All process manufacturers face similar challenges when it comes to running a successful business operation such as managing inventory, customer demands, compliance regulations, or safety. However, the food and beverage industry has several particular concerns that require additional thought and attention.
As a food and beverage manufacturer you deal with high regulatory standards that included everything from packaging and labelling requirements, recipe or formula management, lot tracking, weights, and measurement. You have to maintain and manage all of these while ensuring the taste and quality that your customers demand.
With an effective ERP system, you will gain the framework needed to effectively manage every aspect of your food and beverage manufacturing operation with ease. The right ERP can address some of your biggest industry and operational concerns. Here are some of the top benefits you will gain with an ERP system.
Safety
Within the food and beverage industry, the number one concern for producers is food safety. Several factors are involved in food safety such as ingredients, allergens, and expiration dates and much more. By incorporating an effective ERP system into your manufacturing process, you will be able to better control, manage and organise these elements of food safety.
Food and beverage ERP systems can help your business keep track of even the smallest details within the production process. An ERP system can improve your overall food safety management through ensuring shippers and receivers and uphold compliance requirements, and the ability to track materials from the supplier, to the manufacturing plant, to the distribution centre.
Through accurate and automated reporting and business intelligence your business will gain the ability to streamline your processing and manufacturing operations, as well as be able to identify any irregularities or possible points of improvement when it comes to your products safety.
Traceability
Cloud ERP empowers you to look back accurately to inform future decisions. You can follow every one of your expenses amid generation and also back trace batches, track ingredients and packaging. The integration of the cloud and end-to-end functionality adds a level of insight to your business that most other systems cannot.
Beyond this, you are also able to track any advertising or marketing expenditure more effectively within the overarching solution so you can fully optimise your business operations from production to generating sales.
Automation
A system like ERP is fully customisable and centralised to improve your operations through automation. Implementing all-in-one Cloud ERP empowers manufacturers and breweries to make the best business decisions, providing a single source of data and reporting. With an ERP system all purchasing, production and sales occur within the same centralised solution. This means that all data is recorded in real-time and made centrally available to authorised users.
Think of it this way, as raw ingredients are used in production a journal entry is automatically generated. As your finished product is created, a journal entry is automatically generated to reflect on your balance sheets. From here, an inventory record is generated and as deliveries are invoiced, the data is automatically recorded. This entire automation process allows your business to have up-to-date information that is centrally available so you can run a balance sheet at any point in the day or process to track your products, as well as your costs. This system also allows for production variance reports so you can identify any inefficiencies affecting your bottom line.
This centralised automation of data saves time and money by producing a real-time 360-degree view of your business. Having this sort of knowledge gives decision makers a quick preview of your expenses in connection to product generation, which can then be used to optimise and streamline the entire operation.
Cost Control
With the ever-increasing cost of doing business, to gain a competitive edge businesses need to seek innovative solutions to help reduce their bottom line. There are several features in ERP systems that help you manage and control production costs as well as improve quality control that inevitable reduces costs.
Your ERP system can track all costs material, labour, overhead, and other costs so you know exactly how much it costs to manufacturer your products. All processes and data relating to inventory, work in process, and finished goods is also tracked and captured in real-time across the entire system, this enable you to implement lean manufacturing depending on the demand and costs you are seeing from accurate reporting. The ERP allows your business to analyse any variance in standard versus actual cost, so you are able to better understand how the costs differ and in turn make an executive decision relating to your financial strategies.
Recipe and formula management systems are also integrated into the ERP system so that you can clearly define your method of manufacturing. This coupled with production routings will improve operations and allow you monitor quality control throughout the entire production cycle, ultimately improving your bottom-line.
At the end of the day, to stay ahead of your competitors and satisfy your customers with the products they love, you need an effective ERP system to streamline and optimise your processes. With it’s simple and easy to use interface that is accessible across your organisation, Cloud ERP is a customisable single solution to empower your processes.
Find out how to intelligently manage your food and beverage manufacturing today.
