On November 20, 2024, we launched the latest software release of FoodBusiness ERP, powered by Sage X3. FoodBusiness ERP 2024 R3 includes powerful new features purpose-built for Food and Beverage manufacturers. These advanced industry-specific capabilities go above and beyond what is found in ‘out-of-the-box’ ERP software solutions. Below you’ll find an overview of what’s new in FoodBusiness ERP and how you can leverage the new functionality to improve the efficiency of your sales and fulfilment processes.
Scan and Pack
FoodBusiness ERP now enables order-based picking for partial deliveries. A user can short pick an order as long as that action observes the ship order complete or ship line complete settings of an order. Partial picking of orders allows the FoodBusiness ERP Scan and Pack and Ship and Close features to be used together seamlessly to simplify fulfilment.
Catch Weight without the Manual Effort and Math
Dealing with the details of catch weight can be tedious for food and beverage manufacturers. This is true even when tracking inventory in larger units such as a pallet or a group of cases (less than pallet). Some activities require a case count and total weight to process. Velocity and transaction volume can turn this simple requirement into a challenge that can be problematic and error prone. We have eliminated the manual tracking and summing by providing a new option to enter weights and total. Processing can be accelerated and errors reduced by combining this feature with the use of GS1 barcodes with weight encoding.
Here are a few advanced catch weight features includes in FoodBusiness ERP 2024 R3:
- Pallet identifier change – enter weights and total
- Material issue by identifier – enter weights and total
- Production reporting by identifier – support for backflushed materials
- Parameterized pallet labels with GS1 pallet builder
- Option to edit/adjust GS1 pallet contents during receipt
Pallets for Pros
Food and beverage manufacturers know that palletization involves more than just a stack of cartons. Many manufacturing companies use pallet quantities to drive their planning and production. This allows them to maximize facility storage capacity while reducing material handling. This provides efficiency and cost reduction. It’s a simple concept, but one that isn’t always so easy to execute in the real world. Why?
Pallet definitions often vary due to differences in carton sizes and product density. There are often safety concerns that need to be considered: is the pallet packed in such a way that its contents are stable and won’t tip or topple during transport?
The FoodBusiness ERP 20204 R3 release addresses these challenges by extending the product definition to include a pallet Tier (TI) and Height (HI) definition. This includes specifics about a tier (TI) such as the number of cartons, precise placement of the cartons on the pallet, and the number of layers tiers per pallet.
It’s said that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” and with pallet configurations this is especially true. TI-HI quantities do not always provide essential data. Carton tier patterns or differences by tier often require an image for staff to understand. Our TI-HI solution addresses this issue by allowing for the inclusion of an image to supplement the quantitative data in the system.
How and where is it used? The TI-HI data is used to create a new palletization instruction document. This is an optional report that can be printed for a work order. It includes the TI-HI data and the image as guidance to the operator, ensuring they have the information and knowledge required to properly build a pallet and avoid rework.
Rebates
FoodBusiness ERP now includes powerful and flexible options for managing rebates. Here are the key highlights:
- Benefit payment consolidation – new option allows rebate benefits earned across multiple programs to be combined into a single payment or credit per benefit period
- New option to calculate benefit based on weight
- New fiscal period options
With the new benefit payment consolidation functionality, you can configure and manage one or more rebates programs for customers concurrently. This feature provides an easy way to incentivize your customers to buy, while making it much simpler to manage rebate benefit payments – no need to generate multiple payments or credits to the same recipient.
Traditional rebate programs define programs based on order totals or the frequency of orders. However, some food and beverage manufacturers base their rebate programs on the total weight ordered within a period. The advanced weight logic in FoodBusiness ERP can be used for qualification and/or as the basis for calculating the rebate benefit.
Previously, FoodBusiness ERP allowed you to define rebate program periods based on calendar dates. With the new release, FoodBusiness ERP provides flexible fiscal period options to better align your rebate programs with your own internal activity and schedules.
Royalties
FoodBusiness ERP also includes new capabilities for managing royalties. Some royalty agreements require that you pay a minimum amount per period. This amount is owed even if the calculated amount is less than the period minimum. In addition to supporting the payment of royalty benefits based on a calculated amount, FoodBusiness ERP now provides the option to define a period minimum to produce payments per contractual agreement when the calculated benefit does not meet the threshold.
As outlined for Rebates above, new fiscal period options allow you to more closely align royalty programs with your organization’s internal activities and schedules.
Ready to Learn More?
Want to know more about how FoodBusiness ERP can help your business? Contact our food and beverage manufacturing experts with any questions or to schedule a personalized demo of the functionality available in the latest release. We’d love to chat!