Accelerating Contract Manufacturing with Smart Data and Automation

Accelerating Contract Manufacturing with Smart Data and Automation

If you own a contract manufacturing company, you know how demanding it can be. It’s a field that requires precision, timeliness, and efficiency. Contract manufacturing is prevalent in the food and beverage industry, where brands partner with manufacturers to help them efficiently produce their products.

When different brands have entrusted you with manufacturing their products, you must be very keen to meet each demand to accelerate your business effectively. Thankfully, you have ERP tools like GoldFinch, which automates almost all your processes and gives you access to intelligent data. This increases efficiency, reduces costs, and enhances overall performance, contributing to the company’s success. Let’s look at how an ERP helps accelerate contract manufacturing with intelligent data and automation.

Streamlining Supply Chains

When it comes to contract manufacturing, one aspect we can’t ignore is supply chain management. In this field, we know that inventory management and on-time deliveries are more than just best practices. They’re also necessities. Picture a situation where a brand has requested a certain number of beverages by a specific date. However, due to poor supply chain management techniques, you end up distributing the order late. This can ruin your relationship with customers.

An ERP eliminates the risk by giving you one platform to run different tasks like managing inventory, warehousing, procurement, and transportation. It uses data to forecast demand and ensure you supply products on time. This smart utilization reduces waste and costs.

Enhanced Automation

An ERP system automates daily tasks like invoicing, order processing, and reporting. This accelerates various processes and frees human resources for other complex or creative tasks requiring human expertise. In addition, automation of quality processes promotes consistency and compliance with industry standards. This is vital in the food and beverage industry, where stringent rules and regulations ensure safe and high-quality products are manufactured.

Managing Product Recalls

Food and beverage products need to maintain high standards regarding quality and compliance. If a mistake happens, it necessitates a product recall. Research has shown that the number of product recalls in the US has increased by 14.2%. So, how can an ERP help if one of your products is recalled? One of the benefits is in data analysis. This tool collects vast amounts of data, analyzes it, and presents it to you in an intelligent way. In return, this helps you understand where the issue arose and prevent it from happening again.

An ERP also comes in handy when it comes to traceability. It can track the ingredients used in a product to the end deliverable. This helps identify the components affected and pinpoint the exact problem. Through inventory management, an ERP can also help the contract manufacturer identify the affected products in the supply chain, facilitating rapid response and ensuring the products are quickly removed from shelves to prevent further sales.

Tracking Ingredients for Quality Control

An ERP is integral to food and beverage contract manufacturers as they must track ingredients to ensure quality control, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency. One of the ways this tool does this is by offering the manufacturer end-to-end visibility into the supply chain. It ensures the manufacturer can track ingredients from origin to the final products. This facilitates the integrity of ingredients and the safety of the final product.

Easy Management of Different Clients

As a contract manufacturer, you’ll be handling multiple clients. This means juggling between different recipes, packaging requirements, production schedules, and delivery deadlines. An ERP has been designed to streamline all these complexities by giving you one platform to manage all your clients. It acts as a single storage location for all client data, including contracts, orders, and specifications. You can easily access client information, allowing you to develop a solid client relationship by sticking to the agreed terms and conditions.  

Another way an ERP comes in handy when dealing with multiple clients is in product scheduling. The tool can handle production scheduling requirements, allowing the contract manufacturer to allocate resources to various client projects properly. It can account for ingredient supply, machine availability, and human resources availability, creating optimal products for all clients while reducing downtime.

Recipe Management

When your team handles products for different brands, they will deal with numerous recipes. To ensure each recipe for every product is followed, introduce an ERP system into your business. It will store data on recipes and formulations, including ingredient lists, quantities, mixing instructions, process times, etc. This ensures consistency across all products. In addition, an ERP system can also help calculate the cost of each recipe based on current expenses. This allows the contract manufacturer to price products and maintain profit margins accurately.

Allergen Management

Lastly, a contract manufacturer can use an ERP in allergen management. Food allergies are a huge concern in the food and beverage industry as they can prevent health risks to consumers. An ERP system stores information about ingredients and their associated allergens. Each element is tagged with its allergen information to avoid contamination during product development.

The tool can also help schedule production runs to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. For example, the production of some foods can be scheduled after thoroughly cleaning the equipment. Or, products with common allergens can use dedicated equipment to prevent allergen cross-contact. All this is data the ERP can store to help in managing allergens.

Why GoldFinch ERP

GoldFinch ERP has been designed to revolutionize contract manufacturing, especially for food and beverages, which are sensitive products. The tool harnesses the power of intelligent data and automation to streamline operations, ensuring you can produce and supply products effectively. It’s scalable, allowing you to grow with it as your needs change. In addition, it can be customized to your needs, helping you make the most of this ERP tool. At GoldFinch, we have served different food and beverage contract manufacturers, helping them streamline their operations. Contact us today and get started on this comprehensive tool that will accelerate your manufacturing processes.

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