How Bakery ERP Help Overcome Challenges

Superior systems can trigger automatic re-ordering when stocks drop below the set thresholds.

FREMONT, CA: Traceability of food and beverage may be more crucial in the bakery segment than in any other. However, the nature of the processes—which entails combining many different ingredients and rendering them into a wholly new form—complicates maintaining complete information on raw materials and finished goods.

Some advanced ERP solutions can trace everything that moves through the facilities back to the source, the final destination, and at all key tracking points. The capture of even the most granular data is made easier via integrations with smart technology, including connected sensors and handheld scanners.

Critically, the best ERP for bakeries also has in-built precautions for ingredients with allergen concerns. And considering at least some of the product ingredients on the FDA's list of the eight major food allergens like milk, wheat, and eggs——, this is functionality one should have.

Keeping this stuff separate from the lines that should not contain them and properly labeling the goods that do include them keeps your consumers safe. It also satisfies responsibilities in terms of food safety compliance.

Contamination should occur; only with the detailed traceability records that a bakery ERP creates and maintains can one be assured of the baker's ability to identify the source of the issue, enact a withdrawal or recall if necessary and determine what's been affected.

Complete Inventory Management

An equally important concern is knowing what ingredients one has on hand, ensuring adequate supplies for production, and using what one has by avoiding unnecessary waste. Unfortunately, spreadsheets can't contain and properly organize the amount of information one needs on the inventory; the rest is left to the inventory management features of industry-specific ERP.

With the information that a bakery ERP automatically captures, one will know down to the lot number exactly where materials are in facilities when they're set to expire, and any other relevant details. That facilitates optimal picking practices, including following a first-expiry, first-out (FEFO) methodology to reduce spoilage and get the most out of your resources.

With that technology working for bakers, one never has to worry about running out of a key ingredient at the wrong time.