Not all backend systems are created equal. For food and beverage manufacturers, sustained profitability often comes down to supply chain and operational visibility combined with greater process efficiency. These dynamics are supported or hindered by the enterprise resource planning solution that a food and beverage manufacturer have in place.
A recent study asked manufacturers how they planned to improve revenue growth. The top three most cited priorities all relied on the effectiveness of their enterprise resource planning solution (ERP).
According to the study, the top three priorities for improving manufacturer revenue growth included introducing new products or services, increasing sustainability in products and services, and expanding to new market segments. Let’s look at each of these three areas in the context of food and beverage manufacturers, and how modern ERP plays a role in achieving success in these areas.
The single biggest priority for manufacturers when it comes to revenue growth is the introduction of new products or services. Roughly 40 percent of manufacturers cited this as a top priority in the survey.
Recipes development is central for food and beverage manufacturers when it comes to introducing new products for revenue growth, and ERP plays an important role.
Recipe development leans heavily on good organization and awareness of existing ingredients and processes that can be combined in new ways. With modern ERP solutions, food and beverage manufacturers can better pinpoint ingredients and other inputs already on hand during the recipe development process. The ingredient needs for a new recipe also can be cross-checked and managed against the supply chain constraints ensuring that new recipes make logistical and profitability sense.
When new recipes are developed, specification management also is important for food and beverage manufacturers in light of quality control and regulatory requirements around consistency. Modern ERP and its quality management components help ensure that new products are manufactured in a uniform way and with end-to-end traceability across warehouses and distribution in case an inconsistency is discovered or a recall is necessary.
Further, the analytics engine within ERP can help food and beverage manufacturers track the performance of new product offers and help decide which new products are performing best.
Almost as important as new product introduction for revenue growth is product sustainability and efficiency. Roughly 33 percent of manufacturers cited this as a key priority for revenue growth.
For food and beverage manufacturers, both efficiency and sustainability often come back to waste minimization. Specifically, minimization of food, water, energy, and time waste.
ERP solutions such as SAP Business ByDesign are specifically designed for process optimization and waste management. ERP can help food and beverage manufacturers manage inventories precisely, coordinate staffing levels accurately, track assembly-line performance, monitor quality processes, and keep machines running properly with predictive maintenance.
With a full, real-time picture of manufacturing operations, food, and beverage firms also can spot inefficiencies both manually and with the help of embedded analytics within ERP. This can drive performance improvements and help enforce process standardization.
Equally important for manufacturer revenue growth is expanding into new market segments. Manufacturers report that market segment growth is the third key to their revenue growth plans.
For all businesses, including food and beverage manufacturers, ERP is essential for understanding the market and operational dynamics that lead to successful market segment growth.
With ERP, food and beverage manufacturers can get a deeper understanding of sales volumes and margins across various sales channels, products, and package sizes by housing all organizational data in a single source of truth and seeing trends from the data in real time.
Market opportunities can be uncovered by utilizing external data sources such as point-of-sale information to strategically introduce and streamline products, and food and beverage firms can automate the management of intricate pricing, discount, and rebate agreements, and instantly assess their impact on profitability.
With ERP, food and beverage manufacturers can further enhance their market presence and reduce susceptibility to demand fluctuations by integrating new trading partners, marketplaces, and e-commerce platforms into operations. ERP also enables firms to rapidly integrate acquisitions and facilitate international expansion through the utilization of top-tier multi-company, multi-site, multi-country, multi-language, and multi-currency functionalities.
Most major ERP solutions can serve the needs of food and beverage manufacturers. But modern ERP solutions that are pre-built for the food and beverage industry do it better and more efficiently.
From having helped countless food and beverage firms implement ERP solutions over the years, we have learned the needs and configurations that best serve food and beverage manufacturers. To make ERP implementation faster and more cost-effective, we have developed a turnkey ERP solution tailored specifically for the industry.
Learn more about our ERP prepackage industry solution for food and beverage companies here, or contact one of our experienced consultants at (801) 642-0123 or by writing us at info@nbs-us.com.