Businesses in the food and beverage industry face significantly greater challenges than other sectors. Supply chain disruptions, strict regulatory environments, and ever-changing consumer expectations are among the various challenges that affect the way companies do business in this rapidly evolving sector.
To remain relevant and profitable in an intensely competitive market, your food and beverage business needs to employ strategic tactics. While ERP software supports all types of businesses, it’s particularly beneficial for F&B businesses because of its wide range of functions and features. Whether you want an easier way to manage perishable goods or monitor and maintain quality control, an ERP for food and beverage manufacturing companies can have transformative outcomes.
In this blog post, we’re discussing common challenges within the food and beverage sector, as well as the benefits of integrating Business Central for your food business.
Unique Challenges in the Food and Beverage Industry
Let’s start by sharing some of the unique challenges that food and beverage businesses face:
Complex Supply Chain Dynamics
The supply chain in the F&B sector is highly fragile and sensitive to disruption.
Global shortages, price fluctuations, and transportation delays often affect the availability of raw materials and their costs. This volatile supply chain makes demand forecasting and inventory planning very complex, yet, of course, getting these right is highly important.
Food Safety and Compliance
Food safety and meeting regulatory requirements are probably among your top concerns if you operate in the F&B sector. Your business needs to meet national and international food safety standards, including:
- HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points)
- BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards)
- FDA and EU regulations (for exporters/importers)
- Allergen labelling requirements (Natasha’s Law in the UK)
Traditional systems may fall short of meeting these compliance needs, which could affect public trust and diminish your brand integrity.
Quality Control
Food and beverage companies need to meet stringent quality control standards and consumer expectations when it comes to delivering consistent taste, texture, and appearance.
Your business should also maintain traceability, batch and lot tracking, and accurate labelling and documentation for complete audit trails, which can be challenging to sustain.
Changing Customer Demands and Seasonality
Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious about their food and drink choices, specifically from a sustainability perspective (think clean labels, organic, or non-GMO claims, and allergen and ingredient transparency).
With this in mind, organisations in the food and beverage industry need to be quick to adapt to changing consumer preferences while still staying compliant.
Why Customisation Matters in ERP for F&B Businesses
Business Central isn’t built specifically for the food and beverage sector – instead, we’ll work with you to understand your sector’s specific needs, and develop a specialised ERP solution just for your business. This may involve building sector-specific functionality around traceability or allergen labelling.
Brookland Solutions works closely with you to understand your requirements and configure your Business Central environment accordingly, helping you turn a flexible ERP system into something uniquely suited to your F&B business.
7 Ways Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Can Help Your F&B Business
Dynamics 365 Business Central can form the foundation of a more agile and compliant food and beverage operation — but only when tailored correctly.
Working with Brookland Solutions, you can introduce the right mix of features, workflows, and custom integrations that make Business Central work for your business.
Here are 6 ways your business can benefit from implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and working with a partner like Brookland Solutions:
1. End-to-End Traceability
Track and manage every ingredient, process, and movement of your product in real-time. A food business ERP system like Business Central, when tailored for your F&B business, can enable batch tracking, supplier linkage, and product genealogy. You’ll also find it easier to maintain proper records and documentation for safety audits and product recalls, if applicable.
2. Improved Inventory and Shelf-Life Management
Brookland can configure advanced inventory tools in Business Central to help you take account of stock levels, expiry information, and the waste generated by your operations. Introduce advanced inventory management through Business Central’s modules, which can be customised to support FIFO/LIFO automation, allowing you to manage perishable goods, temperature-sensitive items, and short shelf lives more efficiently.
3. Streamlined Production Planning
Dynamics 365 Business Central can be set up to integrate a complete recipe breakdown and convert it into a bill of materials (BoM), including by-products and wastage allowances. You’ll be better equipped to prevent overproduction and excess waste with real-time production performance data and planners to set yield targets and performance for each product.
4. Enhanced Quality Control
With a reliable ERP for your food business, you can ensure quality checks at every stage, from raw materials to packaging. Meet the stringent quality control requirements and make sure your operations and products consistently comply with industry standards.
5. Real-Time Data and Reporting
Make the most of live dashboards for KPI tracking (yield, spoilage, fulfilment) with integrations like Microsoft Power BI. At Brookland Solutions, we can help you integrate this powerful analytics platform to gain an in-depth view and analysis to make smarter, data-backed decisions for your business.
7. Accurate Forecasting
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central can be set up to help your business forecast better with predictive analytics. To assist the business in gauging the product demand, Business Central can use historical data to accurately forecast future inventory needs. This allows you to tweak your production plans and delivery schedules according to the intelligence you receive.
The more accurate the forecast, the better your ability to meet the market demands, resulting in a positive impact on your bottom line.
Why Choose Brookland Solutions?
As longstanding certified partners of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, we can implement a food business ERP that is specifically tailored for your organisation, increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and modernising communications. This can help you overcome many of the biggest challenges faced in the F&B industry.
If you’re ready to switch to Business Central or would like to learn more about how we can help your F&B business, fill out our contact form and book a consultation today.
