US Food Processing Company

Any company involved in food processing, packaging and distribution knows that the purity and safety of its products cannot be compromised. Beyond the extremely high costs of recalls, regulatory fines and potential litigation, the greatest cost of any failure to maintain absolute food safety is the loss of their most valuable asset – customer trust.

So, it is no surprise that a food processing company and manufacturer must focus intensely on controlling every aspect of their production operations and must be able to prove compliance through a myriad of procedural documents, inspection logs, and lot control and logistics records.

For this food processing company’s highly-automated operations, that focus must extend to how they manage the safety and security of their information systems and data. The company responded immediately when they recognized a vulnerability in the control of internal access to its core IBM i systems and data.

With quality and operational efficiency being the key drivers of its global success, the company maintains tight control over every link in its products’ farm-to-table chain. Intense involvement with their grower partners includes strict oversight of organic farming practices as well as harvesting and transport procedures. All manufacturing facilities are certified SQF Level 3, USDA Organic, OU Kosher, Allergen Free and NON-GMO Project Verified.

Key parts of its business run on IBM i servers, including ERP systems, BI/reporting and analytics, and agriculture management applications. Highly automated processing and packaging operations are also driven by numerous in-house developed applications and methods.

Because of its total dependency on advanced IT for both production and business operations, the company must maintain the highest possible levels of systems and data security.

Not long after joining the company, the company’s Software Development Manager conducted a full review of its IBM i systems, with special focus on security issues. What he found caused him serious concern.

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