case study - Baker & Prepared Foods

How a Midwest prepared-food manufacturer took control of their inventory with Harvest Food Solutions

The Customer

A fast-growing Midwest bakery and prepared-foods manufacturer, known for small-batch prepared meals made with premium ingredients. As the company expanded its retail and wholesale operations, balancing ingredient purchasing, production planning, inventory levels, and compliance became increasingly challenging.

The Challenge

Three inventory problems that hit profit and customers

Like many food and beverage manufacturers and distributors, the company faced three critical inventory management issues that were impacting profitability and customer satisfaction:

Overstock & Waste

Manual planning processes made it difficult to align purchasing with actual production needs, leading to excess ingredients and wasted finished goods.

Stockouts & Missed Orders

Without real-time visibility into production and inventory, high-demand cookie varieties would sell out faster than the team could replenish them.

Traceability & Compliance

As Midwest Mfg scaled, their need for robust lot tracking and regulatory readiness grew. Manual recordkeeping created risk and slowed response times during audits or recalls.

"We knew we needed better visibility and control. Our old systems couldn’t keep up with our growth."

- Operations Director

The Solution

A system built for food and beverage, not retrofitted to it

Midwest Mfg partnered with Harvest Food Solutions to implement Harvest ERP, powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, which is tailored specifically for the food manufacturing industry. Harvest’s team of food-industry experts worked with Midwest Mfg to implement a system that addressed their key challenges:

Advanced Demand & Production Planning:

Streamlined forecasting and scheduling now ensure purchasing aligns with production needs, reducing both shortages and overages.

Enhanced Lot Tracking:

Every ingredient and finished product is traceable from supplier to customer. The system automates lot assignments, expiration management, and audit trails for effortless FSMA compliance.

Power BI Insights:

Out-of-the-box Microsoft Power BI dashboards give Midwest Mfg instant visibility into production efficiency, inventory trends, and ingredient usage—helping managers make data-driven decisions in real time.

Real-Time Inventory Visibility:

From raw ingredients to finished goods, the team can view inventory across all locations and plan proactively to meet customer demand.

"Harvest understood our challenges immediately. Their team spoke our language and delivered a solution made for food."

- CEO

The Results

Measurable improvements across operations

Since implementing Harvest’s solution, Midwest Mfg has achieved measurable improvements across their operations:

25%

reduction in ingredient waste

through smarter purchasing and production alignment

Real-Time

Improved decision making

with real-time insights from Power BI dashboards

Eliminated backorders

for high-demand products

100%

digital traceability

Why It Works

Harvest Food Solutions combines deep food manufacturing expertise with the flexibility of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Power BI analytics. The result? A system that helps companies like Midwest Mfg plan smarter, stay compliant, and deliver consistently fresh, high-quality products to happy customers.