General Mills

General Mills

Driving greater resilience within corn crops

Context

Corn is one of the world’s most important food crops, but global events have put pressure on the supply chain. General Mills thinks strategically about its supply flexibility, to minimise the chance of disruption. To achieve this, General Mills asked Innovia to explore the properties, production, and processing of corn crops.

Approach

We investigated the science of corn agronomy, post-harvesting conditions, and processing of corn into ingredients. We identified the properties of corn that are essential for General Mills’s products, and highlighted where and how they can be affected in the corn supply chain. We then prioritised the factors that General Mills can influence, and recommended next steps.

Impact

Our work helped General Mills build on its existing strong foundations and move towards even greater flexibility and resilience in its corn supply chains. For our client, “this is just the beginning of this work”: the outputs have been disseminated throughout the organisation and are already informing decision-making – a reflection of the strategic importance of corn within General Mills’s portfolio.

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