ConAgra Foods

1- Background
To complete this project I have chosen ConAgra Foods as one of the
most leading food companies all over the world. It started its business in
North America in 1919 continuing its success to be a well-recognized and
reputed company in food industry field in which it is specialized in packaged
food. ConAgra Foods includes many different brands such as Marie
Callenders, Healthy Choice, Slim Jim etc. This helps the company to sell
its products all over the world and consumers can easily find their preferred
products at groceries and stores. ConAgra Foods has the advantage of
developing a strong business that was supported by launching other
products including supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products and
vegetable. In addition, it supplies spice and grain products targeting most
restaurants, stores and consumers. ConAgra employs nearly 20.000 people
with $ 15.8 billion net sales. This reflects the success that the company has
achieved along its history. ConAgras headquarter is moving to Chicago this
year. Involving leading brands helped ConAgra to gain more market share
mainly in North America. Bakery products were added recently to its wide
range products to be distributed in many restaurants and stores. 26 of
ConAgra Foods consumer brands are ranked as number 1 or 2 in food
industry. Although the competition is high in such sector, ConAgra is more
likely to lead the world market supported with more than $100 million retail
sales each year (ConAgra Food Inc, 2016). As a part of its competition,
ConAgra

depends

on

innovative

products

that

exceed

customers

expectations (giuju8h8u).
2- Strategy of the Company
ConAgras mission is not stated clearly in its official website, but it can be
inferred that ConAgra aims to provide the best taste of food as well as
nutrition that ensures consumers healthy life style (ConAgra Foods Inc,
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2016). The company also aims to do the right thing for its business and all
customers. As a part of its business, it adopts sustainability and care for the
community as well to make the best use of the available resources.
ConAgras growth is planned to happen with no additional environmental
cost.
According to the companys strategy, it seems that since it was established it
leads the food market supported with the wide range of world class brands in
food market. This reflects the differentiation strategy that ConAgra has
adopted during the past few years. As any international food company
ConAgra experienced certain fall and increase while operating in such
competitive market (GASPARRO, 2015). This forced the company to change
its strategy to be more flexible. It is important to develop flexible plans to
face future changes said Sean Connolly, ConAgra Foods Inc.s Chief
Executive.
How productivity is measured
For sure ConAgra measures the employees productivity to ensure that it
meets the determined goals. The company considers different factors while
assessing

the

employees

productivity.

One

of

them

is

customers

satisfaction which is one of the most important indicators showing if a

companys productivity goes in the right way or not. The more productivity
employees adopt the higher customer satisfaction they get in return.
The second main indicator of ConAgra productivity is customers loyalty.
Productivity in that case can be interpreted upon the number of customers
who are loyal and interested in buying the same products. This includes their
desire to get the same unique experience each time they buy such products.
Moving to the third indicator of productivity we will find that sales and
revenues are critical indicators for ConAgra business and productivity.

According to the estimated sales and revenues ConAgra productivity is

assessed each year.
Productivity of food industry can be evaluated easily since there are many
indicators that can be considered for that purpose. For example, customers
satisfaction about the supplied products and the availability of products
reflect on the productivity of food industry. Also, the future demand and
forecasting is another key element in food sector. A companys ability to
meet customers needs as well as providing high quality products is a
significant factor in assessing the employees productivity. Failure to meet
customers needs and inability to maintain good relations between a
company and consumers indicate lack of productivity.
If productivity is not measured
If productivity is not measured, certain theories will be applied especially in
food sector.

One of the most common applications in measuring the

productivity in food sector is net-output approach. Companies that select a

representative labor productivity measure can conduct this approach. In that
case the productivity index estimated by the net-output approach would
work effectively compared with the obtained results of the gross-output.
This approach measures the net-output labor productivity considering under
a rigid assumption. This means that certain inputs will be assessed
separately and they will not contribute to the measurement of productivity
growth. On the other hand, this approach has many advantages. One of
them is benefiting from the value-added as an important output in
productivity assessment.
A good example here is that GDP is estimated to assess a nations
productivity every year. GDP usually depends on the input of labor that can
be estimated in worker-hours multiplied by the labor productivity resulting in
having the real value-added for both workers and working hours. This means
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that the net-output employees productivity can be used to identify to what

extent an industry contributes to a nations GDP. The results of this approach
can be analyzed easily making the best use of technological progress and
capital goods that are provided to workers. In that case, companies will be
able to set a framework to measure the employees productivity. It will be
easy to identify the relationship between capital and labor inputs (Kuo,
2002).
3- Forecasting
Forecasting is very important in any kind of business to be able to identify
the demand and sales rate. Although there is now available data about
ConAgra forecasting, I can recommend certain forecasting strategies to be
applied.
One of the most effective forecasting strategies is Census X-1. This approach
can be applied effectively in the case of ConAgra Company. It combines
between the standard decomposition technique and using the provided
variables including the products trend, seasonality, and cyclicality. In some
cases, irregularity can be benefited to forecast the future demand and sales.
I chose this forecasting technique because it focuses on the seasonal and
cyclical components of the product and this can be applied effectively to
ConAgra Foods Company. In addition, I recommend this method of
forecasting because it depends on giving certain number of trading days in
the month. This gives the company an advantage to identify future
forecasting depending on the given number of trading days as an input to
the forecast process (Hamlett, 2016).
4- Capacity planning
ConAgra Foods follow three steps strategy to manage its capacity. This
strategy is implemented for each product.

Firstly, the company determines its services requirements. This includes

categorizing its work to make sure that the provided services or products
meet customers expectations.
Secondly, ConAgra Foods analyze its current capacity for each product to
identify whether the supplied products meet customers needs or not.
Thirdly, the company plans for the future. This includes forecasting the future
demand to match the conducted activities to customers demand (Rich,
2010).
ConAgra provides sufficient products to customers all over the world
supported with its effective forecasting strategy. If they need more capacity,
the company is ready to do certain changes in its production system such as
manpower or increasing the working hours to meet market demand. This
might include changes in its operating strategies to be able to meet the
future demand. Excessive capacity is handled effectively to make sure that it
does not exceed the permitted level to be managed.
5- Process selection and facility layout
ConAgra Foods depends on integrated production line in which the products
are produced through several stages. The company has developed a smooth
production line to save time and effort. Facilities are provided upon the
available area. This also includes considering providing enough space for
employees to handle the products effectively.
In its process selection, ConAgra choose the most suitable production
process. For example, the elected process has to be cost effective, save time
and effort, efficiency, and to contribute to producing high quality products
that meet customers needs.

Flowchart of food production in ConAgra Foods

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The flowchart shows that the companys layout includes several stages for
its production process. It can be noticed also steps are mostly fixed since it is
related to food production. Flexibility cannot be applied to such kind of
stages since the first step should be the first and the same case is applied to
the whole flowchart.
6- Product and service design
ConAgra supplies a variety of packed food products all over the world. While
handling the design of its products, we will find that each product has a
special design that fit the product characteristics to maintain the great taste.
Among the provided products I chose the canned beans and tomato
products. It is one of the most unique food products that ConAgra supplies.
The product was discovered since the company was established and
attracted most of the American customers. Although most of the products
design fit the products nature, the chosen product can be redesigned to be
recycled as a part of the corporate social responsibility. I suggest redesigning
the container to be replaced with light and recyclable materials to save the
environment form additional amounts of cans.

In addition, certain improvements can be implemented to improve ConAgra

food products. One of them is that instead of the manual opening of packed
or canned products they can be upgraded to easy-open cans. Another thing
that can be improved in such products is that the company can develop
smaller cans or cans that fit individuals meals. This will also contribute to
saving raw materials and wastes.
Upgrading to the suggested design will help ConAgra to boost its
sustainability strategy. Less waste will be produced and this will contribute to
saving the environment. This includes reducing food waste that might occur
due to over production. Also, the new design of cans allows the company to
reuse them effectively and save costs of production. Recycling will be an
easy task in that case and this will be an effective factor in preserving the
environment and maintaining the environmental resources.
7- Location
ConAgra Foods main branch is located in North America. This location was
related to the developer of the company since it was his origin. Now ConAgra
Foods has many different branches all over the world. This gives the
company a big distribution advantage since it covers most of the European
market as well as the Middle East market. This also gives the company
higher competitive advantage compared with other competitors. The
decision of expanding the companys branches all over the world was taken
upon the vision of ConAgra Company. It aims to provide high quality products
all over the world. Upon this vision it was required to consider the
demographic and distribution factors. The location of the established
branches in each country has also considered customers demand and the
companys supply chain to save time and effort. In my opinion, I think that
ConAgra has a strategic location that supports its business. I think also that
the location allows the company to market and distribute products easily.
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There are four determinants of quality that are implemented to ensure the
quality of ConAgra products. I chose beans with tomato can to discuss these
four elements. The first determinant is cleanliness of cans and design. The
company has hygiene experts who make sure the produced cans are clean
and meet the international standards. They also make sure that the product
has a stylish design that meets customers expectations.

For example,

beans and tomato cans were upgraded to have easy-open style recently. The
second determinate is conformance. This includes making sure that the
produced product is produced upon the determined production plan in a way
that supports the companys vision. The third factor is the ease of
instructions especially in the production line. Clear instructions and visions
usually result in better quality. Fourth factor includes after delivery in which
products are expected to last for a specific time in the same high quality. This
also includes the ease of return or replacement due to any recommendations
if any.
To improve the quality of ConAgra Foods, cause and effect is an effective tool
that is used to identify the problem to be solved. For example, in case of any
failures or defects in a product, a cause and effect tool can be implemented
to identify the root of the problem according the production stages. The
problem is investigated from the start of the production line and each cause
is illustrated into smaller causes until defining the main cause of such failure.
Then a solution is developed to be implemented and face the problem.
I highly recommend that ConAgra should deal with world class suppliers not
only to depend on its internal quality strategy. It is important to get high
quality raw materials as well to ensure the quality of the provided services.
The company has to deal with suppliers who can provide clean and fresh raw
material at a competitive price to ensure the quality and success of business.
If I would benchmark I would select Al Ain Company. I would benchmark Al
Ain Companys vegetables products. I might choose this company since it is
a leading Emirati food company that follows high quality standards that have
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contributed to its success till now. I also chose this company since it has the
same production and operate in the same field as a main competitor in the
UAE.
9In conclusion, it can be noticed that ConAgra Foods is a leading food
company that operates all over the world and has achieved a significant
success supported with its competitive advantages. Upon the presented
information I think that ConAgra is looking forward to achieving more success
through covering more area and gaining more market shares. It is clear that
the company is studying the international market well and aims to compete
effectively to maintain such success. The selected strategies are followed
and

implemented

improvement

effectively.

strategy

to

ConAgra

meet

also

customers

adopts

expectations.

continuous
I

suggest

implementing Total Quality Management as an effective quality tool. It is a

comprehensive quality strategy they will contribute to the companys
success giving more control starting from the raw materials till the final
product. I highly recommend developing periodical surveys to identify
customers needs to be met as an essential part of the products quality.

Bibliography
ConAgra Food Inc. (2016). Company Fact Sheet . Retrieved March 18, 2016, from
conagrafoods.com: http://www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/company-factsheet
ConAgra Foods Inc. (2016). Our Commitment . Retrieved March 18, 2016, from
conagrafoods.com: http://www.conagrafoods.com/our-commitment
GASPARRO, A. (2015, June 28). ConAgras New CEO to Talk Strategy. Retrieved
March 18, 2016, from wsj.com: http://www.wsj.com/articles/conagras-newceo-to-talk-strategy-1435450750
Hamlett, K. (2016). Methods and Techniques of Sales Forecasting. Retrieved 2016,
from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/methods-techniques-sales-forecasting4693.html
Kuo, H. (2002). Measuring Food Manufacturing Productivity: Gross- or Net-Output
Approach? American Agricultural Economics Association .
Rich, J. (2010). How to do capacity planning . Retrieved 2016, from teamquest.com:
https://www.teamquest.com/import/pdfs/whitepaper/tqwp23.pdf

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