The initiative is one of the company's largest technology investments to date.

Kraft Heinz has partnered with Microsoft to bring digital solutions to its supply chain, coming under the group’s wider digital transformation strategy AGILE@SCALE.

Under the new partnership, Kraft Heinz will harness several offerings from Microsoft to create what the group says is a more “collaborative” supply chain, migrating its online assets to Microsoft’s cloud platform Azure to digitize its processes.

“As part of our AGILE@SCALE transformation, we are building a leading tech ecosystem to benefit the entire value chain,” said Carlos Abrams-Rivera, executive vice president and president, North America, Kraft Heinz.

“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.

As part of this push, Heinz will use Azure Digital Twins to create digital twins of its 34 manufacturing facilities, trialing processes before their real-life application and curbing operational costs by pre-empting potential problems.

In addition, Heinz will use Microsoft’s cloud platform to create what it has dubbed a “Supply Chain Control Tower” offering real-time visibility into plant operations and automating its supply chains to streamline distribution. 

Finally, Kraft Heinz and Microsoft will create a joint Digital Innovation Office to identify and implement digital solutions incorporating AI, machine learning and IoT.

“The past two years have highlighted the urgent need for digital-first supply chain solutions across every industry,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft.

“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.”

Kraft Heinz has been working to deploy its AGILE@SCALE initiative over the past 18 months, identifying tech solutions it believes can streamline the company’s value chain.

This article first appeared on IoT World Today. Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest IoT news straight to your inbox.

Image: Kraft Heinz