Conagra saves millions yearly by streamlining network connectivity with reliable internet
Overview
Every minute of downtime in food manufacturing means lost product, wasted resources, and revenue at risk. For Conagra Brands, a $12 billion food industry powerhouse, network failures don’t just interrupt the flow of data—they can lead to costly shutdowns in production lines.
The company knew its success relied on keeping its production lines running continuously. For Conagra, reliable connectivity is important to ensure that manufacturing plants and business systems stay operational. With 82 locations worldwide, Conagra’s plants were maxing out their bandwidth while battling unreliable connectivity that impacted their manufacturing capacity and bottom line.
Discover how Conagra’s partnership with Momentum eliminated these production barriers, saving over a million in network costs while delivering the blazing-fast, reliable connectivity that keeps food moving from production lines to American households without missing a beat.
About Conagra Brands
Conagra Brands is an industry-leading food company that generates billions in annual revenue. With a diverse portfolio of iconic food brands that can be found in nearly every American household, Conagra maintains operations across 82 locations worldwide, including multiple manufacturing plants, offices, and two headquarters in Omaha and Chicago.
The company’s success depends on reliable network connectivity between its data centers and manufacturing plants. When production lines can’t communicate with central systems, the consequences are severe—potentially resulting in wasted food, lost revenue, and costly production delays.
The challenge
Conagra’s network consisted of expensive, low-bandwidth MPLS circuits and costly internet backup circuits.
This setup resulted in several critical challenges:
- Limited bandwidth capacity with 10-20 Mbps circuits meant plants were quickly outgrowing and constantly maxing out available bandwidth.
- Upgrading to MPLS circuits was too costly, given the average usage levels for each plant.
- Lacking support from the previous vendor often required extensive escalation to resolve issues.
- Lengthy implementation timelines of 90-120 days for adding new sites slowed business expansion
These connectivity constraints weren’t just IT issues. They directly impacted Conagra’s ability to manufacture products efficiently. Clearly, a new solution was needed to address their network connectivity challenges.
The solution
Conagra needed a more responsive, cost-effective solution that could scale with their business needs. Having worked with Momentum in a previous role, Network Engineering Manager Mike McMillin knew they could deliver the service level Conagra required. After careful evaluation, Conagra partnered with Momentum to:
- Deploy high-capacity 100 Mbps dedicated internet access (DIA) circuits to approximately 40-45 locations
- Implement some last-mile wireless services to support location-specific needs
- Set up reliable connectivity for half of their 82 global locations
- Transition away from expensive MPLS architecture to more flexible internet circuits
- Replaced routers with SD-WAN appliances
Momentum’s ability to deploy new circuits in 30-60 days—half the time of previous providers—was a significant advantage as Conagra continued to expand operations and add new sites. The onboarding process was straightforward, and Conagra deployed reliable internet across multiple locations with minimal delays.
The outcome
Conagra realized substantial benefits from their partnership with Momentum, who now handles 50% of their connectivity needs across locations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. By migrating away from MPLS and other services, the company saves approximately $2 million annually.
The cost savings have been remarkable —we’re saving $2 million a year after moving away from MPLS and our previous internet circuit. But what’s even more valuable is the reliability and increased bandwidth. Our plants used to starve for bandwidth, but now they can run at full production unhindered, which has increased productivity tremendously.
Plants that previously struggled with limited connectivity now have all the bandwidth needed to operate efficiently, with network availability increasing dramatically. All of this, paired with an SD-WAN solution that allowed for seamless failover via the SD-WAN appliances, greatly improved reliability. Now, if one circuit fails, there is no impact on the plants.
Adding new sites to the network became easier, too. New sites could be brought online in 30-60 days versus the previous 90- 120 day timeline.
Plants that previously struggled with limited connectivity now have all the bandwidth needed to operate efficiently, with network availability increasing dramatically. All of this, paired with an SD-WAN solution that allowed for seamless failover via the SD-WAN appliances, greatly improved reliability. Now, if one circuit fails, there is no impact on the plants.
Adding new sites to the network became easier, too. New sites could be brought online in 30-60 days versus the previous 90-120 day timeline. By porting approximately 180 toll-free numbers to Momentum, Conagra also reduced monthly expenses from $40,000 to $12,000—a 70% savings on their toll-free calling costs. More importantly, the enhanced network infrastructure directly supported Conagra’s core business: making food.
Success means plants making food without interruption. If lines get shut down due to connectivity issues, we risk throwing away massive quantities of food and losing significant revenue. With Momentum, our availability has gone up across the board, and everything is more stable. That’s the real value of this partnership.
As Conagra looks to the future, it’s exploring new connectivity options, including last-mile wireless and 5G solutions, with Momentum continuing to provide forward-looking support for its evolving needs.
