Bakery and snack producers have endured an unprecedented amount of industry change over the last several years. The 2020 pandemic introduced several unanticipated operational pressures, such as the ongoing labor shortages and frequent supply chain disruptions.
The trouble with baked goods and snacks like cakes, breads, cookies, and crackers, is that consumers have high expectations when it comes to product taste, texture, and smell. Most bread customers know what they can expect from mass-produced industrial products sold in big box grocery stores.
However, the stakes are higher for independent bakeries that produce artisanal products because patrons of businesses like this demand just as much product consistency, if not more, as they do from the larger bread producers. At the same time, rendering an essentially identical baked good at every run is no easy feat.
Your facility must maintain concise moisture levels to reproduce the same tenderness inside a flaky crust, for example, if they have any expectations of developing a recurrent customer base. Fortunately, industrial automation specialists like EZSoft offer enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) that help bakeries manage a diverse range of their production, including materials ordering, production logistics, and product consistency.
Robust ERP solutions from EZSoft help bakeries of all sizes improve operational efficiency. The software allows businesses to maximize their available resources and produce more baked goods with less. And ERP systems reduce materials waste, streamline your increased throughput, and offer insight and visibility into your operations that you couldn’t achieve with an inferior management system.
In this article, we’ll discuss why ERP food systems are needed and how the software benefits bakery and snack producers who aren’t currently implementing it.
Why does your bakery business need ERP software?
Your food manufacturing plant incorporates several involved processes from purchase order creation to shop floor management to inventory tracking and customer service. Once your company grows to a certain point, you’ll undoubtedly find it more challenging to juggle all your essential operating tasks across multiple applications serviced by several different vendors.
ERP systems use AI to relieve the many headaches associated with managing your food manufacturing facility. The industrial automation software gives you additional, more efficient options for moving your goods. These systems makes it easy to automate tasks like ingredients replenishment, allowing you to purchase inventory bulk to help you cut costs.
For many businesses, their decision to deploy an ERP system is purely economical. Most bakeries need ERP food software to help them stay on top of shifting consumer preferences and to keep pace with their well-automated competition. Industrial automation solutions for the food and beverage industry gives business all the necessary tools for producing consistent, high-quality, and affordable baked goods that exceed their customer expectation with fewer available resources.
In the following sections, let’s take a closer look at the primary benefits of an ERP for the bakery and snack industry.
What are the advantages of adopting an ERP for manufacturing?
Whenever you implement an ERP system, the anticipated results should reflect significantly improved operational efficiency. Here are just a few ways ERP software for food and beverage producers can help lower your overhead and boost operational productivity.
1. Streamlined inventory management
Time is of the essence you’re dealing with perishable goods. ERP inventory management software gives you live-time information about the precise stock you have on hand. It simplifies inventory monitoring and ensures you won’t experience an unexpected stockout event because you misevaluated your available materials.
2. Waste reduction
When you improve your inventory management with automation software, you’re less likely to overstock expensive perishables that will have to be thrown away due to spoilage. ERP systems give you the tools to track the movements of your inventory in real-time while providing critical product information like expiration dates.
The additional transparency allotted by an enterprise resource planning system provides for more concise inventory management, helping you standardize your operations to ensure optimally consistent outcomes for all your baked goods.
3. Higher profits
ERP systems allow you to boost your sales results by giving you more detailed access to valuable customer information. The software provides you with important data such as transaction history, so can perform more reliable analysis on consumer preferences and tastes.
The information an ERP provides improves demand and production data because you gain access to so much previously underutilized data. Ultimately, this additional insight into customer behaviors and purchasing trends lends itself to higher profits since it allows you to communicate your brand message more effectively.
4. Robust and accurate reporting
Among the primary benefits of any ERP system are the enhanced reporting features they off. While data might be abundant at your food processing plant, you need to identify the relevant information if it’s going to be of any use.
ERPs can generate valuable production and financial data based on customized reporting settings that can separate data down individual departments and organizational roles. If you need to monitor your financial statements in real-time, ERP systems let you accomplish this, and you can always capture a up-to-date overview of your inflows and profits.
5. Lower operating costs
ERP software for food and beverage companies makes it easier to plan ahead, which, of course, is one of the best ways to keep your costs low. When you automate repetitive tasks at your plant that are still vital to your operations, you cut down on employee turnover rates while unlocking more efficient business processes.
The enhanced tracking functions mentioned above allow companies to examine the minutia of their operations and conduct detailed audits that identify waste and unnecessary costs that keep businesses from growing as they should. ERP systems allow you to take control of your increased volume while precisely managing your controlled raw materials and bulk ingredients in a way that minimizes costs.
Choosing the right ERP solution
As your business footprint expands, you should expect more coordination and management tasks to arise. An ERP system from EZSoft can give you the tools you need to standardize your manufacturing and deliver the consistent product experience your customers crave.
Discover more about how an enterprise resource planning system can take your food manufacturing business to the next level by connecting with us online or calling the automation experts now at (484) 568-5040.
