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ERP inventory management must haves: Attribute and date-code system

January 27, 2021 Article 1 min read
Authors:
Joe Puglia

Inventory management of customer-specific quality attributes is complex. The capability to manage these attributes alongside expiration date is a must for food and beverage plants. Does your inventory management system deliver?

A woman working in a factory nearby metal silos.Country-of-origin. GMO. Non-GMO. Organic, transitional, non-organic. Heavy metals. Allergens. Inventory management of customer-specific quality parameters is growing more complex by the day. Having the capability through a single-digital system to easily manage these attributes alongside the expiration date is a must for food and beverage plants. We do mean “a must.”

Whether you use FIFO (first-in, first-out) or FEFO (first-expired, first-out), controlling the expiration date and the quality attributes of your products is crucial. It enables you to meet customer requirements, comply with regulations, protect consumers (and your reputation), and operate profitably. But here’s the trick: without the ability to collect actionable data, you can’t manage and use data to make better decisions in the moment. Failing to manage your inventory to the degree customers demand could cost you revenue on one end of the spectrum; on the other end, it could cost you your business. But many food and beverage plants — manufacturers, distributors, and processors alike — are unable to connect their entire supply chain to manage inventory at the attribute- and date-code level.

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