Manufacturers in the Food and Beverage industry face some of the most unique, and critical, challenges. Health trends and regulatory demands seem to shift constantly, forcing companies in the industry to be more dynamic than ever before.
Some of the most common challenges that Food and Beverage companies face are:
- Environmental Impacts – The growth pace of industrialization has led manufacturing companies to adopt more environmentally conscious business practices. Food and Beverage products that are tagged as “eco-friendly” draw more sales than those that harm the environment.
- Complex Inventory Management – Since food products have such a limited shelf life, inventory management continues to top the lists of challenges in the Food and Beverage industry. Strictly managing expiration dates, picking processes, production scheduling, and storage hygiene are critical. When done correctly, strong inventory control can protect a brand and become a competitive weapon.
- Health Consciousness – In recent years, consumers have become more aware of the impact that food quality has on their lifestyle. Foods that can carry a “healthy” label like organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free are driving demands which manufacturers cannot ignore.
- Traceability Beyond Recalls – Consumers are becoming more interested in understanding what is going into their food and where it is coming from. This trend is leading manufacturers to leverage forward/backward traceability beyond their traditional recall needs and include this information in their ingredient labels.
- Strict and Changing Regulations – Regulatory bodies like the FDA, EPA, OSHA, and FTC require strict regulations and guidelines for Food and Beverage manufacturers to adhere to. However, those regulations are also known to change frequently, forcing companies to react quickly across their supply chain to minimize the potential negative impacts on waste, production, quality, and documentation.
- Unpredictable Forecasts – COVID-19 caused a surge in the unpredictability of the Food and Beverage supply chain. Country-wide lockdowns, restaurant closings, consumer buying behavior shifts, food shortage fears, and the hit to farming and agricultural activities are all hindering the ability to effectively forecast demand. Food and Beverage producers need a real-time view of the inventory levels, what’s in production, what’s in QC, and how demand is developing in order to make the strongest decisions for their business.
Often times, manufacturers find themselves trying to navigate through these challenges with the support of even more complex ERP environments. Juggling data between independent software systems, lag times in synchronizations, and customizations restricting their agility all hinder an organization’s ability to stay competitive.
Today, many modern Food and Beverage companies are turning to DEACOM ERP to help navigate and simplify the challenges of their industry. The software delivers a strong, yet agile ERP environment that is specifically designed for process manufacturers like these. Since all functionality is written into the base code, there is no need to rely on external software systems and customizations to deliver specific capabilities.
Deacom recently hosted a webinar specifically tailored to those in the Food and Beverage industry. View the on-demand webinar now!
