With a pandemic on the loose, food safety has become the new norm and the onus of this lies on the produce packers and shippers of the world. Having said that, the road to food safety is not a walk in the park with regulatory and inventory setbacks being the new normal in the produce industry. This in-turn is the reason produce packers and shippers are unable to sustain profits and eventually go out of business.
Challenges
In the quest to attain operational efficiency and a lean supply chain, produce packers and shippers hit the following roadblocks:
1. Quality Assurance
With weather changes, temperature and humidity requirements defining precision and regulatory authorities breathing down the necks of produce packers and shippers quality assurance is a grave threat to them.
2. Stock Outs
Stock outs owing to changes in demand and warehouse mismanagement go hand in hand which makes inventory management an uphill battle for produce packers and shippers alike
3. Labour Shortage
In the U.S. Labour is hard to come by often ending up halting operations. As a result produce packers and shippers lose out on customers and end up going out of business.
4. Lack Of Data
Monitoring data at all times is an uphill battle. The odds go up a notch when manpower is the source of information flow making data monitoring a slow and inaccurate process. This results in operational inefficiencies at every step of the supply chain.
5. Accounting and inventory recording
Inaccurate accounting has been an Achilles heel for produce packers and shippers. With defective and damaged produce being part and parcel, accounting and inventory records get way too complicated when done manually. This results in inaccurate records and wrong inventory forecasts and budget estimations for produce packers and shippers.
Solution
The only means to overcome these roadblocks is a produce packers and shippers ERP solution (PPS ERP). A well designed PPS ERP system will cater to the following:
1) Quality Checks
With PPS ERP, food safety regulations will be followed at every step in the supply chain. An automated process will ensure the produce meets the regulatory criteria at all stages at all times.
2) Inventory Management
Via an automated data recording process, inventory levels will be monitored and be accurate at all times. This will not only ensure stock outs are avoided but also help in better demand/supply forecasting with accurate data killing two birds with one stone for produce packers and shippers.
3) Automation Over Manual
With PPS ERP, the manufacturing process will be much more capital intensive by leveraging state of the art technology instead of manpower which is not only short but also inefficient thus helping produce packers and shippers to save and be more profitable.
4) Real Time Data
Thanks to PPS, data monitoring is now a piece of cake. Real time tracking of produce at every stage in the supply chain is now the new normal making operations much more effective and efficient. Thus, making PPS ERP weigh worth in gold
5) Data Logging
With data logging, temperature and humidity can be fine-tuned to manage safe and fresh produce. Using automated sensors, the produce is stored under a given temperature to ensure freshness quotient remains constant from point of production to point of sale. Through clear communication and logistics planning, quality can be maintained bringing safe food to the table and changing the game in favour of produce packers and shippers.
Globalization and uncertain weather have certainly put produce packers and shippers backs against the wall. Rising competition with increasing demand for food safety by consumers and regulatory authorities is a flag bearer of why quality is the name of the game. Thus, making PPS ERP the differentiator between the best and the rest.
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3 simple steps to find your Food ERP
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3 simple steps to find your Food ERP
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