Pet ownership and spending has been rising for quite some time. Today, pet owners are spending more than ever before. According to the American Pet Products Association National Pet Owners Survey it is estimated that $29.88 billion dollars were spent on pet food products in the United States in 2018. Pet owners are growing increasingly demanding when it comes to pet food. Mintel reported that 79% of U.S. pet owners say the quality of their pet’s food is as important as their own. Between increased spending and more discerning and inquisitive “pet parents”, the importance of pet food traceability is a growing trend.

Just as traceability is important for human food consumption, manufacturers must also have accurate traceability of pet food ingredients. Food inventory management software, like enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) , allows pet food companies to keep better records of their products. Pet food companies using innovative solutions, like ERP, are better able to track and organize their products than ever before.

ERP Technology

With an issue like pet food traceability, manufacturers need to have the right technology in place. You can enhance your traceability system with real-time project management. Implementing ERP software is helpful in that it offers traceability at any point in the supply chain. HarvestERP expands upon key characteristics that you require to manage your pet food business, like quality standards and regulations.

Manufacturing Processes

Over the past few years there have a few major pet food recalls. Some have come from issues such as salmonella whereas others were due to toxic levels of certain ingredients. However, pet food traceability is more than just recalls. Traceability is about being able to recognize the origin of the product(s) from the farm through to processing, storage, and distribution. ERP allows you to take charge of your entire processes. HarvestERP was designed with the best manufacturing resource planning systems in mind. You can plan raw material and packaging requirements based on demand, which is imperative in your traceability efforts. HarvestERP also offers reporting technology that production actually needs; scaling, waste, and damage reporting.

QA Standards

Our software systems plan your QA standards and then allow HarvestERP to track them for you. Meeting QA standards demonstrates that you are committed to delivering quality products. Nielsen’s 2016 consumer report showed that pet food buyers are less concerned with price and more concerned with quality. ERP implementation will help your business reduce the complexities around food and drug administration requirements and increase efficiencies as your company grows.

Product Tracking

Logistics play an integral part in getting your products to market. When it comes to pet food safety, and ERP system can track and trace the key points in your complicated delivery process. On a day-to-day basis, ERP allows your team to quickly move demand from one location to another to compensate for delays, breakdowns, and interruptions. It also increases business performance by reducing errors by allowing for mass order adjustments across multiple locations. In the unfortunate event of a recall, ERP technology can easily pinpoint how and when your product left your manufacturing dock. This type of business intelligence allows you to process customized reports tailored to address multiple location environments.

Cloud-based ERP

Your traceability efforts are more important than ever. That’s why we have spent years enhancing our cloud ERP system that allows you to optimize, manage, and control every single aspect of your business. Moving to the cloud will allow you to focus on your business and your product mix rather than the business processes. Upgrading to new software solutions will streamline and synchronize your data into one single platform. The result is seamless integration between your ERP software and your mobile platform.

Integrated Communication

Integrated systems eliminate gaps in communication. These gaps are where you open yourself up to risk and security issues. With a cloud-based ERP system, like HarvestERP, you can increase visibility and transparency from anywhere in the world. This gives you the control to monitor all phases of manufacturing and distribution any time, any where. Demonstrating to consumers that you have real-time insight into your manufacturing processes will boost integrity.

We understand your business challenges because we’re veterans of the perishable foods industry. That’s what sets us apart from our competitors. While other software vendors use your valuable time to try and better understand your business, we can come in and hit the ground running. Our technologies are designed not just for food manufacturing for human consumption, but also for pet food producers. Give us a call today to find out how our ERP solution can provide greater traceability in your pet food business.

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