Kraft Heinz and Microsoft join forces to accelerate supply chain transformation

The Kraft Heinz Company (Kraft Heinz) and Microsoft are joining forces to develop solutions designed to accelerate the consumer goods giant’s transformation and enable a more resilient supply chain.

With Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform, Kraft Heinz will be able to migrate the majority of its global datacentre assets to Azure and its ERP software to SAP on Azure. This transformation is expected to create a more collaborative supply chain, enhance consumer experiences and anticipate consumer and channel demand.

The creation of a supply chain control tower’ for Kraft Heinz will act by serve as air traffic control across the company’s full product portfolio. The control tower will provide real-time visibility into plant operations and automation of its supply chain distribution across Kraft Heinz’s 85 product categories. This innovation – powered by Azure’s AI, IoT and data analytics capabilities – enables the company to get its products in the hands of its more than 2,500 US retailer and food service customers and millions of consumers as fast and cost-effective as possible.

Additionally, Kraft Heinz will create ‘digital twins’ for its 34 owned manufacturing facilities in North America to help test and perfect solutions and processes before applying them on the plant floor.

Finally, Kraft Heinz and Microsoft will create a joint digital innovation office to co-engineer new solutions that will help the company drive efficiencies using hybrid experiences powered by Microsoft AI, machine learning and IoT.

The initiative will be Kraft Heinz’s largest technology investment to date.

Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said: “The past two years have highlighted the urgent need for digital-first supply chain solutions across every industry. Through this collaboration, we’re working shoulder to shoulder with Kraft Heinz, applying the power of Azure, data analytics and the industrial metaverse to co-innovate and create hybrid experiences that will ultimately put goods in the hands of retailers and consumers when they need and want them.”

Carlos Abrams-Rivera, executive vice president and president, North America at Kraft Heinz said: “As part of our AGILE@SCALE transformation we are building a leading tech ecosystem to benefit the entire value chain. Our collaboration with Microsoft is a critical piece of our transformation strategy, providing us with the machine learning and advanced analytics to drive innovation and efficiencies across the supply chain so we can get products into the market faster, better serve our customers and, ultimately, deliver on the sustained and growing consumer demand our iconic brands continue to experience.”