The Perfect Recipe to Spice Up Your ERP For Food Software

Perfect Recipe to Spice Up ERP Software | Ingredients

Can you imagine if you switched salt with sugar in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? It would change entirely the taste and texture of your cookie. Now consider if you were missing an important ingredient in your Food ERP software solution. Finding the right ERP software for your food business can be almost as easy as following a recipe, if the software has all the right components for your business. Here we explore the top 3 must-have features that are critical ingredients for your ERP Software selection.  

Lot tracking and traceability. Lot traceability is a group of goods that were made in the same manufacturing production line and were produced using the same materials. Traceability allows a facility to identify goods as they travel along their distribution trail.  The lot ID number facilitates the identification of each group of lot-controlled items giving them quick access to full information about each product such as serial number, certificate number, date of manufacturing, date of purchasing, and expiration date, just to name a few.

What could happen if this ingredient was missed? Your business may not be as prepared for Recalls.

Recalls may be among the last of things any food business wishes to have. However, one must always be prepared for every instance, and when there is a recall, having strict lot management processes already in place will allow your business to identify which items might have gone bad and control any further shipments from going out. Without a good lot management system, your business would be completely lost in being able to find the origin of the problem.

Inventory Management. Inventory stock in the food industry often has shelf life limitation, which changes the way food companies need to manage their inventory. Having the right inventory management application in place can help companies manage the supply chain, delivery of the product, and the safety of the goods for consumers.

What could happen if this ingredient was missed? Managing inventory expiration would be overlooked.  

Every item in your inventory has to sell or be used by a certain date. If food inventory is not controlled you run the risk of overstocking or under stocking. In the food industry, recording food waste can identify the weakest areas and reveal where the loss is occurring. Tracking this important data, such as spoiled ingredients or dropped food, allows you to notice trends; allowing you to take the necessary steps to improve.

Catch Weight Processing. Catch weight pricing is used by food distributors to manage products where an individual item's actual weight differs. Products like these are typically sold in packages or cases though priced by weight of the products being shipped.

What could happen if this ingredient was missed? Your inventory cost could be off. Integrating catch weight management into your operations can help control inventory costs, and also allow for accurate invoicing of customers. Catch weight pricing can deliver financial accuracy, productivity, and ultimately, a better customer service benefit to your company.

Just as incorporating the right ingredients in your recipes is necessary for the success of your cookies and other baked treats, having an ERP for Food software solution with these features, such as with VAI S2K Enterprise for Food, is vital for the success of your business. If you’re missing or have incorrect ingredients in your recipes, it can throw off the entire cookie batch, and in the case of your business, can cost you time, money, and resources. If you are searching for an ERP solution for the food industry, consider these core features as necessary components to your recipe for success.

For more information about S2K for Food visit: https://www.vai.net/solutions/s2k-enterprise-for-food 

Ira Dannenberg

Vice President of R&D — Food Division

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