[Watch] The Economic Benefits to Food Manufacturers Implementing Safefood 360°

We are pleased to announce the first of its kind empirical study which examines the economical benefit of implementing software solutions such as Safefood 360°.

Although the uptake of dedicated software solutions to manage Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management has increased significantly in recent years, the independent study of their benefits has, until now, remained a relatively under explored topic of study.

To address this, we have commissioned an independent report from academic researchers Dr. Ray Lambert and Dr. Marion Frenz, to explore these key benefits of implementing Safefood software and present their results in a transparent way, without fluff or commercial spin.

The report, now available to download here, has been preceded by a launch webinar which is now available to view on-demand:

About the report

The aim of this research is to provide objective analysis of benefits of deploying the Safefood 360° platform directly into a food manufacturing facility, as well as at a wider business group level.

The intention of this report is to determine through quantitative and qualitative means the perceived economic value Safefood 360° solutions bring to the business across time, cost, and efficiency savings.

All key stakeholders and users from Safefood sites were invited to take part in the survey with approximately 25% participating.

Their involvement was anonymous, and no identifiers were used.

The only discerning questions asked where to separate novice uses from experienced (length of time their organisation had Safefood), and to allow analysis between single site and multi-site implementations.

Responses were solicited directly within the Safefood application for a period of 8 weeks.

All responses were collected between October – December, 2024.

Existing Research

While previous research extensively discusses conceptual models of FSM and SQM, and the potential for specialised software, there is a notable lack of empirical studies.

The most relevant body of research highlights the commercial benefits and resource costs of adopting food safety standards like BRCGS, IFS, and ISO 22000.

However, while compliance with standards does offer commercial benefits, implementation costs and the time spent by staff in executing and subsequently reporting on tasks are concerns for some businesses.

Software solutions, such as the one assessed in this study offered by Safefood 360°, can mitigate these costs, enhancing the value of these standards and ongoing compliance of food manufacturers.

Research Findings

The report has found strong evidence that using Safefood 360° software can reduce costs and resources required to maintain food safety and supplier quality compliance.

These benefits are across a range of business functions, including business efficiency, internal audits, supplier audits, information and document management, and dissemination of information for monitoring management actions among the leading areas.

Impacts on the storage, retrieval, and use of essential documents were most commonly reported.

• 85% of the user base report cost savings following implementation from previous practices.
• Time savings averaged between 12 – 17% of time compared to previous practices.
• On average, larger global organisations reported 19% savings.
• The highest savings achieved are related to storing and retrieving documents.

A significant share of businesses also stated that the software provided effective support for audit functions:

• 90% realised savings when preparing for external audits.
• 100% of larger businesses reported time reductions from standardising audit records.
• Staff time savings were between 11 and 16% across all responses.
• The highest share of time saving, nearly 16%, was found in preparing for internal audits.

For monitoring records, management actions conducted in the software saw that:

• 70 – 90% of users experienced time savings.
• 100% of larger businesses using the Enterprise level of the software, reported time reductions for resolving preventative and corrective actions.
• For businesses who used the software for more than five years, 84% reported ongoing staff time savings. This points towards some of the system benefits being achieved after the initial learning period is complete.

On the scale of impacts:

• Estimates of time savings on tasks are between 7 – 12% of staff time across all activities.
• The largest time savings (12%) are for reports on trends in non-conformance results.

More than 10% in time savings were generated in the following areas:

• Following up incomplete tasks.
• Assigning corrective actions to staff.
• Reporting trends in non-conformance results.

The effects of accessing and sharing data across the business saw that:

• Almost 80% noted time savings when sharing information with colleagues.
• The amount of time saved averaged between 7-9% dependent on task.

Supplier Quality Management Results

Lastly, the benefits of Supplier Quality Management was assessed concurrently and produced notable results:

• Overall savings from using the software averaged approximately 8% of staff time.
• On specific areas, basic document organisation and retrieval generated savings of more than 16% of time, with other functions experiencing between 7 to 11% reduction.

What these results mean

Overall, the survey results confirm and build upon the insights from previous research that implementing compliance standards also provides efficiency gains to food manufacturers.

Further, these efficiency gains can be significantly increased through the implementation of dedicated software solutions for compliance management, such as Safefood 360°.

Specifically, the Safefood 360° solution demonstrates significant results in enabling food manufacturers to materially reduce the level of resources they need in maintaining compliance.

By reducing resources needed to maintain GFSI, legal, and retailer technical compliance, this also enables the material increase of commercial meanings, meaning food manufacturers, producers and storers, can enable greater oversight while reducing their bottom line cost basis.

These results are also augmented and supported by operating in compliance with one or more food safety standards.

The exact level of cost savings will be unique to an individual business as it will vary based on what modules and the level to which they are deployed, savings will tend to accumulate across all areas where the software is implemented.

Get help calculating your own cost savings and efficiency gains

Determining what the specific cost savings for your business starts with a no obligation conversation.

Our team will assess your current practices and where you can make these cost savings.

Following this talk, we’ll also arrange a no-pressure demonstration of the platform for you and your colleagues so you can see the system in use.