If you are running a Food Company then you are all too familiar with these business aches and pains that keep you up at night. Choose an ERP vendor that knows your industry and provides the functionality, service and support that your industry demands and is expected of food ERP software.
1. “We need to comply with a lot of legislation and standards, driven by both government and our customers, but keeping track of all the required data and being audit-ready is so complicated!”
The ability to standardize your business processes and procedures, and streamline data entry, means your company can satisfy customer audits for GMP, and meet compliance requirements for FSMA with bidirectional lot traceability across your supply chain for fast, effective recalls – more important than ever now that FDA can evoke mandatory recalls.
2. “We have different software for different functions in our company, and many dozens of spreadsheets containing vital data. None of them speak to each other, so we’re wasting precious time re-entering data and making errors!”
ERP software provides a single system that fully integrates all business applications across all departments, even at different facility locations. Onetime, electronic data entry dramatically reduces error and saves time so employees can focus on more productive activities.
3. “We can’t afford to have order fulfillment ever fall short of what our customers need, but our warehouse activity is too slow and not accurate enough!”
Automated warehouse management means your employees can get real-time statistics on picks, resulting in optimal accuracy and speed in fulfilling customer orders. Advanced functionality enables WMS through RF and mobile devices, such as barcode scanner guns and forklift-mounted tablets, connected wirelessly to the network.
4. “Profit margins are so tight at our company; we need to create a leaner company so we can pass along lower costs to our customers, and still keep a decent profit margin.”
Effective inventory management and order fulfillment, traceability and compliance to food and quality standards, optimized trade promotion and rebate management, cost containment with minimized downtime, reduced food waste, less labor on data entry, and savings in many more profit centers result from ERP software
5. “We’re getting pressure from our biggest customers to meet their sustainability standards. We’re recycling, and upgrading to more efficient equipment, but is there more we can be doing?”
ERP is a digital repository for all data, so the need to use paper for writing and printing is greatly reduced. As well, the resulting effective inventory management means less food is wasted, and the integration of production data results in recording meaningful measures of energy consumption.
6. “Many of our long-time employees are wary of new technology; even our president is worried about changing how the family has always run the business. How can we introduce new software with the least amount of pain?”
Choosing a technology with a familiar user interface definitely takes the sting out for change-resistant employees (and bosses). Most people have dealt at some point with some Microsoft product, such as Outlook or Excel, so choose your ERP with an interface will be recognizable and faster to learn than some other software.
7. “We distribute, as well as manufacture, food – how can we possibly find software that meets all our diverse business needs?”
Find an ERP vendor who has customers similar to your business and that includes food distributors, and that they can demonstrate the software has the full range of functionality needed, including shipment load consolidation and logistics run planning, and other distribution industry-specific features.
8. “The people who built our legacy software system have moved and we can’t find anyone local to support the system now. How can we avoid running into this problem ever again?”
An ERP built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform, the world’s fastest growing ERP software, will ensure that there will always be resources to support your purchase. With deep R&D investment by a company as stable as Microsoft, with partner channels as broad and deep as they have, you never have to worry about finding support again. And, of course, your ERP vendor must have superior implementation and customer care.
9. “Our sales people should be spending more time on the road, but they can’t access all the information they need quickly and easily when they’re away from the office.”
Customer relationship management (CRM), including opportunity management and campaign management, are vital components of a successful marketing and sales force. Choose your ERP that integrates with your CRM and includes the integration of customer and prospect contact information to smartphones so the sales team can connect quickly.
10. “Our industry is so competitive! Are there more advanced technology tools, sort of ERP+, that we can use to stay ahead of the other guys?”
Your ERP vendor should be able to provide software that can handle the current and future trends of the food industry such as mobile WMS, mobile quality assurance, and even mobile production KPI’s. Also, you should look for sophisticated forecasting tools, business Intelligence gathering, web portals for vendors, customers and/or employees, shop floor reporting, and much more.
Check out our Case Studies to learn more about how JustFoodERP has solved many of these issues for our customers.
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.
