Future-Proofing Food & Beverage Facilities: Why Site Selection Matters

Site selection is not a process to be taken lightly nor hurried. It should be approached with the same logic, reasoning, and priority as any other major business decision. Selecting the wrong site can lead to costly mistakes for companies that can last for decades to come. Done right, site selection can prove to be as much of an asset as the product itself. Many organizations see site selection as a task and don’t truly consider the benefits that the right location can provide, especially in FDA-regulated markets such as food and beverage. This added layer of regulation requires facilities to meet good manufacturing practice (GMP), and some organizations take GMP a step further to current good manufacturing practice (cGMP). With cGMP, considerations such as animal control, testing, validation, quality, and cleanliness become requirements and not simply business operational goals.

For example, selecting a site in a flood-prone region can expose the organization to supply disruptions. Locating the facility in an area with limited access to rail, road, or water can limit production capacity or the ability to find the required workforce. A properly sited facility can operate when a competitor’s facility is offline due to a natural disaster or efficiently expand when the demand for the product increases. In addition, the right site can also minimize risk associated with GMP/cGMP processes, such as rodent control.

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