TGI will be exhibiting at the International Dairy Deli Bake Association’s 2011 show and expo in Anaheim, California June 5-7, 2011. We are looking forward to showcasing Enterprise 21 ERP at the IDDBA 2011 show for IDDBA and its members.

If  you plan on exhibiting at or attending IDDBA 2011, we invite you to visit Booth #1859 for a full-featured demonstration of Enterprise 21 ERP for you and your company. To pre-arrange a demonstration while at IDDBA 2011, please click here to register for a demo.

Enterprise 21 ERP has been recognized as an industry-leading ERP software solution for food processors and distributors and has received Food Logistics magazine’s annual FL100 award for three consecutive years. Offering a fully-integrated ERP application suite, Enterprise 21 provides food processors and distributors with:

•    Forward and backward lot traceability software functionality;
•    Production scheduling and recording;
•    A fully-integrated, RF and barcode enabled warehouse management system;
•    Quality control processing;
•    Complete inventory management;
•    Advanced forecasting and material requirements planning (MRP);
•    Catch weight processing;
•    Formula and recipe management;
•    Product shelf life and expiration date tracking;
•    CRM;
•    Order Management;
•    Purchasing Management;
•    Financial Management;
•    Business Intelligence;
•    Recall Management;
•    eCommerce, and much more.

Learn more about TGI’s food manufacturing software and food distribution software solutions.

Additional Resources and Links
•    ERP Demonstrations
•    Improve Product Safety and Traceability – TGI White Paper
•    Enterprise 21 Product Overview Brochure
•    ERP Implementation Services

I met with a company recently who is evaluating new process manufacturing software.  They currently have separate systems for manufacturing and distribution.  They also have numerous processes they’re performing off-line in spreadsheets and on paper.  As a result, they don’t have one cohesive set of real-time information available for use across the enterprise.

Their #1 core business issue is that they have an inventory control problem.  This should not be surprising based on the discussion about separate systems and off-line processes;  however, in further peeling back the details behind this issue, while company management “wants” to resolve this issue, it wasn’t clear to me they were willing to do what was necessary to “make” the issue go away.

A cornerstone of strong ERP systems like Enterprise 21 is strong inventory management – a series of processes and associated data that enable process manufacturing enterprises to be able to plan and execute effective and efficient raw material and ingredient sourcing and production operations.  This means being able to buy and produce exactly what is necessary to support customer demand without incurring excess inventory, whether the business manages its production operations via make to stock, make to order, or a combination of methodologies.

Without strong inventory control and accuracy, setting and adhering to the processes and procedures necessary to know how much inventory is being held and where that inventory physically resides in the enterprise, a process manufacturing company cannot achieve strong inventory management and customer service.  Or said conversely, without strong inventory control, companies will have too much inventory overall, not enough of the right inventory to satisfy customer demand, and customer satisfaction will be reduced.

Process manufacturing systems that include fully-integrated RF/barcode-enabled warehouse management provide all the necessary software functionality to enable companies to have strong inventory control and inventory management.  However, software functionality alone is not sufficient.  Having documented, repeatable processes and procedures, training personnel to perform these operations, and requiring personnel to comply with the processes and procedures is more critical than the software functionality itself.

Having the greatest system in the world without people performing their appointed roles in the manner required will make that system useless.  In the arena of inventory control, this starts with personnel performing a system transaction for every physical task they perform regarding inventory – receipts, putaways, moves, picks, packs, and shipments.  A system task must be performed to update inventory data every time a physical task involving inventory is performed.

Even if a business were willing to put the necessary systems, processes, and procedures in place, it will be disappointed that a “new system” does not provide improved inventory control if it is unwilling to establish and manage to a culture of compliance with those processes and procedures.

We are very excited to be exhibiting at the International Dairy Deli Bake Association’s annual show and expo for the fourth consecutive year. IDDBA 2010 will be held June 6-8 in Houston, Texas. TGI representatives will be on hand at Booth #3555 to offer product demonstrations of TGI’s Enterprise 21 ERP software for show exhibitors and attendees.

If you plan to exhibit at or attend IDDBA 2010 and would like to schedule a product demonstration while at the show that focuses on your business’s unique software requirements, you may complete a brief form on our IDDBA 2010 show event page or contact us directly.

Enterprise 21 ERP Software Functional Highlights for the Food and Beverage Industry:

• Lot Tracking and Traceability
• Shelf-life and Expiration Date Tracking
• Inventory Management
• Warehouse Management
• Manufacturing
• Scalable Batches
• Formula and Recipe Management
• Multiple Units of Measure and Unit of Measure Conversions
• Catch Weight Processing
• Compliance and Product Recall Management
• Order Management
• Purchasing
• Shipping and Receiving
• EDI
• CRM
• Financial Management and Accounting

Additional Resources and Links:

• Food Manufacturing Software
• Food Distribution Software
• Click here to download TGI’s Five Critical Software Requirements for Improved Product Safety and Traceability white paper …

A recent article in Bon Appétit magazine highlighted five companies’ alternatives to “homemade” chicken broth. Interestingly, two of the five food processors featured in the article run TGI’s Enterprise 21 ERP software, including More Than Gourmet, a producer of gourmet French stocks and French sauces, and Savory Creations International, maker of Savory Choice Liquid Chicken Broth Concentrate. Aside from the fact that Enterprise 21 is a fully integrated ERP system, there are a number of features in Enterprise 21 that make it an ideal food processing software solution, particularly for makers of stocks, sauces, pastes, and concentrates.

Lot Tracking and Traceability. Integrated food traceability software functionality is a must for any food processor. Enterprise 21 tracks the lot numbers of ingredients and materials received into inventory, the suppliers who provided the ingredient lots, when these lots were consumed in manufacturing, the lot numbers of finished goods produced, and all customers who were shipped a given lot of a given product.

Multiple Units of Measure. Enterprise 21 allows organizations to establish global or product specific unit of measure conversion factors. Food processors and distributors can purchase, manufacture, stock, and sell ingredients and/or products in any unit of measure.

Formula and Recipe Management. Enterprise 21 gives food processors the ability to meet their desired formula and recipe requirements. Enterprise 21 supports multi-level formulations while also providing for ingredient substitutes for a given formula. In addition, each formula can have one or multiple manufacturing routings that consist of a series of steps and instructions to be followed during batch production.

Scalable Batches. Food processors can leverage Enterprise 21’s integrated manufacturing software capabilities when producing varying batch quantities. Enterprise 21 can automatically scale required ingredients in a formula or recipe for large or small production batch sizes.

Quality Control. Enterprise 21 supports the establishment of quality control procedures for food processors and distributors to ensure the highest levels of product safety. Ingredients can be set to be placed on quality hold each time they are received into inventory. Similarly, finished goods can be set to be put on quality hold each time they are produced before they are released into available inventory for customer orders.

In addition, quality control personnel can enter test values for ingredients and finished goods directly into Enterprise 21, release ingredients and/or finished goods from quality hold, or reject ingredients and/or finished goods that do not meet desired product specifications.

Shelf-life and expiration date tracking. Food processors and distributors can leverage Enterprise 21 ERP software for both first-in, first out (FIFO) and first expiry, first out (FEFO) inventory management. Under a FEFO inventory management methodology, Enterprise 21 can automatically allocate specific ingredients and/or finished goods in inventory for production or customer shipments that are nearest to their expiration date to prevent ingredients and finished goods from expiring while in inventory.

Furthermore, should an organization’s customers have guaranteed minimum shelf -life requirements, Enterprise 21 can automatically allocate those items in inventory that will meet each customer’s unique shelf-life requirements on a product-by-product basis.

Production Scheduling and Reporting. In the Enterprise 21 ERP system, production schedules can be created manually or generated automatically. Production schedules can also be re-sequenced with a drag and drop user interface with the system automatically checking for machine and labor availability.

Following production, production quantities can be recorded and measured against their standard (or anticipated) production quantities. Enterprise 21 then monitors actual vs. standard production output to provide the organization with sophisticated material planning capabilities.

Many process manufacturers with whom we enter into discussions have a similar make up prior to implementing new process manufacturing software like TGI’s Enterprise 21 system.  Currently, their production reporting exists only on paper.  They also want to do system-enabled production scheduling but don’t have production standards documented, such as the duration of the setup and run times respectively for each product within each production process step.

So, they wonder where to start for their implementation of new process manufacturing software.  Two key elements to be considered to be able to answer these questions are what metrics the process manufacturer wants to be able to track and what they want to accomplish relative to system-enabled production scheduling.

Regarding the question about metrics, it is very common for companies to want to be able to measure and analyze a variety of things.  What is my throughput rate?  How much product is scrapped during production?  What is the yield of various ingredients going into each product?  Do we consistently have to add additional ingredients to the production of some products so they ultimately meet a customer’s specifications when completed?

The only way to be able to analyze and track these metrics is to measure and record data during the production process.  It is often comical to have discussions with potential new clients who want to be able to analyze and track key data – such as lot traceability – who in the same breath argue that they can’t possibly take the time in their operations to record such data.  It’s as if they believe a new process manufacturing system will somehow discern this information without anyone or anything recording the data.  Again, to be able to analyze and track data from a production process requires that data to be measured and recorded – either by human intervention via a keyboard, touch screen, or scanning process or directly from a production manufacturing machine via a data interface.

As for production scheduling, every process manufacturer’s business has certain idiosyncrasies or business rules by which it lives.  First, a given product must go through a series of steps or processes to be produced.  Similarly, each work center in a given production facility has a maximum production capacity or throughput rate.  Next, the amount of time to setup (the preparation time required for a given process step), run time (the actual time to perform the production of a given quantity of a product), and queue time (the amount of time a product must be delayed for cooling or other purposes before it is permitted to move to the next step in the process) needs to be known and documented for each product at each step in the process.

At a deeper level, one must know what products can be run together in a sequence (called scheduling groups) in a given work center so adverse results aren’t produced by running two products through the same work center in succession, and what scheduling groups should be run in what sequences through various work centers to minimize setup time, thus yielding a higher total throughput.  And finally, what classes of products cannot be run simultaneously on two adjacent production work centers as there will be a reaction between the two products causing resulting quality issues.

While there are a number of other details beyond the ones documented above, these items are intended to help depict the process necessary to create a series of business rules required to enable the creation of a system-generated production schedule that can be used by a process manufacturer for the scheduling of their production facilities.

By asking themselves what metrics do I want to be able to track and analyze, and to what extent do I want to be able to perform system-enabled production scheduling, process manufacturers will help define the scope and ultimate success of their implementations of strong process manufacturing systems like Enterprise 21.

Food products containing HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable protein), an ingredient used in the manufacture of a number of processed foods, such as soups, hot dogs, and frozen dinners, have recently been recalled by the FDA due to salmonella contamination in one company’s products containing HVP. The HVP recall is yet another recent event that demonstrates how food processing software solutions with integrated food traceability software functionality can help both food processors and ingredient suppliers in the event of a product recall.

For food manufacturers who produce finished goods containing HVP, a food processing software solution with forward and backward lot tracking and traceability features can track the lot numbers of HVP received into inventory, the suppliers who provided the HVP, when the HVP was received into inventory, the HVP lot numbers consumed in manufacturing, all of the finished goods (and the associated finished good lot numbers) that were produced with a particular lot of the HVP ingredient, and all of the food processor’s customers who were shipped a finished good that contained a particular lot of HVP. In the event of a product recall, such as the current HVP recall, a food processor would simply use the organization’s ERP software system to identify all of its finished goods that were produced with a contaminated ingredient lot and all of its customers who received finished goods that were produced with a contaminated lot. For example, if a food processor received HVP with lots 123 and 456 from Supplier A and lots 789 and 012 from Supplier B, and Supplier A were to initiate a recall for HVP lot 123, the food processor would, more than likely, have to recall only its finished goods that were produced with HVP lot 123 from Supplier A rather than all of its finished goods that were produced with HVP. This can result in significant cost savings for the food processor should a recall need to be initiated.

Similarly, HVP ingredient suppliers can benefit from food ERP systems with integrated lot traceability features. Should an HVP ingredient supplier discover that one of its HVP lots was contaminated, the supplier would be able to identify all of its customers that received the contaminated HVP lot and notify them that a recall for that particular lot has been initiated. Again, assuming the ingredient supplier has the necessary lot traceability and quality control mechanisms in place, the supplier would only have to recall the contaminated lot of HVP, rather than all HVP lots that were shipped to customers over a period of time.

TGI Traceability Resources

For a demonstration of Enterprise 21’s forward and backward lot traceability features, please click here.

To download TGI’s Five Critical Software Requirements for Improved Product Safety and Traceability white paper from the TGI Resources Library, please click here.

The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) recently submitted a report to the FDA that discusses various ways in which food manufacturing software solutions and other technology tools can aid food processors in achieving more comprehensive ingredient and finished good lot traceability. For food manufacturers engaging in an ERP selection project, there are two primary functional requirements an ERP solution must meet to provide the food processor with the ability to track ingredient and finished good lots accurately and efficiently.

First, an ERP manufacturing software solution must provide both forward and backward lot traceability functionality. The system must be able to track the lot numbers of all ingredients received into inventory, when these ingredients were received, when these ingredients (and their associated lot numbers) were used in manufacturing, the lot numbers of the finished goods that were produced with these ingredient lots, and which of the food processor’s customers were shipped a particular lot number for a finished good. Such functionality gives the organization complete visibility to a particular lot of ingredient from a supplier from receipt into inventory and consumption in manufacturing to finished good shipment to a customer on a specific customer order. In the event of a product recall, system users must be able to generate lot history reports from directly within the ERP system to provide to the FDA and any other regulatory agencies to aid in the recall process.

Click here to watch the Enterprise 21 lot traceability demo.

Secondly, the food manufacturing software solution must deliver a fully-integrated wireless warehouse management system with RF and barcode scanning capabilities. By selecting a manufacturing software solution that provides the organization with the functionality to deploy RF and barcode scanning devices for use in inventory, manufacturing, and shipping operations, food processors can see improvements in ingredient and finished good lot data accuracy. Using such technology, lot codes can be generated automatically and barcodes applied for receipt of ingredients into inventory, finished goods produced and placed into inventory, and finished goods shipped to customers. An employee in the shipping and receiving or manufacturing department would simply scan the barcode and enter the quantity received, produced, or shipped – the system would automatically identify the lot number(s) for the items and store the data, reducing the likelihood of inaccurate ingredient or finished good lot information. As a side benefit, food processors can achieve improvements in overall warehouse productivity as a result of more streamlined picking operations and faster data entry with the use of RF and barcode scanning devices.

By selecting a manufacturing software system with fully-integrated forward and backward lot traceability and wireless warehouse management technology, food processors can strengthen their overall level of ingredient and finished good lot traceability while simultaneously improving ingredient and finished good lot data accuracy.

Strong process manufacturing software solutions like Enterprise 21 can enable companies to establish an effective product shelf life management program.  Within the system, one can establish shelf life parameters by product group or category.  For example, certain classes of products may have a predetermined shelf life of 90 days from the date of manufacture while others may have a 120 day shelf life.  Specific lots of ingredients and/or finished goods will have expiration dates associated with those items based on how these parameters are established.

The Enterprise 21 ERP system enables the allocation of products on a first expire, first out (FEFO) methodology – both for the consumption of ingredients and intermediaries in manufacturing processes and for finished goods shipment to customers.  Additionally, one can manage retesting of products through the establishment of parameters relative to how near an item’s expiration date it is desired to retest a product’s remaining shelf life.

As products reach their retest periods, the system can place those items on quality hold automatically, and quality control personnel can be alerted as to the need to perform the retesting process to determine the remaining shelf lives for those items.  Based on those test results, one can establish new expiration dates for those items and release those items from quality hold back into active inventory.  Should there be excess inventory approaching expiration dates, the company’s sales organization can be alerted that it may need to run a product promotion or special to move those items from inventory prior to it reaching those expiration dates.

There may be instances in which certain customers may require a guaranteed minimum shelf life for the products they purchase.  In these cases, there are parameters that can be defined within Enterprise 21 noting a given customer’s requirements for guaranteed shelf life on a product-by-product basis.  Then, when one of these customers has product being allocated to its sales order line items, the FEFO methodology can be overridden to make sure the customer’s guaranteed shelf life requirements are being met.

The Enterprise 21 system will help enable process manufacturing companies to minimize their exposure to products needing to be thrown away or sold at a substantially reduced cost while concurrently meeting customer guaranteed shelf life requirements through the combination of first expire, first out product allocation, product retest procedures, and guaranteed customer shelf life management capabilities.

In 2009, the food and beverage industry saw peanuts, pistachios, and prepackaged refrigerated cookie dough recalled and pulled off the shelves at retail stores and warehouses across the country for one reason: salmonella contamination. Many food and beverage businesses were then forced to shut down their operations for good, as their food processing software solution did not give them the ability to record and track raw ingredient lot numbers from suppliers, when those lot numbers were consumed in manufacturing, finished good lot numbers, and the finished good lot numbers that were ultimately shipped to end customers. As a result, businesses were forced to recall EVERYTHING that could have potentially been produced with a contaminated ingredient, a bad situation if you make packaged nuts and trail mixes.

To gain improved salmonella analysis tracking and reporting, food processors and distributors can leverage Enterprise 21’s food ERP software and integrated lot traceability functionality in a number of ways. First, raw ingredients purchased from suppliers can be flagged to be placed on quality hold each time the ingredient arrives into inventory. When the ingredient arrives into inventory, the receiving department would record, either manually or with RF and barcode devices, the ingredient that was received, the quantity that was received, and the lot number(s) for the ingredient received. The ingredient would then be placed in a holding area awaiting quality inspection. It is important to note that the ingredient received would not yet be released into available inventory to be consumed in manufacturing. Following the receipt of the ingredient, a person in the quality control/assurance department would be automatically notified that the ingredient was awaiting his or her inspection. As quality control personnel inspected the product, they could enter inspection values directly into Enterprise 21. Assuming the product is determined to be acceptable, it would then be approved and released into available inventory. If the product does not meet inspection criteria, the product can be rejected, and the quality department can specify a reason code for why the product was rejected.

Secondly, manufactured items can automatically be placed on quality hold each time a given item is produced. Again, as items are produced, they can be placed in a holding area awaiting quality inspection and testing for salmonella. Enterprise 21 would automatically notify the quality control department that a given item has been produced and is awaiting inspection. Quality control personnel can then test the manufactured product, enter inspection data into Enterprise 21, and then approve or disapprove the product to be released into available inventory for customer purchases. Inspection data can also be used to generate a Certificate of Analysis (COA), and this COA can be set to accompany the finished good each time the product is shipped to a customer.

Aside from improving the organization’s quality control inspection process and attaining improved visibility to quality inspection data, food and beverage companies’ customers will be much more comfortable doing business with an organization that can clearly demonstrate that any product shipped to them has been rigorously tested for salmonella contamination prior to shipment. This improvement in customer service ensures that the food manufacturer or distributor is adequately prepared for a product recall should one arise and increases the likelihood of repeat customer purchases given the sophisticated quality control and reporting mechanisms the organization has in place.

Process Manufacturers continue to strive to remain compliant with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP).  At the core of cGMP are documented, repeatable procedures and strong controls.  So, what is the role of an ERP system like Enterprise 21 in cGMP?  It becomes a key enabler of the control aspects for process manufacturing enterprises including food, chemical, and life sciences manufacturers.

First, there needs to be control in the ingredients being acquired for use in the manufacturing processes.  Suppliers need to be qualified and held to high standards.  Good ERP systems like Enterprise 21 enable companies’ purchasing organizations to establish criteria for the qualification of vendors and suppliers.  Once given vendors become approved, they can be enabled in Enterprise 21 as valid suppliers for the manufacturer to do business with while monitoring supplier performance over time.

As ingredients go through various processes, Enterprise 21 documents and time stamps each of these transactions and their associated operators for complete traceability of those parties involved at every step in the chain.  These processes include:

• Receiving,

• Movement to a quality control holding area,

• Quality control evaluation, approval, and release for use,

• Product putaway,

• Manufacturing picking and staging,

• Consumption in manufacturing, and

• Putaway of any excess inventory not consumed in manufacturing.

Before manufacturing occurs, authorized personnel can establish one or more manufacturing processes by which to produce a given product and the product’s associated formulation and recipe.  The identities of the personnel who establish the production routings and associated formulations are documented in the system, as are the identities of all personnel involved in the workflow process to review and approve these items prior to their release for production.

When a product is being produced, the manufacturing personnel involved in the processes associated with that production are recorded in Enterprise 21.  Also, electronic signatures can be used for supervisory personnel and management to sign off at key points during the manufacturing processes acknowledging the product has been made in accordance with documented procedures and associated safety standards.

As the product is produced, it too will undergo a series of quality assurance tests in order to gain approval for shipment to customers.  The individuals who perform the QA tests are documented in the system, as are the warehouse personnel who move and put away the finished goods inventory.  Finally, as sales orders are entered for given items, the personnel who pick, pack, and ship the finished goods to fulfill those customer orders are also documented in the system.

In addition to the documented controls of all individuals involved in the complete process from ingredients to customer shipments, all associated lots are recorded in Enterprise 21 to enable complete womb-to-tomb lot traceability.  Ingredient lots from suppliers flow into manufactured lots of produced products, which are ultimately shipped to customers.

Strong ERP systems like Enterprise 21 enable process manufacturers to meet cGMP guidelines through the complete product and process flow throughout the manufacturing enterprise.