How does management ERP work in the food industry?

How ERP works in the food industry: main features

The idea to point out is that ERP, being made up of several modules, can be enhanced as needed. There is an implementation time and, once installed correctly, you can use it for its intended functions. However, you should be aware that, in some sectors of activity, other functionalities must be added to make work performance more efficient.

The food industry has a number of peculiarities. First, issues such as inventory are of crucial importance. On the other hand, keep in mind that traceability is also essential for health reasons. Both issues are crucial if you are interested in providing a good service and being competitive in your day-to-day business.

The use of several modules is necessary to work well, but another advantage of ERP is that you can work in real time, making decisions and making changes to existing information. In this way, when an authorised person enters the software, all the data will be available to them without having to change anything. It is clear that this saves a lot of time.

There are some areas to be taken into account that are specific to this sector of activity. The following aspects must be taken into account if you are going to acquire ERP for food industries:

Food traceability

Food traceability is one of the key aspects when it comes to this type of industry. On the one hand, because the aim is to track the product from its arrival until its sale or transformation. The advantage, in this case, of having ERP for food industries is that you will be able to monitor these steps in real time.

One of the mechanisms that allows us to know this is the batch allocation that is performed taking into account suppliers and customers. In this way, an accurate and effective monitoring of each shipment or batch of products is carried out. If there is a problem with a batch or if it is missing, it will be easier to identify it and minimise the impact. This is also a way of determining liability in the event of negligence on the part of suppliers or employees.

This is a critical function in the food industry, both for prestige and legal reasons. Therefore, no food company should be without this module.

Stock management

Stock management is essential in any distribution or production company. When it comes to food, it is even more so for two reasons: the limited shelf life of foodstuffs, especially if they are perishable, and the fact that stock-outs must be avoided in order to provide service.

Stock management is easier with ERP because alerts can be created when items are missing. This will prevent any oversights that could lead to the dreaded stock-outs. In addition, it is possible to quickly produce automatic reports, so that you will have additional information at your disposal. In short, it is a support to make everyday storage-related functions easier.

This aspect is of paramount importance for good business management. It should come as no surprise, then, that this is another essential module for companies in this sector of activity.

Purchases

The purchasing process is of the utmost importance, insofar as there may be an additional expense or savings. ERP has modules to store supplier and price data, as well as effective costs of each unit, so that you will have the necessary information to negotiate better. Remember that this data is valuable in itself, especially in times of Big Data.

It is worth noting that this option is fascinating in order to gain in competitiveness. And, in general, this is a module that you will have to activate if you have a high number of suppliers or invoicing volume.

CRM

The CRM, or customer manager, is another of the main modules that you will undoubtedly need. Food companies, especially if they are involved in production or wholesale distribution must have sufficient information to make decisions.

Among the functionalities included in CRM are the data of all customers, their purchase history, calls and incidents that exist. This allows for appropriate marketing actions and follow-up. Therefore, although it is not an essential module, its installation is highly recommended.

Customer managers have gained importance in companies in all sectors. Also in the food industry because they help to get the most out of each customer.

Financial management

Financial management is a very broad field that points to a variety of situations of optimal use of resources and is undoubtedly related to other modules. For example, checking your cash flows, balance sheets, profit and loss statements or outstanding invoices. One of the benefits of using ERP is that it allows you to automatically generate reports and budgets.

The ability to automatically generate and modify in real time will make your work much easier. And the good thing about ERP is that it can be integrated with bank accounts to perform operations automatically. International trade deserves a separate mention because a specific module can be interesting to perform currency conversions and invoice generation.
This simple activation and implementation module is another part you should have. Not surprisingly, your work will be much easier.

Conclusion

Knowing how a food industry ERP works is extremely useful to know what solutions or modules to sign up for. In order to be more efficient in your work, it is important to have the right tool. And, above all, it is extremely important that you have a reputable provider that can offer support. In SEIDOR Business One we have a specific option for this type of company that will interest you.