The food industry trends in 2020 seem to be going beyond the need for healthier and eco-friendly products. The food industry companies will be facing a newer set of challenges from the growing demand for high-quality and sustainable products in addition to the rising costs.
However, our food industry experts believe that food businesses can tackle some of the outstanding issues that can be addressed with a comprehensive cloud ERP such as the To-Increase food ERP solution.
In this blog, let us look at the top four challenges and how ERP can help you stay ahead.
The Ever-Increasing Logistics Costs
One of the trends in 2020 is the on-going rise of the costs in almost everything right from operations to raw materials, fuel, and ingredients. As a result, the food industry is facing immense challenges in budgeting. Besides, any inefficiency in any process can profoundly impact the bottom line of a company.
A comprehensive food ERP solution can offer a dashboard for logistics to give an organization complete visibility into the trends, delivery times, costs of production, and fleet efficiency. One can use relevant data to reduce delays and ensure constant efficiency across the supply chain.
The Rising Costs of Labor
The latest federal laws for increasing the minimum wages and the rising costs of benefits inclusive of health care are some of the key reasons for the rapidly rising costs of labor. The shortage of workforce worsens the problem further. What is more, food industry organizations are dealing with higher costs of regulatory compliance, training, and licensing. Besides, regulations mandate the companies to have food sourcing, traceability, nutrition, and labeling.
With ERP, the food companies can get access to insights that help meet all the regulatory needs. They can make an informed-decision through complete visibility into the location of the facility, labor costs by product line, specific individual orders that can show certain patterns and any shortfalls. The historical metrics can be used to measure the patterns in product order status, on-time-delivery, or specific person’s involvement in fulfilling the order.
Fluctuating Consumer Preferences
Today’s consumers are increasingly becoming more conscious of the food they purchase and eat. They are demanding healthier foods and global varieties along with complete details of its production and processing.
An ERP can provide data that factors in the sales and profitability of new product lines and also connect with consumer emotions. For instance, individual products such as an ethnic variation of a more extensive product line can be closely tracked to determine its success.
Sustainability
The consumer patterns of the food they buy are deeply impacted but the growing environmental awareness and the demand for a sustainable agricultural industry. Practically, this implies an improved way of effectively tracking all the sources of supply and match with those producers that are sustainability-certified—for example, Dolphin-safe tuna.
A cloud ERP can help enable these processes by creating and consolidating data in a manner that the relevant stakeholders can view the information depending on their roles, from anywhere through a connected device. Some of the ways that ERP can help businesses with food sustainability initiatives are:
- Sourcing and tracking of all the ingredients including healthy, natural, and food additives in food products
- Checking the items’ origins to ensure consumers’ local-food preference
- Tracking the amount of waste produced and its source
- Find out the packaging details and see how you can drive profitability or expenses with more sustainable options
- Compare energy consumption with process efficiency improvement and demand met
One can also quickly adapt to changes in the market conditions with the help of a cloud ERP. For instance, when a food organization decides to move from a traditional retail style to offering vending solutions or delivering fresh meals, To-Increase food ERP solution can bring out the required data to gauge success accurately. ERP is redesigning the operational methods of foodservice companies from food ingredients quality, transportation efficiency, to restaurant and foodservice equipment procurement.
Implementing the right food ERP solution can let you control everything and be completely prepared to meet the unique challenges of the food industry in the following ways:
- Get complete visibility to start the right Corrective Action, Preventive Action (CAPA) plan
- Understand your food business thoroughly and avoid last-minute confusions during any recalls
- Use real-time data to reduce risk and disruption and be prepared to handle all the challenges of a recall process
- Facilitate tracking, traceability, and communication by integrating your entire system
- Improve your reputation by offering complete transparency to consumers and regulators
Schedule an appointment with our expert to know how we can help your food business stay ahead in 2020.
