There are a number of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems on the market, which makes it hard to find the best solution for your needs. The key is to identify the features your food ERP system needs in order to address your most important requirements and challenges.
What to Look for in Your ERP System
Deploying an ERP system isn’t cheap. It takes time, money, and training, but when done right, it transforms a company’s ability to thrive and grow.
Unfortunately, not every business can confidently claim they’ve made the right choice. Unless you want to risk falling into that category, you need to look for the following features.
1. Inventory Management
For businesses that deal with food and perishable ingredients, the need for high level tracking is critically important. If you’re going to integrate an ERP system into your organization, there needs to be a robust inventory management solution built in.
This will allow you to automatically monitor product orders, see inventory levels, process shipments, and more. With an accurate view of available stock, pending orders and shipments, you’ll be able to make more strategic decisions.
2. Mobility
We’re in a business world where the cloud runs everything. Cloud-based ERP systems allow for mobility and freedom. This means you can work from the office, home, or airport halfway around the world.
A cloud-based system also reduces your risk of system outages and downtime, and means someone else takes responsibility for your data security and backups — critical elements of your business best left to experts.
3. Financial Integration
One of the biggest reasons food producers adopt ERP systems is to track financials. With the right system in place, you can track financials, organize receipts and purchases, study data, and prepare for future financial decisions.
4. Real Time Monitoring
Not only do the FDA and USDA require mandatory safety and preparation protocol to be followed, but so do consumers. As a business leader you need to ensure the proper precautions are taken to track ingredients, monitor quantities, enhance quality control procedures and track expiration dates.
While businesses used to track these items in Excel spreadsheets, that’s no longer a practical approach. If you want accurate visibility and the ability to make data-backed decisions in a timely manner, you need your ERP system to have non-stop monitoring features in place.
5. Recall Management
While an ERP system can’t necessarily prevent a recall, it can make the recall a little easier. When compared to manually recalling products – which is very paper-intensive and requires an “all hands on deck” mentality – recalling products with a supportive ERP system in place can make compliance and food safety that much easier.
6. Customizable Barcoding
When you have barcoding functionality, you can quickly and accurately preform checks across multiple departments and product lines. Customizable barcoding also allows for detailed labeling of products.
For example, let’s say you’re a bakery and some of your items come into contact with peanut oil. Since peanut allergies can be potentially life threatening for some people, it’s wise that you label products with allergen symbols and warnings. An ERP system with custom barcoding can protect your business and customers.
7. Excellent Support
What kind of support comes with the ERP system you’re buying? Do your research and ask around. Is support handled locally or outsourced to a call center halfway around the world? Are the people on the support team passionate, career food experts or overworked programmers? Every vendor offers “support,” but be sure you know what that really means.
8. Ease of Use
How easy is the ERP system to use? Can your employees pick it up quickly without needing to invest in days or weeks of training? Ease of use is a big deal when it comes to purchasing a new ERP system. It doesn’t matter which other features are present; if it isn’t easy to use, you won’t reap the benefits.
9. Affordability
Let’s be honest, price does play a role in your decision. There are products at every price point and it’s critically important that you analyze the features and costs to get an accurate picture of the return on investment you can expect. The difference between one system and another can be significant.
Ready for a specialized food ERP? Learn more about Aptean Food & Beverage ERP JustFood Edition — a solution purpose-built to solve your challenges and propel your food business and digital transformation to the next level.
