In my many years at Webalo as Manager of Customer Success and Implementation, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with a wide range of industrial companies — from discrete manufacturers and CPG giants to food processors and chemical producers. Each has its own unique challenges, but what they all have in common is a drive to modernize operations, empower their frontline teams, and improve visibility across the enterprise.
Among these, bottling and perishables manufacturers face particularly intense pressure. Short shelf lives, high throughput expectations, strict safety requirements, and constant demand fluctuations make their supply chains especially complex. In this blog, I’ll share the top eight supply chain challenges we see time and again in this space — and the strategies leading manufacturers are using to overcome them.
In an industry where every second, degree, and decision matters, operational inefficiencies can quietly drain millions. Here’s what’s really holding manufacturers back — and how a connected workforce can solve it.
From cold-pressed juice to pharmaceuticals, from growing live plants to specialty coffee grounds, the world of perishable goods and bottling is as diverse as it is unforgiving. These businesses share one brutal truth: if you lose visibility, timing, or operational control, you lose product and profits.
For today’s manufacturers, supply chain performance isn’t just about gaining efficiency — it’s about staying alive in a landscape shaped by demand volatility, tight margins, and increasing regulatory pressure.
At Webalo, we work with leading manufacturers across high-stakes, high-complexity sectors to digitize processes, reduce waste, and give frontline teams the real-time insight they need to act — confidently and immediately. Here are the top 8 challenges facing bottling and perishable goods companies — and how the right digital tools can help solve them.
Inventory Spoilage & Expiry Management
The challenge: Managing freshness across dozens — or hundreds — of SKUs is complex. Overstocking leads to spoilage. Understocking means lost revenue. Traditional FIFO processes often fail during seasonal demand spikes.
The solution: Webalo digitizes inventory tracking with live expiry alerts, automated picking priorities, and ERP-connected warehouse dashboards. Your frontline can now execute decisions that reduce waste — not guess at them.
Lack of Real-Time Supply Chain Visibility
The challenge: Plants, greenhouses, bottling lines, warehouses, and distribution centers operate in silos — with fragmented data. That means costly blind spots across temperature zones, batch statuses, and route timing.
The solution: Webalo creates a unified, mobile-first interface across your MES, ERP, WMS, and IoT systems. From raw input to finished goods delivery, your entire team sees one version of the truth in real time.
Unpredictable Production Scheduling
The challenge: SKU changeovers, specialty packaging, and demand shifts wreak havoc on scheduling. Most systems can’t adjust fast enough.
The solution: Combine live data with machine status and inventory levels to dynamically reprioritize production. With Webalo’s real-time dashboards and alerts, shift leads and supervisors can make smart adjustments on the fly, reducing downtime and boosting throughput.
Manual Compliance & Safety Tracking
The challenge: From FDA to USDA to cGMP requirements, perishable goods manufacturers are drowning in compliance paperwork. And human error puts you at risk of failed audits or worse — recalls.
The solution: Webalo digitizes compliance tracking — from SOP checklists to temperature logs to batch records — and auto-generates a secure digital audit trail. It saves your team hours and keeps your operations inspection-ready.
Cold Chain Monitoring Failures
The challenge: One broken seal, one forgotten cooler, one hour too long on the dock — and your shipment is compromised. Most cold chain issues are caught after the damage is done.The solution: Webalo integrates directly with cold chain sensors to alert frontline teams immediately when a deviation occurs. With mobile reporting and escalation tools, you can respond faster, save product, and maintain compliance.
Workforce Gaps & Knowledge Drain
The challenge: Your most experienced operators know the process inside and out — but that knowledge often walks out the door unshared. Meanwhile, new hires struggle to get up to speed.
The solution: With Webalo, you can capture and distribute tribal knowledge through mobile SOPs, on-demand training tools, and workflow guidance — right where the work happens. That means faster onboarding and fewer costly mistakes.
Line Downtime & Packaging Inefficiencies
The challenge: High-mix, low-volume runs — especially in customized packaging or flavor blends — create bottlenecks, changeover delays, and labeling errors.
The solution: Webalo puts issue reporting, root-cause tracking, and machine data access in the hands of line leaders and technicians. The result? Faster recovery times, better OEE, and a smoother packaging floor.
Siloed Ops & Production Planning
The challenge: Your warehouse is maxed out, and your production team is trying to balance labor. But no one’s on the same page.
The solution: Webalo delivers contextual, role-based views of shared operational data, so operations and planning can make decisions with real-time clarity, not misaligned spreadsheets.
Why Webalo?
Webalo is the Connected Worker Platform for the Frontline — built specifically for the complexity of modern manufacturing. Whether you’re bottling beverages, growing living products, roasting coffee, or managing time-sensitive pharma ingredients, Webalo helps:
- Eliminate waste through real-time insight
- Empower frontline teams with mobile tools and task automation
- Digitize workflows, compliance, and batch tracking — without overhauling your core systems
- Bridge the gap between planning and execution
Webalo takes the inefficiency out of your supply chain — and puts control back in your team’s hands.
Contact Webalo today for a demo customized to your operation.
