Revolutionizing the Food Industry with RPA

Revolutionizing the Food Industry 

How Ardent Mills Leveraged Microsoft Power Platform for Innovation*

In the rapidly growing and evolving food industry, innovation is the key to gaining a competitive edge. Ardent Mills, a premier flour-milling and ingredient company, recognized this need and successfully implemented Microsoft Power Platform to streamline its operations and drive innovation across its global plants. This case study explores how Ardent Mills harnessed the power of technology to enhance productivity, ensure compliance, and deliver an unparalleled customer and employee experience.

The Challenge:

As Ardent Mills expanded its operations across multiple countries, ensuring efficient processes and optimal productivity became a priority. The company’s quality managers faced a tedious and time-consuming process of manually entering data into Excel forms, leading to inefficiencies and errors in the overall team productivity. Ardent Mills needed a solution that could not only streamline these processes but also provide real-time insights and analytics.

The Solution: Microsoft Power Platform

Ardent Mills turned to Microsoft Power Platform, a suite of business intelligence, app development, and app connectivity tools. The company’s IT team used Power Apps to create a custom application named “Cross Check,” allowing quality managers and lab technicians from different plants to enter data directly. The collected data was then stored in Microsoft SharePoint Online lists, providing a centralized and efficient solution.

Empowering Ardent Mills through Microsoft Power Platform

Ardent Mills stands out as a pioneer in leveraging technology to streamline its operations and enhance overall efficiency. The integration of Microsoft Power Platform proved to be a game-changer for the company, bringing about transformative benefits across various facets of its business processes.

At the core of this evolution were three key components seamlessly integrated into Ardent Mills’ operations:

Power Apps: Revolutionizing the user experience, Power Apps facilitated the creation of an intuitive, user-friendly application for data entry.

SharePoint Online: Serving as the centralized repository, SharePoint Online played a crucial role in efficiently storing and managing the collected data.

Power BI: Unleashing the power of real-time insights, Power BI replaced manual Excel calculations, providing instant access to reports and analytics.

Realizing Significant Benefits:

The adoption of Microsoft Power Platform yielded substantial benefits for Ardent Mills, reshaping its approach to daily operations:

• • Time Savings: Drastic reductions in the time spent on quality control reviews, data entry, and calculations.
  • Real-time Insights: The implementation of Power BI offered instantaneous and up-to-date insights into testing results across all plants.
  • Error Reduction: Automated processes significantly mitigated the risk of human errors.
  • Efficiency Gains: Overall team productivity witnessed a notable increase, with reporting processes streamlined for enhanced efficiency.
  • Scaling Across Operations: What began as a successful pilot application soon scaled across Ardent Mills’ expansive operations. The solution seamlessly extended its reach to 35 plants, involving over 70 users who conducted approximately 170 checks monthly. Notably, Power BI reports not only presented results instantly but also automated the data refreshing process, eliminating manual efforts.

Microsoft Power Platform is a versatile suite comprising Power Virtual Agents, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power BI. The seamless connectivity between these elements allows for the creation of holistic business solutions tailored to organizational needs. With its low-code capabilities, Power Platform empowers users of various technical backgrounds to efficiently craft solutions that align with their unique requirements.

All in all, Ardent Mills’ journey with Microsoft Power Platform exemplifies the transformative potential of technology when harnessed strategically. As industries continue to evolve, such integrative solutions will likely play an integral role in shaping the future landscape of business operations.

Ardent Mills’ success story showcases the broader potential of Microsoft Power Platform across industries. The platform’s simplicity, customization options, efficiency gains, insights, and connectivity make it a valuable asset for businesses worldwide.

In a world where innovation is synonymous with success, Ardent Mills has set a precedent in the food industry by leveraging Microsoft Power Platform. This case study highlights the transformative impact of technology on traditional processes, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and forward-thinking in today’s competitive business landscape. As industries continue to evolve, the integration of powerful solutions like Microsoft Power Platform will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of business operations.

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*Source: customers.Microsoft.com