Figure 1: Pet care market value in the UK

Source: (Statista, 2021)

During the COVID pandemic, the UK population was more inclined to the adoption of pets. The distribution of the pet care market might be found out in various ways such as stores, Ecommerce and other sales channels. Store based retailing of the pet care products are dominant in the market.

Figure 2: Pet care market

Source: (gminsights.com, 2021)

According to research by Statista (2021), 12 million dogs were adopted in the UK market in 2021. 452 stores of Pet at Home were in operation in the UK market during the pandemic The Company is one of the leading pet suppliers in Europe. The numbers of pet dogs have increased during the COVID pandemic from 9 million in 2019-20 to 12.5 million in 2020-21 in the UK (gminsights.com, 2021).

Figure 3: number of dog adoption in UK market

Source: (Statista, 2021)

Figure 4: pet adoption in UK

Source: (Statista, 2021)

Pet food segment is expected to grow up to $6606 million USD by the end of 2021 Moreover, the expected growth of the market annually is -0.39% in CAGR 2021-2026 (Statista, 2021). Pet food market is expected to grow by the volume of 1503 mug by 2026 (Fortunebusinessinsights.com, 2021).  The growth of the food segment would be -7.6% by 2022 (Prnewswire.com, 2021).

Figure 5: Global Pet Food as per animal’s categories

Source: (Fortunebusinessinsights.com, 2021)

The pet care market would be improved with the development of store management and supply chain management. Pet care service was valued with the worth of 66.5 billion USD in 2020 by a CAGR of 88% during the period of forecasting (Fortunebusinessinsights.com, 2021). Therefore, food products for the pets and toys market have been improved during this COVID pandemic situation.

Pet toys market can be considered as a highly competitive and growing market, which has given chances to both regional and multinational companies to penetrate. The pet toy manufacturers are using collaboration with online and offline retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Petco and Chewy to improve their presence in the market. The market has the forecast of a highly functional and profitable future. Therefore, during the covid-19 crisis, the market was projected to be US $ 2.1 billion (GlobeNewswire News Room, 2021). It is expected that the market would reach a valuation of $3.7 billion by 2027 from a global perspective (GlobeNewswire News Room, 2021).

Figure 6: Global pet supplements market

Source: (Grandviewresearch.com, 2021.)

In the modern scenario, the millennial are health conscious therefore, they are emphasizing on the health and safety of their pets. As a result, health care supplements are very popular. The pet supplement market in 2021 is 1.55 billion USD and the growth rate of the market is 5.9% (CAGR) from 2021 to 2028 (Grandviewresearch.com, 2021). Different key players such as Nestle, Vetriscience, Ark Networks and so on are present in the market. Moreover, the market has given the chances of customization in the products as per the wishes of customers and the suggestions of healthcare experts. 

Relevance of the research topic to contemporary operations management

In the post-COVID19 context, sustainability would be needed for the better management of the business. With the help of sustainable supply chain operations, wastage of resources and money. Global pet industry would need sustainable options in the supply chain for a high level of functionality in the market. The awareness and welfare factors should be maintained in the market. However, the pet toys and packaging of pet care products are not based mostly on sustainable materials and substances. Therefore, the chances of waste are higher and the need for sustainability is critical. In the COVID-19 scenario, the trend of adopting pets is high therefore, the supply chain of the pet food and supplements was exploited (HBR, 2021).

Unrealistic deadlines and limited capacity in the supply chain would affect the sustainability factors in the companies. Traditional practices of packaging and maintaining supply chains might affect the environmental and economical sustainability. To improve competitive advantages in the market, most of the companies were focusing on product development and distribution. As a result, overtime of workforce and different level supplies could be observed in the market. On the other hand, pet toys and supplements produce a lot of waste. Recycling of the products and having a proper sustainable chain for supply management would help to improve the waste management among the pet care industry.

Sustainable operation in the pet care product manufacturing processes would help to improve the waste management and the development of long-term positive effects in the market. Therefore, the sustainability operations in the market would improve the high level of the savings in terms of environmental and economical resources. Therefore, direct, indirect and collective approaches should be used for the better management of pet care products (HBR, 2021). Appropriate sales channels identification is very important as the sales channel for this supply chain was disrupted. Most of the people referred their purchase intention to the e-commerce platforms. However, Dog manufacturing company has not maintained any kind of digital presence and operations, which affected the sustainability factors in the company supply chain.

Figure 7: Dog-food supply chain channels in the European segment

Source: (Tyler, 2021)

This report has shed light on the discussion whether pet care products are obtained through the development of sustainable options in the supply chain. As a care product manufacturer the company would need different recommendations and strategic management for higher-level sustainability in the industrial framework.

Consideration of best practices and limitations

Plastic free sustainable supply chain: As in the COVID pandemic situations, Chemical factories and manufacturing units were affected with labour shortage, financial crunch and economic tax policy alterations (Harvard Business Review, 2021). Therefore, plastic production has been affected. Due to the crisis of plastics, the value of plastic products is increased and this would lead to a decline in demand (Molina‐Busch and Pals son, 2016). For example, during Christmas, the UK would face a higher crisis in the supply of toys due to the crisis of essential products like plastics and other traditional materials (Economic Times, 2021).

To manage the crisis of food packaging in the supply chain in near future, Mars pet care has removed 180 tones of plastic use by replacing it with the use of cardboard (Mars, 2021). The company is aiming to become zero-use of plastics in packaging by 2025 (Mars, 2021). The company has collaborated with the retail giant Asda for in-store refill zones. In these zones, the pet care brands like Whiskas and Pedigree are included in the initiative. The company has implemented in-store refill systems in 40 retail stores of Pet At Home (Corbin, 2021). Pedigree Schmackos and all products of Dreamiest reduced 12% and 27.6 tones of virgin plastics in packaging to improve a sustainable and eco-friendly supply chain (Mars, 2021).

Figure 8: Supply chain in Flexible Plastic Funds

Source: (Mars, 2021)

Mars has also introduced “Flexible Plastic Funds” both roll out plastic recycling processes in the supply chain (Mars, 2021). On the other hand, Petco has decided to improve the assortment for using sustainable products to 50% by 2025 (Petco, 2021). The company used responsible manufacturing, sustainable materials and ingredients, recyclable packaging and animal welfare. By replacing plastics, other requirements in manufacturing can be improved. For example, Petco aimed to use 1.5 million plastic bottles in making pet toys (Petco, 2021). Nestle Purina also used recycling of plastics and sustainability practices in the packaging in the development of sustainability management. The company is aiming to omit the use of plastic from packaging and use those for recycled PET bottles.

Automation in supply chain: Changing the process of industry would be needed for the betterment of production and manufacturing. Automation is needed in the development of a better sustainable supply chain. Moreover, pet food products can be obtained by the use of different types of automation facilities. During covid-19, pandemic labour crisis and resource management are two very critical factors to maintain. Therefore, automation is the solution for sustainable management of the supply chain. Thereafter, high-speed machine implementation can be beneficial for the plant to get continuous production. From packaging to delivering high performance of machines would help improve the real-time supply chain. Therefore, automation and digitalization are used by the leaders of pet foods manufacturers like Mars and Petco. High performance architecture with integrated systems can improve the opportunity of production in a single platform. Consumer demand can be met with the patented innovations. Nestle Purina pet care has also implemented virtual reality technology for stone planning. Virtual technology helps to improve the scale of production (Nestlé Global, 2021). Flexibility and acceleration would be increased for manufacturing pet foods. The company invested 550 million USD for building a new factory and emphasizing on virtual reality. Mars Inc. has a partnership with Microsoft for cloud networking strategy. Moreover, digital twining, internet of things and AI technology are the factors associated with cloud networking strategy to focus on the intelligent supply chain. Automation technology would not only improve the digital performance and advancement of the supply chain but also consumer experiences. Mars collaborated with Azure to continue advanced infrastructure and distribute workloads. With the help of Azure, Mars Inc. can use 100% renewable energy at their data centers by 2025 and reach the goal of 0% greenhouse gas emission. The company is also focusing on 67% value chain optimization by 2050. Therefore, it can be observed that automation and digital technology help to improve the sustainability options in the supply chain network to reduce environmental impact and improve technological solutions by saving energy and raw materials.

Challenges

There are several challenges associated with the automation technology as well. Moreover, automation technology can improve the workforce challenges with the help of in-house technical experts but it would cut down the number of employees.  In addition to that, automation might not always be adaptable to the next innovation in the product (Path and Ravishankar, 2020). The composition and processing techniques for pet foods are changing in everyday scenarios therefore, it is important to get renewable and innovative products with the change of market trend (Andiyappillai, 2021). However, the holistic approach might not be suitable for the automation process and would challenge the equipment standpoint and technological expertise (Muhammad, 2020). Now automation industry or digitalization might be effective for sustainable operations but have different threats like cyber crime and intellectual property displacement. Lack of technical knowledge might affect the production obtained by the automation process.

Consumer expectations and standardized procedures are critical for the fast enable packaging. The customer’s expectations do not support the options of sustainable packaging. The perforation rate and product appearance might be different from the customer’s expectation in sustainable packaging (Moth, 2021). On the other hand, product safety and cost management are the critical concerns related to recyclables. Cost management is a concern, as the customers might not be interested to pay more for sustainable development, as the traditional packaging designs are muslin cost friendly. Carbon footprint is not always maintained by sustainable packaging. To implement sustainability through packaging companies can collaborate with other manufacturers and service providers. Calculated long-term packaging patients would be implemented to reduce cost.

Realistic recommendations

• Dog manufacturing companies implement paper waste packaging recyclable packaging materials while distributing the food products. Packaging materials can be tasted before launching in the market. Proper packaging does not need a lot of plastic and chemicals. The company can also avoid the plastic crisis in the UK market through the alternative sustainable options.
• Use of plastics can be reduced with a supply chain for collecting the plastics served by the company. The use of plastics can be incorporated in making pet toys. Plastic recycling would be improved with the company with the help of proper machines and supplies and regulations. Expert supply chain manager can be appointed for collecting all the distributed plastics. With the help of technology, the plastics can be used making pet toys.
• New age designs can be considered recommendations. As most of the toys are manufactured by non-renewable materials, the company can introduce pet toys, which are made up of cotton, wool and renewable materials.
• The company uses Excel sheets and spreadsheets for the management of the supply chain, which would take a lot of time and effort also. Therefore, they can use cloud services. With cloud technology, data of supplies can be stored in the centralized format. As a result, the company can obtain all the data easily without any error and can save the time of operations.
• The company mostly uses traditional ways of manufacturing and product development. Therefore, automation technology and regulated technology can be implemented for the betterment of the services. The automation technology not only improves the production capacity but also the speed of sustainable operations. With the help of automation technology, the company can also rapidly improve their level of sustainable operations like recycle level packaging and higher production with less wastage.

Conclusion

The report has analysed that the dog global manufacturing improves their supply chain management through sustainable operations and high quality supply chain management. The report has analysed the context of the global pet care market along with the relevance of sustainable supply chain management. Two factors such as sustainable packaging and automation technology have been selected as the process for the better supply chain management. On the contrary, challenges and issues from the selected approaches have also been analysed in this report. Few recommendations are suggested through the report for the development of sustainable supply chain management.