There are a lot of ERP software providers that claim they ‘specialize in food and beverage’, a claim which must warm the heart of any food manufacturing company shopping for a new ERP System.
But this statement is often a complete misnomer.
How can a single source system that has not been written in-house, by a business for its business, possibly cope with the complexities of the varying problems encountered only in the food and beverage industry?
Business specific processing constraints clearly exist, examples include: Manufacturing stock to temporary distribution center replenishment forecasts resulting in high rework and regard levels, packaging control at the pallet level, live inventory movements from scale weights, complex seasonal supply rules and requirements to record actual production labor usage in real-time to ensure profitability.
A lot of food manufacturing companies running without an ERP system handle some of the challenges above with separate linked, disparate Excel worksheets – authored many years ago by someone who is no longer available to the business. The solution works. Yes, but is not efficient, supported or future proof. Therein lies another bigger problem…
The important point to note in all of this is that it is not the core ERP system alone that handles all of these demands and realities, but the combination of the ERP software, the Businesses Industry expert, the delivery Consultant and the Product specialist. This ensures the correct level of insight and experience is employed in providing the right solution elements to deliver the solution and the ‘specialization’.
Utilizing SYSPRO, it’s API and as well as the widely available regional and industry focused solutions, SYSPRO implementers are afforded the freedom and flexibility to be able to mold an entire business solution that fits your business in all but the most extreme cases.
In summary. It’s not any one system that handles the varying business process scenarios that are placed on it in a particular industry. It’s the expertise of the people involved in providing that system, their understanding of the specific niches of your industry and the ability to work effectively towards packaging a software and business process that flexes to your business process. The aim always being to add as much value as possible to your business processes – without impeding the lives of the people running it.
