ERP FOR FOOD & BEVERAGE

The food and beverage industry is evolving at a rapid pace. Evolution in this sector is leading the way for new business challenges and increasing competition. So, people in the food industry are looking for new ways to excel. One of them is implementing ERP in the food industry.

Progression of ERP

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is the key to integrating critical business functions across an organization. The widespread growth of ERP system adoption illustrates the importance of ERP to successful businesses.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software has been around since the 60’s and was initially developed to support material requirements planning (MRP) for a manufacturer of tractor and construction machinery. By 1990, the term “enterprise resource planning” came to life by Gartner. The new name recognized that many businesses—not just manufacturing—were now using this technology to manage inventories, payrolls, and other business operations.

Since the 90’s, ERP software has significantly evolved and is being used by businesses of all sizes in a variety of different industries, to streamline operations and improve their overall bottom line. Today’s ERP solutions are designed to enable organizations to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate back-office functions.

ERP in the Food & Beverage Industry

As ERP solutions have evolved, it’s become particularly useful for those in the food and beverage industry. It provides a wide variety of features and functions to manage perishable stock. Some of these features include batch tracking, batch traceability, predictive stock management, QA monitoring, and warehousing applications.

Here are some of the benefits in which ERP solutions can provide to those in the food and beverage industry…

Compliance and Regulation

In the United Sates, regulatory compliance is particularly strict towards the food and beverage industry as perishable products can affect the well-being of its consumers. According to the Answer Company, 81% of food and beverage businesses understand the financial risk of recalls. However, the real challenge begins with the continuous new and emerging regulations which keeps the food and beverage industry on alert.

With modern ERP software, organizations are easily able to keep on top of changing regulations and trends with regulatory compliance functionalities. Stock management and supply chain transparency is easily obtainable.

Stock Management, Tracking, and Waste Management

It’s a delicate task to manage perishable inventory – goods must reach consumers in a fresh, usable condition. Failure to do so can be an economic, environmental, and social issue. Unfortunately, stock management becomes even more challenging when profit and cash flow are added to the equation.

With the assistance of an ERP system, end-users are easily able to manage and track products by their sell-by date. To make this possible, ERP software has functionalities such as batch tracking and predictive stock management.

Mobility

In the food and beverage industry, and every other industry for that matter, mobility is becoming increasingly common as a means of aiding flexibility and efficiency.

With the support of modern ERP software, end-users have multi-device access to work across desktops and/or mobile devices with cloud-connected solutions. This not only improves efficiency and flexibility but aids in proactive customer service and simpler cross-departmental collaboration.

Data Management

Another key benefit of ERP software includes a single-centralized database which provides end-users with instant data, whether it’s warehousing, logistics, marketing, sales, or quality control.

Centralized data makes it easier to monitor inventory and safeguard against waste and/or surplus stock (which improves cash flow and net profits).

Consistency and Quality Control

With future sales and consumer loyalty at risk, food and beverage companies must invest a great deal of resources into quality control in order to exceed consumer expectations.

While effective quality management is a huge task, ERP systems provide tools to track and monitor quality at every stage of a product’s life cycle, to maintain consistency.

Customer Service

Consumers continue to expect more, holding the food and beverage industry to be more accountable for their supply chain and operations. Consumers want to purchase goods from brands which offer not only high-quality products but excellent service too. Which proves the point that, improving and maintaining a reliable customer service department is the key to staying on top of the competition.

When integrated with a state-of-the-art CRM (customer relationship management) module, an ERP solution can help immensely with maintaining customer service. The software integration unifies and manages customer data, transactions, and interactions to streamline communications, which makes it easier to log queries and respond to individual consumer requests.

Decision Making

Raw ingredients can fluctuate drastically, making it challenging for companies to regulate expenses and pricing. Consumer demand is particularly unpredictable and can leave companies with overstock or short vital ingredients. Data is an invaluable asset for decision-makers at all levels – whether it’s on the factory floor, within marketing teams, or in product buying. Luckily, an ERP system integrates and streamlines data from various business activities into a single centralized location for up-to-date, real-time data. This guarantees a reduction in workflow bottlenecks while also facilitating improved process management and forecasting to pinpoint consumer inconsistencies.

Competitive Edge

The food and beverage industries are undeniable competitive. To remain relevant, businesses must develop a range of tactics, and implementing an ERP system is highly effective strategy.

Modern-day ERP solutions provide support to every end-user by offering the ability to automate processes and activities (which other competitors may be doing manually). Automation improves all aspects of business, thus providing a unique competitive edge in today’s intense market.

Your Next Steps

With the assistance of an ERP system, food and beverage companies like yours will be able to manage and optimize business processes such as sales, accounting, purchasing, finance, production, marketing, and logistics (to mention a few).

Are you ready to transform your Food and Beverage organization? When you team up with ACC Software Solutions, you’ll receive a team of experts with over 25 years of industry experience to help determine the right solution for you and your business. Contact our staff today for your FREE consultation!