The Need for a Comprehensive Food ERP System

Your business is more than the manufacturing plant you use to manufacture your products and distribute it to consumers. While your focus may be food manufacturing, there is a lot more that goes into making your business a success. From back-office accounting to HR and payroll, these are standard business activities that must take place in order to ensure the smooth operation of your manufacturing facility.

Successful food manufacturers combine all areas of the business into one system to provide them with the insight and visibility they need to manage their business well. When you run disconnected systems, you receive disconnected data. Every part of the business relates to the other. If you are experiencing challenges in manufacturing a certain product, chances are those challenges are affecting one part of the business or another. By simplifying business management and using a comprehensive solution to manage both your manufacturing and office-related activities, you are setting yourself up for success.

Why Sage X3 is Our Top Pick for Food Manufacturing Businesses

Sage X3 is an integrated enterprise system that allows food manufacturers to have complete business control and maintain industry-specific compliance. From forecasting, scheduling, order management, and inventory control, the software enables food and beverage manufacturers to reduce overall costs of the business while at the same time improvement customer service. The features included in Sage X3 address the business as a whole, enabling food manufacturers to focus their time and attention on the things that truly matter.

Some highlights of this comprehensive food ERP software include:

• Automated data collection, eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing data entry errors
• Advanced scheduling capabilities that can be adjusted for equipment using dedicated processing lines and side-by-side machines to avoid potential cross-contamination of products
• Recipe management that captures detailed item information and passes it on through the system to ensure the accuracy and coherency of product data
• Automated product traceability and tracking through all materials, levels and suppliers
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) so you can be alerted to any changes or problems within your business
• Financial management capabilities so you can stay on budget
• Automated compliance document generator
• Production planning for ingredient-specific plants and lines
• Careful matching of packaging
• Real-time reporting so you always know what is happening

Could your food manufacturing business use a comprehensive system that addresses your business as a whole rather than just part-by-part? IWI Consulting offers food industry ERP software to help food manufacturing companies adequately prepare for recall instances and any other related food and beverage “emergencies”. You can learn more about our food industry ERP software by visiting our Sage X3 page.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of food manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

The Answer to the Food Manufacturing Industry’s Worries

As a food and beverage manufacturer, the safety of your products should be your top concern and priority. While there are numerous regulations in place to ensure the safety of food and beverage products, food still gets contaminated, leading to costly product recalls along with process and facility overhauls. Earlier this month, we discussed how preparation is key to surviving product recalls and contamination issues. This week, we would like to expand on the idea of preparation and show you ways you can prevent contamination from the start.

Food ERP software is crucial in preventing, preparing for, and responding to product recalls and food contamination issues. Designed specifically with food manufacturers in mind, food ERP software contains advanced tracking and reporting capabilities that make it easy for manufacturers to keep a close eye on every step in the manufacturing process. Here are 3 ways food manufacturing companies can use food ERP to increase food safety:

1. The Prevention of Food Contamination
   Your main plan of attack when it comes to product recalls and food contamination should be prevention. If you can prevent contamination from occurring, then you do not have to spend extra time and money on food contamination problems. Food ERP software prevents contamination from the start by rigorously enforcing inspections to assure item conformance to required product characteristics and expected results. The inspections are conducted at key event points, such as during receiving or any other important stage in the production cycle. Any items that fail inspection are automatically quarantined or designated for further inspection or disposal to ensure they do not reach the hands of your customers.
2. Adequate Tracking in Preparation of Food Recalls
   While food ERP software contains specialized inspection capabilities to weed out products that fail to measure up to item conformance, it does not fully eliminate the chance of product recalls from occurring. Food ERP software does, however, help you create and maintain an effective plan of action should a recall occur sometime in the future. The system automatically keeps track of manufacturing processes and stores important information related to product ingredients and creation.Should a recall occur, you will have all the information you need to determine where the contamination occurred, how to fix the problem, and how to prevent it from occurring again in the future.
3. Cuts Response Time in Half
   When you are using food ERP software to manage your food manufacturing operation, you are better prepared to react quickly and address the problem before it causes more damage to your business. Because all of the information is readily available, you do not have to go digging around to find the facts. They are already there, allowing you to respond to problems in the supply chain immediately.You can also quickly determine which areas and processes need improvement so as to prevent contamination in the future.

Preventing contamination from the start can help you protect your business’ reputation, its customers and your end profit. IWI Consulting offers food industry ERP software to help food manufacturing companies adequately prepare for recall instances and any other related food and beverage “emergencies”. You can learn more about our food industry ERP software by visiting our Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) page.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of food manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Food and beverage manufacturing is serious business. The FDA imposes strict regulations on food manufacturing businesses to protect consumers from the contamination or misrepresentation of products. While these regulations are ultimately in place to protect both consumers and manufacturers alike, they can be quite cumbersome to adhere to and require a great deal of attention to the manufacturing process.

This past year as seen even more changes to the food and beverage industry, and we expect it to only continue from here on out. Earlier this year, the FDA implemented the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), further tightening the regulations food manufacturers face. In order to remain in compliance and ensure that you are doing everything in your power to protect both your customers and your business, you need to have a system in place for tracking and maintaining critical information related to the manufacturing of your products.

Spreadsheets No Longer Work for Food Manufacturing Needs

We all love spreadsheets. They’re simple to use, don’t require extensive knowledge of a complex system, and are easy to update and change as needed. While certainly useful for many business tasks, spreadsheets are not an effective tool when it comes to food manufacturing. Spreadsheets are limited in the things they can do and the information they can provide. They are not easily searchable and finding related information is difficult unless it is all included on the same sheet. To top it off, data is entered manually, increasing the likelihood of data errors and inaccuracies.

When you are trying to track products and their individual ingredients throughout the manufacturing process, spreadsheets simply don’t work. Instead, you need a system designed to automatically track the manufacturing process from the start, giving you a clear picture of what’s happening in the food manufacturing process at any given time.

Why Food Manufacturing Software is a Better Fit for the Food and Beverage Industry

While there is no official FDA compliant business management system, there are solutions that can assist you in meeting FDA compliance and improving the traceability of your manufacturing processes. Food manufacturing software, such as Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), contains advanced food manufacturing features to stay up-to-date on consumer preferences, FDA regulations, and the happenings with your manufacturing facilities.

Spreadsheets only give you a limited view of your business. With food manufacturing software, you have a comprehensive enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution that promotes innovation, tracks processes, automates tasks, and supports flexible supply chain management. So what are you waiting for? Contact us to learn how you can trade in those ineffective spreadsheets for a more capable solution today!

IWI Consulting offers food industry ERP software to help food manufacturing companies adequately prepare for recall instances and any other related food and beverage “emergencies”. You can learn more about our food industry ERP software by visiting our Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) page.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of food manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

No matter how you feel about it, recalls are an unfortunate reality in the food and beverage manufacturing industry. Just turn on the news, and you will hear story after story about companies pulling products off the shelves due to contaminated ingredients or faulty labeling. If your company has been hit by recalls, you know the difficulty of the situation. In fact, for many food and beverage manufacturers, recalls are akin to a “state of emergency.”

Though the industry produces several billion dollars a year, it is facing increasing challenges, particularly in the area of food and beverage recalls. While it is almost impossible to know when and if a recall will occur, there is something food manufacturers can do in order to safeguard their business and limit the effect of recalls on production and profit. Recalls can never be predicted, but with a little preparation ahead of time, food manufacturers can prevent recalls from significantly affecting the business.

Recalls in the Food Manufacturing Industry: Why Do They Occur?

Recalls can occur for a variety of reasons. While the most common reasons for recalling food and beverages is the contamination of ingredients, recalls can be attributed to something as simple as a mislabeled package. No matter the reason, food recalls can wreak havoc on the food manufacturing industry, contributing to smaller profit margins and even going as far as to shut down a business temporarily.

Because the food manufacturing process involves many steps, it can be difficult to for companies to find the origin of the problem that lead to the recall. Without the proper systems and tracking in place, food manufacturers cannot determine if the problem originated at the primary manufacturing facility, during packaging, or with a third party. Not being able to pinpoint the exact location of the problem will lead to more time being spent on the investigation of the recall and less time allotted to regaining the profits lost from the recall.

Using Food Industry ERP Software to Prepare for Recall Situations

For companies whose profits rely upon the safety and quality of the food they manufacture, a solid recall action plan should be in place. Developing a plan and implementing the right technology ahead of a recall is key and can make all the difference in how your company bounces back from recall situations. With food industry ERP software, each ingredient can be coded, making it easily traceable should a recall occur and the product need to be pulled off the shelf. By automating traceability and simplifying identification, food industry ERP software can quickly point food manufacturing firms to the source of the problem so they can determine their next course of action.

IWI Consulting offers food industry ERP software to help food manufacturing companies adequately prepare for recall instances and any other related food and beverage “emergencies”. You can learn more about our food industry ERP software by visiting our Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3) page.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of food manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Over the past month we have been discussing the benefits of using client relationship management (CRM) software to improve client relationships and streamline sales, marketing, and customer service processes. From accurate sales forecasting to providing companies with a complete sales order history, CRM software adds value to the organization in practically every area. As we discussed last week, even ERP software is strengthened by an effective client relationship management solution!

Earlier this year, Sage Software released the latest version of Sage CRM, Version 7.3. This new edition features several new features and enhancements, including a new suite of business accelerators for sales, email marketing integration, and mobile options. This upgrade extends the capabilities of Sage CRM, allowing businesses to further improve their client relationships and more effectively meet sales goals. By addressing the key business challenges busy sales departments face every day, Sage has created a client relationship management system built to last. Take a look at some of the most noteworthy enhancements:

Client Relationship Management with a New, Contemporary Look

Sage has improved user experience by giving Sage CRM a modern facelift. New navigation options and the new UI theme make navigating the software more intuitive and easier than ever before.

Business Accelerators for Sales Growth

Sage CRM 7.3 introduces a new suite of Business Accelerators for Sales. This new suite offers comprehensive sales-oriented data and insight, built-in alerts, dashboards, sales workflows, KPIs and new sales performance charts to provide businesses with more insight so they can make better decisions. Software users now have access to:

• Alternative quick sale workflow to suit shorter sales processes
• New KPI charts to help identify and measure the organization’s success in meeting sales performance goals
• New sales dashboards that display a wide range of charts and reports for better insight and trend analysis
• A number of preconfigured alerts and notifications to ensure managers receive real time updates on business KPIs as they happen

MailChimp Email Marketing Integration

Sage CRM users now have more choices for their email marketing needs. Version 7.3 includes integration with MailChimp, allowing users to easily create, send and track email campaigns for free (up to a list of 2,000 subscribers).

Improved Mobile CRM Experience

The final, and perhaps most exciting, enhancement made to Sage CRM 7.3 is the improved mobile experience. The mobile solution has been updated to include one optimized mobile experience for all modern devices, allowing businesses to access important CRM data anytime, anywhere and on any device. Improvements have also been made to the Sage CRM app for iPhone.

IWI Consulting offers client relationship management software to help you develop long-lasting relationships with your clients and continually meet your sales goals.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Enterprise software, commonly referred to as enterprise resource planning or ERP software, is designed to support the operations of the business. Client relationship management (CRM) software, on the other hand, is designed to support the relationship part of the business. Where ERP software focuses on ensuring that the product gets made or the service gets delivers, CRM software focuses on maintaining a positive relationship with the client who receives the item and supporting the item’s life after it has been delivered.

At first glance, ERP and CRM are nothing alike. Used for two different purposes, each system has its own set of capabilities, benefits and payoffs. When paired together, however, they complement one another and provide businesses with a comprehensive software package to sustain growth, lower costs, and improve overall efficiency.

What Makes Enterprise Software Unique?

Before we take a look at the benefits of using client relationship management and enterprise software together, you need to understand the strengths unique to each solution. For years, enterprise software has been the primary software platform of accounting and operations. By providing the necessary functions to support the business (such as inventory management, record keeping, data collection, etc.), ERP software is crucial to the life of a business, no matter the industry.

What Makes Client Relationship Management Software Unique?

CRM software are intended to meet the needs of the front office, the customer-facing departments. CRM tools perform functions that address sales, marketing and customer service issues. They keep track of marketing campaigns, keep record of transactions and customer data, project future sales, and support the customer service department. CRM software is just a critical as ERP software, just in a different aspect.

CRM and ERP: The Benefits of Pairing Two Separate Solutions Together

As we discussed above, CRM and ERP have two distinct purposes. ERP software serves the back office, and CRM software serves the front office. This is exactly why the two solutions need to be paired together. Say a client calls into the customer service department about a broken part on his recently purchased photocopier (which your company manufactures and sells). You can use CRM to record the details of the phone call and report what is wrong, but you cannot order the replacement part from the CRM system. For that, you will need ERP. Once the problem has been reported, ERP kicks in by checking stock for that component. Once the part is found, the part is sent out to the client using the information stored in the CRM system.

This complementary relationship is what makes the pairing of CRM and ERP so crucial for business success. When your enterprise software solutions are not integrated with your client relationship management solutions, you experience a disconnect between the systems that often results in delayed service times, frustrated customers and increased costs. By integrating these solutions, you are ensuring communication between all departments and increasing your efficiency across the business.

IWI Consulting offers ERP and CRM software integration services to help your business operate more cohesively. You can learn more about our integration services here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Is it Time to Replace Spreadsheets with Client Relationship Management Software?

Whether you want to or not, sales forecasting is a necessary part of running a business. Companies use sales forecasts to determine their position in the market, plan for future inventory and scheduling needs, and create effective strategies to meet predetermined business goals. Sales forecasts do not predict the future. They can, however, help businesses plan for the future and be better prepared to meet whatever happens along the way.

Even in today’s technology-heavy world, many businesses still rely on spreadsheets for sales forecasting. While spreadsheets are a great tool for building lists, creating budgets and generating basic reports, they are not effective in the area of sales forecasting. Not only are they inefficient and cumbersome to maintain, but they are also limited in the information they provide. Businesses often unknowingly pay a high price when they use spreadsheets to create sales forecasts, for spreadsheets take a lot of time to create and maintain and are often filled with data inaccuracies. In the most extreme cases, this can even translate into lost sales and unmet revenue goals.

If your company is struggling to create accurate sales forecasts or if you have grown to a point where spreadsheets are no longer a viable option, client relationship management (CRM) software can pick up where the spreadsheets left off. Here are seven compelling reasons to move your sales forecasting to CRM tools:

1. Improved quality of forecasts
2. A stronger sense of reality
3. Better business protection
4. Increased efficiency
5. Better planning for the future
6. More accurate metric tracking and measuring
7. The ability to act quickly on accurate sales information

Sage CRM: Sales Forecasting in Less Time

Sage CRM is a client relationship management solution designed to not only enhance your customer relationships but your sales processes as well. The sales forecasting tools within Sage CRM eliminate the need for sales teams to spend unnecessary time manipulating spreadsheets. Built into Sage CRM’s framework, the sales forecasting system reduces the time it takes to create sales forecasts and increases their accuracy, allowing businesses to spend more time prospecting for new business.

The sales forecasting functionality within the Sage CRM software allows:

• Individual users to flag opportunities in their pipeline to indicate whether or not they should be included in sales forecasts
• Sales Managers to base their forecasts on their own personal pipeline (if applicable), as well as on the forecasts of the team(s) they manage
• Individual users to enter forecasts using their opportunity pipeline as a starting point

The benefits of Sage CRM for sales forecasting are numerous. IWI Consulting sells and supports Sage CRM software and even offers customization for your more advanced sales forecasting needs. Learn more about Sage CRM and its capabilities here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Today’s world is highly connected. In a moment’s time, you can open your Internet browser, see what is happening around the world, chat with a colleague or friend, and place an order for a product or service sold in another country – all without leaving the comfort of your own desk. While globalization has certainly opened up new opportunities for businesses in terms of reaching untapped markets, it has also further complicated the balancing act known as client relationship management.

In the past, businesses only had to compete with companies who sold or provided similar products and services in their community. Today, however, they are having to compete with companies all over the world, whether they be mere cities away or entire continents away. As new stores and suppliers emerge, companies are having to develop new strategies for winning new clients and retaining existing ones. While no one can deny that globalization has had a positive impact on the consumer, we must acknowledge the challenges globalization presents to modern-day businesses, particularly in the area of client retention.

Client Relationship Management: The Importance of Communicating Value in Today’s Global Market

In order to improve client retention, you have to change the way you approach client relationship management. Simply adopting new and creative marketing strategies will not do the trick, especially when there is someone else out there who can probably do the same thing – only bigger and better. You can offer your existing clients discounts and incentives to encourage them to remain loyal customers, but if your client relationship management processes are not effective, even the best client loyalty offers will fall flat.

Client retention begins and ends with your client relationship management (CRM) process. How you manage your clients through every stage of the process can say a lot about your company and your values. If you respond to queries in a timely manner and take the time to talk to the client personally, you are saying that your clients are valuable. If you rush through the sales process, forget important details about their order or history, or fail to establish personal (not automated) contact with your clients, you are not communicating value. In these instances, the clients will most likely leave your company for another company that will appreciate their business.

CRM Software: The Key to Customer Retention Concerns

Utilizing tools and technology to improve customer retention is important. For companies looking to combat the impact of globalization on their business, client relationship management (CRM) software is key. By implementing effective CRM solutions, you can begin to start communicating value to your customers the moment you connect with them. Designed to help companies manage marketing, sales, and all other client interactions in a timely and efficient manner, CRM software can bridge the distance between you and your customers and help you maintain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

IWI Consulting offers client relationship management (also referred to as customer relationship management or CRM) solutions to help you maintain strong relationships with your clients and ease the information overload on your customer-facing employees. Learn more about our software options here: Sage CRM.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Enterprise software systems make it possible to produce reports and charts using sales, purchasing, financial, supplier, and production datasets. These can be used to compare results against industry-wide key performance indicators over time and also can lead to resolution of problems and furthering of successes. Who doesn’t want this kind of fine-tuning capability of best practices and decision making using these reports? It is likely that your company could benefit from all of this. To learn more about big data and how it can improve inventory management, visit here. Now, let’s look at tools for forecasting and analyzing that are gaining strength and helping companies to create reports and successfully use this data.

Enterprise Software Tools for Analysis

Inventory specialists can take data analysis functionality to a whole new level by integrating inventory optimization tools with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) and Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3). These enterprise software optimization systems provide graphics that can illustrate the synthesis of data from all departments. These graphics can help analyze, diagnose, and identify seasonal demand shifts, order patterns, likely stock-out dates, lost sales, excess orders, unsellable items, price reduction patterns, and patterns of production downtime among many other capabilities.

Forecasting Tools

The analysis done by an inventory optimization tool can then use this big data to forecast demand with greater accuracy and faster speed. Through this, the system can recommend optimal inventory levels for sales availability. It can take into account possible stock-out and overage risks giving managers the advance warning needed to take care of stock levels when they are becoming too high or too low.

Tools for Management

Managers need to know what is happening with inventory to best respond. Inventory optimization tools make this easy through recommendations given about optimal restocking schedules in addition to automated ordering and re-ordering. In addition to helping find and act on trends, the tools can also help alert managers of exceptions to these trends so they can mitigate them. Through integration with enterprise software such as Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) or Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3), the tools communicate across departments and even outside of the organization using actionable intelligence. This can inform decisions about recommended stock levels, replenishment schedules, automated orders, and exception alerts.

Using these tools combined with management and inventory specialists making decisions based on the data and information provided by them, inventory optimization can be achieved. These decisions can help balance the trade-offs between the costs of a stock-out versus the costs of overstocking. Inventory management tools must adjust recommended stocking levels that are dependent upon variable risk tolerance. There is a balance to strike between pushing risk tolerance in the direction of avoiding stock-outs and having more inventory ready versus pushing management to stock as little inventory as possible to avoid storage and waste costs. The ability of an inventory optimization tool to adjust forecasts based on the “what-ifs” is a huge plus to management.

Inventory management is all about making better decisions that result in better balance that depend on the shifting goals that are influenced by the reality of the events going on in the warehouse. Tools that can improve balance provide a large and ongoing return on investment. The goal is to reduce inventory levels by 20 to 50 percent that results in significant savings. Because right-sizing is a complex challenge, cost control and customer satisfaction have become the focus. These are driving the adoption of more sophisticated systems of inventory management. By utilizing new, flexible, and refined tools that provide for dynamic optimization of inventories to maximize customer service and market share while decreasing inventory investment and lowering costs, inventory managers can significantly impact overall competiveness and profitability.

IWI Consulting offers two ERP solutions that have the tools needed for successful inventory management. Learn more about Sage EM (formerly known as Sage X3). Learn more about Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300).

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.

Inventory really is the lifeblood of sales and production processes within manufacturing and distribution companies. Therefore, it is important to have a sufficient stock to avoid lost sales and keep customers satisfied. At the same time, only carrying the necessary quantities of inventory avoids the need to pay extra carrying costs like taxes, insurance, security, and storage. In order to improve inventory control and management, it is important to understand the process and the three key facets of the process. These facets are distinct from one another and yet interconnected so understanding them all will lead to bettering the entire inventory management process using enterprise software to help get you to where you need to be as a business.

The Three-Part Inventory Process

Part 1: Physical Inventory Control

Physical inventory control is all about receiving, moving, stocking, and the physical control of inventory. This is typically an ongoing process with arrivals and departures occurring daily. Barcoding, consigning, and kit repackaging are all important parts of physical inventory control.

In addition, data entry is an important part of the physical side of inventory operations. All items must be tracked using enterprise software to ensure accurate and timely inventory data collection that is essential for success. Cycle counting is also necessary. This is a manual intervention that serves to check and verify that computerized data records match physical stock in terms of both quantity and location.

Part 2: Inventory Planning

Unlike the control and movement emphasized by the physical process, systematic management is the emphasis of the planning process. Planning relies on varying rates of demand and methodologies. This involves right-sizing inventory that gets turned over reliably and is replenished frequently by avoiding stock-outs and lost sales in addition to avoiding trapping working capital in overages of pricey stock. Another aspect involves purchasing new inventory based on customer demand.

Data, just like the physical inventory process, should drive the stocking of inventory. Therefore, accurate data is essential and is driven by conscientious data entry using Sage 300 ERP, Sage ERP X3, or another enterprise software system. Systematic and preplanned approaches to replenishing inventory involve using information that is relevant to sales, finance, purchasing, production, and shipping/receiving. Enterprise software helps store and use this data efficiently.

Part 3: Inventory Optimization

Even with planning and physical inventory controls, it is still possible to have too much or too little inventory. Frequent occurrences of stock-outs and stock overages indicate inventory levels that lack optimization. Thanks to technology, inventory optimization systems now help with supply chain management by calculating where and when inventory should be deployed to fulfill predetermined objectives. By better classifying stocking levels according to past demand and improving demand forecasting for future use, these systems greatly assist in optimizing inventory.

Although mismatches between stock and demand cannot be entirely eliminated, they can be significantly reduced by forecasting more accurately and quickly. This allows the predetermined objectives (such as measureable reductions in inventory investment, increased customer satisfaction, maximized output, and cost containment) to be more within reach.

These processes come together to make up the important inventory cycle. All of them are improved with technology meant to handle many important facets of inventory management and data collection. Learn more about out IWI Consulting’s ERP system offerings: Sage X3 here and Sage 300cloud (formerly known as Sage 300) here.

Our small and dedicated team specializes in helping small-to-medium size Canadian businesses and non-profits select and adapt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRMS) and IT services. With IWI’s 15 years in business and 100 plus years of combined experience, IWI has helped hundreds of manufacturing, distribution, and financial service companies gain efficiency, grow, and lower their operating costs.

With the unique combination of industry knowledge and diverse technology expertise, IWI provides cost-effective solutions to help clients gain a competitive edge. As a Sage business partner, servicing the Greater Toronto Area, we support evaluation and implementation of operations and finance systems to optimize technology, ensuring high return on investment with a quick and painless transition to new software.