Choosing a child’s school? Parents today start their research for the best school when their child is born; some begin even before their child comes into the world.
Planning a vacation? Travelers today purchase tickets only after they have thoroughly reviewed their options; the safest destinations, the most reasonably priced tickets, eatery options, and whatnot.
Going out for dinner? People head to different social media platforms to read reviews, ensure the restaurant has the options they are looking for, and whether they are following safety protocols.
People today spend much time in research in an attempt to make the right decision; they tend to make healthier choices and those that align with their lifestyles. Considering the change in the consumer demographics, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the safety protocols have gotten much stringent for the food and beverages (F&B) industry, especially for the meat industry.
If you’re operating in the meat industry, you must be aware of how your products are prone to diseases and may also put consumers’ lives at risk. The consumers, known as ‘modern consumers,’ are extremely serious about the food products they consume. Whether you’re running a livestock farm, slaughterhouse, cutting plant, cold store, meat preparation establishment, or processing plant, you need to be extra cautious about following the set safety guidelines and protocols.
Identifying the Hurdles
Being compliant with the protocols set by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), United States Department of Agriculture, is easier said than done. Considering how many companies are still dependent on manual processing and traditional methodologies, the high number of recalls and lawsuits doesn’t come as a surprise.
Know that you can never find a solution if you don’t accept there’s a problem. It’s time to realize that there is a problem, and it needs to be addressed. If you wish to avoid the distress and monetary hit that you experience after product recalls, it’s time to identify the hurdles.
- Dependence on written sanitation standard operating procedures across the entire company.
- Basing all slaughterhouse operations on generic E. coli testing.
- Companies still work to develop and implement a HACCP program.
It’s important to understand that the regulations evolve rapidly with time. Staying dependent on the decades-old traditional methodologies will not reap the same benefits.
The Ultimate Solution
Now that you’ve accepted the flaws in your system, it’s time that we help you find the perfect solution. Remember that compliance with safety protocols is the only way you’ll ever be able to satisfy modern consumers.
Given how the world is rapidly progressing towards advancement, you need to start by embracing technology. There is only one solution for all your safety compliance problems, and that’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software.
Saying that ERP is one of the most beneficial tools for business owners today won’t be an exaggeration. It comes as a comprehensive solution that helps automate tedious tasks while boosting the productivity and efficiency of the team and that of the entire company. It helps achieve internal operational stability, helping companies explore different growth and expansion options.
How Can ERP Help Meet Safety Standards?
While ERP software, such as NetSuite, is helping companies stay ahead of the game by achieving internal stability, a question may arise as to how this can help meat businesses become compliant with safety standards.
There are countless ways an ERP can help you provide perfectly products to the consumers.
Achieving Traceability
Given that the world is dealing with modern consumers today, it’s important to focus on providing consumers with complete transparency. Your consumers must have the capability to track the origin or the source of the products. This is where traceability comes into play.
In addition to this, achieving traceability can make managing recalls and handling lawsuits easy and less stressful. You can easily track the entire history of an entire batch and, without any hassle, spot the defective products only. While doing so, you won’t have to recall all the batches but only the affected ones.
Efficient Quality Control
Maintaining a consistent quality control procedure is not easy. Even with the set standards and protocols, it sometimes becomes impossible to carry out a thorough quality check. Meat industry-specific ERP can help you establish a standardized quality control procedure. By automating the tasks, a company can let the ERP check all products against pre-defined specifications.
From procurement to distribution, you can track the product’s entire manufacturing cycle through an ERP. This allows efficient detection of any flaws in the system, thanks to its real-time data gathering capability.
The superior quality control that ERPs allow is something you can’t benefit from using any other methodologies.
Effective Shelf-life Management
Another benefit associated with integrating an ERP in a company operating in the meat industry is effective shelf management. This is one of the most critical aspects of running a company in the meat industry.
Even the slightest negligence in shelf management can lead you to a disaster. As nothing is worse than distributing expired products to the consumers. This can crush your reputation in the market and lead you to losing consumers.
With an ERP, you can ensure that only the best products leave the company’s vicinity to reach the consumers.
Improved Recall Functionality
Recalls are not very rare in the F&B industry, and many companies lose their marketing standing after such events. While recalls are common, not many companies are able to recover from monetary and non-monetary losses.
With an ERP, you get a chance to reduce the possibility of substandard products being distributed among the consumers and effectively manage recalls if the situation gets worse. It reduces the amount of time needed to cater to recalls, helping companies minimize the damage and recover from the losses in a short time.
Reduced Chances of Errors
The industry is run by humans. This means the element of ‘human error’ is something every company has to keep room for. Humans can miss out on mistakes made on an individual level and may only detect it when it turns into a massive problem.
Integrating an ERP into the system means you can easily detect problems in the system before it turns into a huge issue with the potential to damage a company’s market standing significantly. It allows a company to enforce business-wide protocols.
These are just a few ways you can ensure compliance with safety protocols using meat ERP software. To stay ahead of the competition, you can partner with a NetSuite Alliance Partner, Folio3, that excels in integrating, implementing, and customizing the world’s most widely used ERP, NetSuite. Think wisely, and steer clear of recalls and lawsuits to maintain your reputation in the market.