Over the last three years alone, the food manufacturing industry has endured numerous changes and updates to its regulatory guidelines and standard practices. One of the primary challenges food and beverage producers currently face is an increasingly stringent regulatory environment for product safety and quality control. As a result, more food manufacturing businesses are seeking process improvement and quality control solutions in manufacturing execution systems (MESs) than ever.
The food industry is already well-digitized on the whole, proving automated processing solutions for the food industry to be less than just a passing trend. Automation in food production has been a significant driver in helping manufacturing plants stay competitive and consistently meet strict regulator demands at the same time. Implementing an MES solution is perhaps the most effective strategy for increasing production quality and output while simultaneously lowering your labor overhead requirements.
A manufacturing execution system from EZSoft gives you a powerful tool for gaining real-time insight into your operations so you can understand virtually every aspect of your production. MES software solutions improve operational management and decision-making by providing an accurate and continuous stream of information like performance analytics. Manufacturing Execution Systems give food and beverage companies an opportunity to analyze data they could never access before. Businesses like yours use these automated systems by leveraging the additional visibility they provide. This deeper insight helps optimize their operations and improve communications across their entire organization.
In addition to better data-informed decision-making, an MES hastens reaction times. Given the less than predictable supply chain and increasing energy costs, food manufacturing companies often need to adjust on the fly. MES software provides the flexibility to make critical adjustments on short notice. Not only will your service levels increase after implementing a manufacturing execution system, your overall operations benefit from enhanced quality control and asset utilization.
What are MES solutions, and how do they benefit food manufacturers?
Manufacturing execution systems help food producers document and trace their processes through automation software for the food processing industry. MES solutions give food manufacturers automated, real-time control over everything from raw materials procurement to the distribution of the finished product. Food and beverage producers use every piece of data they capture from an MES to analyze and enhance their production. Instant access to this information ensures their operations remain in continual states of renewal and improvement while achieving total supply chain traceability.
Regulators count on food manufacturing to maintain a reliable audit trail to keep themselves compliant. Both recalls and public health crises are ostensibly on the rise. The ability to track and trace the origins of every ingredient that goes into your products can determine whether or not your business survives a scare to its critical supply chain. Reliable MES software solutions help production plants optimize resource allocation while making management tasks easier through more streamlined operations.
Why is MES data collection so important in food manufacturing?
Manufacturing execution systems simplify your processes by helping you eliminate operational inefficiencies through real-time access to your production data. Be aware, however, that a stand-alone manufacturing system that is ill-adapted to your unique facility may cause other inefficiencies and require you to separate your client relationship management (CRM) from your MES. A poorly implemented MES defeats its own purpose in the end. The entire point is to improve communication between your departments by unifying company systems and getting all your teams on the same page.
Enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) are ideal for reconciling the problem of having different production management tools dispersed across multiple areas of your organization. ERP systems provide a diverse range of valuable functions that cover everything from finance and production management to inventory control and supply chain traceability.
Pulling everything under one umbrella with a combined MES and ERP system allows your various departments to access the same live-time data under one unified interface platform. Access to all the pertinent data at every stage of your production means you can make the operational improvements required to cut costs and keep your business competitive.
Automation in food production and quality control
One of the primary benefits you’ll realize after implementing an MES is better product accuracy and safety. This enhancement, specific to MES solutions, translates to an easier time meeting Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requirements. The ability to trace all your ingredients means that you can install the necessary preventive controls and validation measures to avoid or minimize potential disruptions to your continuous operations.
Manufacturing execution systems are invaluable tools for mitigating the damages after a product recall. Your MES software captures your production information and material usage records so you can respond quickly to immediately determine where the recalled ingredients are located within your supply chain. Your MES enables a faster reaction time by giving real-time access to the necessary report and graphics showing you the origins and pathway of the product. This data will enable you to expedite your mitigation plan with confidence.
When you implement an ERP system with an MES, you can effectively automate your inventory management, purchase orders, and several key aspects of vendor relationships so you can focus more on product development and safety. MES software solutions from EZSoft help you proactively avoid a potential disaster after an unexpected disruption to your supply chain. MES and ERP systems improve the product safety and validation processes by providing more accurate critical variable monitoring. This detailed insight also helps with statistical process control (SPC) in areas like sampling and labeling.
Implement your MES solutions in phases
While the benefits of an MES solution are clear, the task of introducing a comprehensive manufacturing execution system all at once can seem daunting. EZSoft is a leading systems integrator that supplies automated recipe and batch management solutions for the food and beverage processing industries. For more information on how we can help you automate your manufacturing plant in increments, complete our online request for contact form or call us now at (484) 568-5040.
