Food waste and ERP are two aspects of a business that seem worlds apart. However, the two processes are linked in ways many don’t know. Here we look at food waste and how it can be minimised by implementing an ERP solution.
Food manufacturers in the United Kingdom (UK) are facing complex operations that can lead to product waste and errors. In recent years, the country has seen a relentless rise in food wastage. This can be attributed to several factors including ingredient seasonality, operational mistakes, and personal behaviour. Regulators have included food manufacturing in their plans to tackle food waste, but this does not guarantee its minimisation.
Food processing companies have a special responsibility to reduce food waste. Every year, one third of all food produced for human consumption around the world is lost or wasted. And it’s not just about throwing away spoiled products – it is about the losses and waste that occur at every stage throughout the food production cycle. It’s not good enough to promote to consumers how good your products are while your distribution centres and supermarkets throw away half of the food they receive.
Throughout the food production cycle, losses and waste that occur are preventable. Food processing companies must strive toward reducing food waste right from the processing plants to distribution centres and supermarkets.
To aid in this, food manufacturing businesses are increasingly adopting Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software in an effort to cope with the growing waste management problem. It has become increasingly difficult for businesses to keep up with the demands of consumers in this country, which leads to a high percentage of food going straight to landfill.
There are tremendous benefits to implementing an ERP solution in your food industry business. ERP systems enable companies to increase their productivity and efficiency as well as reducing wastage and losses. They optimize manpower resource, reduce manual work, minimize time delays, improve accuracy of data, and keep information secured from threats of corruptions.
ERP software is playing a large role in helping these food manufacturing businesses accurately track where their products are in the supply chain.
Reduce Food Waste and Improve Sustainability with ERP for the Food Industry
By leveraging an ERP solution tailored specifically for the food industry, businesses can effectively address the challenge of food waste, leading to enhanced sustainability and resource efficiency. The comprehensive functionalities offered by ERP enable better inventory management, optimized production planning, and improved supply chain visibility, resulting in reduced food waste and a positive impact on both the environment and the bottom line.
With an ERP system in place, food processing businesses can now manage all operations including production, inventory, sales, and marketing, planning, and controlling with real-time data keeping the business on a single platform for better management control.
SAP Business One is one example of an ERP that helps reduce food waste in the food production process, through its forecasting and planning qualities. It’s important to have a clear insight into the amount of food you have in stock and the expected demand or orders you can expect to receive.
Adopting SAP Business One software in your food production business eliminates issues to do with the overproduction of food products beyond your storage capacity. SAP Business One provides you with tools that provide accurate forecasting and planning and reporting. This helps you to avoid stock losses because of wastage – too much wastage incurs costs which result in loss of revenue. The list of advantages here is long but SAP Business One can be seen as a single solution that can help your food business to grow and achieve success by increasing its profit margins.
Food manufacturers depend on SAP Business One for insight into the entire supply chain. As a result they provide better products, increase consumer confidence, and reduce food waste.
To discover the benefits of SAP Business One for your food business, download the solutions brief here.
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