The coronavirus crisis has compelled most businesses to work in new ways. But one of the industries most affected is food and beverage manufacturers, in facing intense challenges revolving around responding to consumer demand, maintaining safe production environments, and ensuring consistent and high-quality product availability.
When COVID-19 struck the United States, the food and beverage industry was suddenly on the front lines. While struggling to remain afloat, these companies have also had to innovate and adapt.
In recent weeks an entire industry has been forced to reinvent itself with home delivery and curbside pick-up options, unprecedented safety precautions, and changes in product mixes. The industry has adapted quickly, coming up with ideas to protect employees and customers, all the while keeping up with demand, much in thanks to ERPs.
ERPs undoubtedly help food and beverage manufacturers meet challenges. Food and beverage manufacturers that are looking to enhance product management turn to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to provide them with the real-time data that traditional methods can’t match.
ERP solutions manage your material from the time it arrives at your plant until it ends up as a finished product with your distributors and customers. Along the way, ERP gives you the visibility you need so you can continuously meet customer demand, improve product quality, and reduce costs throughout the supply chain. Here’s how it works.
Increasing production to meet customer demand
ERP helps food and beverage businesses to run efficiently for optimum production. When an event like COVID-19 comes out of nowhere, ERP equips your company with the agility to make the necessary adjustments. Since all of your financial data is in your ERP system, it’s easier to make those critical decisions, even during times of uncertainty. In other words, with the assistance of an ERP solution, you’ll be able to effectively manage new situations and meet the demands of your customers.
Maintain quality as you increase production
Meeting customer demand isn’t only about boosting production. Food and beverage manufacturers have exceptional responsibilities, including stringent regulations, labeling and packaging requirements, and safety precautions. If you’re manufacturing several products, maintaining the requirements for each SKU number takes time and invites mistakes if you’re using manual methods.
This is where ERP becomes vital. It allows you to merge information from each of your products into one simplified system. You can now track all expiration dates and label requirements to ensure regulatory compliance. And you can also identify any tainted ingredients before you release your products. ERP technology helps you lessen risks as you follow your product to the consumer.
Higher production without higher costs
Investing in ERP technology can not only provide food and beverage manufacturers with the tools they need to improve production and ensure food safety but also to cut costs.
With its capability of real-time visibility into your data, an ERP informs you of which products are in demand so you can stock the ingredients you need and decrease those you don’t. And because you can track expiration dates, you ensure that you are using only ingredients that are still good, which reduces food waste.
With the right ERP, you have insight into everything you need to know about your products, your environment, and your customer needs. From there, you can better understand how breakdowns will affect your production, and your ERP will help you find the right options to keep production moving and fix the problem for future production.
The ERP experts at Decision Resources, Inc. are on standby to provide the information you need to streamline functions, improve productivity, and introduce and maintain an integrated and more efficient way of doing business within your food and beverage manufacturing environment. If you’re ready to take a step toward transforming your business with an ERP, please get in touch through our online contact form, call 412-562-9660, or email us at info@decision.com.
