Skip to content
Search to learn about InterSystems products and solutions, career opportunities, and more.

How to Optimize Production Planning for Repackaging

SupplyChainBrain Interview

In this interview with SupplyChainBrain, Mark Holmes, senior advisor for supply chain with InterSystems, lays out the multiple challenges that manufacturers face in optimizing their repackaging processes, and proposes some solutions for addressing those hurdles.

Repackaging of finished consumer goods, including food and beverage items, involves drawing on finished product from somewhere in the network and placing it into different packaging for its final consumable state.

As performed today, often by contract manufacturers, the process runs into a number of challenges arising from inadequate technology. Based on a recent survey by InterSystems, Holmes identifies five that are typical of many existing planning tools:

  • Limited or no visibility to the inventory that needs to be repackaged.
  • Reliance on manual processes, such as Excel spreadsheets, that are prone to error and do not operate in real time. 
  • Inability to efficiently redirect inventory from multiple locations.
  • Inability to adapt to sudden changes, including disruptions to the supply chain.
  • Suitability only for working in an unconstrained environment, where labor is plentiful, inventory always available and there’s no production downtime. 

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are key to optimizing fulfillment and demand planning for repackaging today, Holmes says. They improve accuracy and productivity. They enable real-time decision-making. And they make it possible to rebalance inventory in an optimal manner.

When engaging in production planning and optimization, most companies are juggling multiple pieces of technology that all have to work smoothly together. That’s especially difficult to achieve in a constrained environment, which characterizes nearly all such operations.

The answer, Holmes says, lies in a decision intelligence data platform that can replace many of those legacy enterprise systems, boosting productivity, dealing efficiently with disparate data, and optimizing a complex but critical process.

Other Resources You Might Like

Oct 03, 2025
Industry Insights
GenAI, Large Language Models, and Natural Language Processing are Fundamentally Transforming Healthcare
Oct 02, 2025
HIMSS Market Insights
HIMSS Market Insights conducted this research, sponsored by InterSystems, in April and May 2025 among leaders in MedTech organizations to understand their perspective on integration solutions and efforts. We looked at:
Oct 02, 2025
Fulfillment
InterSystems Supply Chain Orchestrator unifies data from thousands of disparate sources, giving you real-time visibility and prescriptive insights across your entire supply chain. With GenAI-powered decision intelligence, you can optimize replenishment, adapt to live conditions, and deliver near-perfect OTIF performance. For over 45 years, InterSystems has helped businesses unlock value from data—quickly, safely, and at scale.
Oct 02, 2025
Inventory Optimization
InterSystems Supply Chain Orchestrator unifies data from thousands of sources to help you anticipate disruptions, forecast smarter with AI, and make the right decisions in real time. With GenAI-enabled Copilot guidance, you’ll minimize overstocks and stockouts while keeping customers satisfied. For over 45 years, InterSystems has helped businesses unlock value from their data—quickly, safely, and at scale.
Sep 29, 2025
ISG Research
This Ventana Research Buyers Guide: Data Platforms is an assessment of how well software providers’ offerings address enterprises’ requirements for data platforms software, evaluating software in seven key categories that are weighted to reflect buyers’ needs based on expertise and research.
Sep 08, 2025
Supply Chain
Gain Intelligent Supply Chain Visibility
Aug 12, 2025
Fundamentals
Discover 11 types of databases in our comprehensive guide. Learn their functionalities and use cases, and see how InterSystems IRIS supports many of them for superior performance.
Aug 08, 2025
EMC Healthcare
Mr Jusup Halimi, CEO, and Dr Bella Desra Andae, Medical Informatics Specialist, at EMC Healthcare describe their EHR journey with InterSystems – implementing a unified EHR across eight hospitals in 18 months to moving to an AI-powered EHR system.
Aug 08, 2025
HIMSS Market Insights Infographic
One Patient, One Record Healthcare organisations rely on a wide range of systems to deliver care — from EHRs and pharmacy software to scheduling tools and billing platforms. But when each system stores patient data separately, inconsistencies, duplicate records and identity challenges can disrupt care and limit AI implementation, workflow optimisation and data exchange. Recent HIMSS Market Insights research confirms that healthcare leaders recognise the strategic importance of accurate patient identity data, yet persistent issues continue to undermine progress.
Jul 29, 2025
Celent
Banks are among the most data-intensive institutions—almost everything a bank does is based on digital processing and data analytics, including advanced analytics and models. For banks, their data is the business.

Take The Next Step

We’d love to talk. Fill in some details and we’ll be in touch.
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required
*Required Fields
Highlighted fields are required
** By selecting yes, you give consent to be contacted for news, updates and other marketing purposes related to existing and future InterSystems products and events. In addition, you consent to your business contact information being entered into our CRM solution that is hosted in the United States, but maintained consistent with applicable data protection laws.