If you are new to the food industry or are looking to improve your processes with automation, you may be considering integrating catch weights with your ERP system. This is a great idea! You can speed up your operations while improving accuracy by minimizing these manual tasks. But, there are some things you should consider first to make this a smooth integration and get even more from your ERP.
Let’s back up a bit so we are all on the same page.
What is a Catch Weight?
A catch weight is a term that basically means “approximate weight.” This is an important concept for products that vary in weight but are sold by the unit, like meats, and cheeses.
For the consumer, these are import numbers because they know they are getting the amount they are paying for, which isn’t a problem with products like peanut butter, where every package contains the same amount of product.
However, this data is even more critical for the manufacturer, distributor, and seller because they are crucial to ensuring the correct price is charged for the right amount of product, the correct amount of product is shipped and received, and tracking inventory. As you can tell, this can be a complicated process, especially if done manually.
In the grocery store meat is sold individually, but priced by weight, that is an example of a catch weight at work.
Integrating Catch Weights with an ERP Solution.
If you are a manufacturer, or distributor in the food industry, integrating catch weights with your ERP solution can make tracking these measurements quicker, easier, and improve accuracy.
You can easily input and track your products by catch weight and unit with an ERP solution. You can even compare the transactions against an average weight and set parameters to identify the weight per unit is within tolerance and notify you if not.
Here Comes the But.
This is great; with your catch weights integrated with your ERP system, you increased efficiency and reduced the chance of error. But, we have found more often than not that if you are looking for a way to integrate catch weights with an ERP system, you more than likely have other processes that need integrating as well.
- Extended Lot Control
- Order Picking
- Order Guides
- Returns
- Shipping and Receiving
- Charge Backs
- Rebates
So, What Can You Do?
Before you decide to integrate catch weights with your ERP system, consider all the functionality you will need. We have helped many companies who have invested in adding catch weights to their ERP system only to later end up with a patchwork of systems after adding all the additional functionality they required.
If you consider integrating catch weights with your ERP system, stop and look at the whole picture. If you do your homework first and identify all your requirements, you can end up with a complete solution that will work seamlessly for a long time, saving you time and money while pleasing your customers.
We are experienced with providing complete solutions for the food industry that work seamlessly with the Business Central/NAV ERP system. With our extensive experience in the food industry, we can even help guide you to what functionality you might need to get the most out of your ERP system and save you time and money.
