For food and beverage producers and sellers, streamlining production and optimising inventory is critical for maintaining consistent product quality and spurring growth. Our top 10 food and beverage inventory management strategies aim to minimise waste, maximise customer satisfaction, and ensure profitability.
1. Use forecasting to predict demand
Use forecasting tools like Inventoro to review and analyse sales data from prior years to identify periods of high and low demand. By understanding trends in consumer needs, you can better predict how many ingredients and products you’ll need to fulfill your sales while avoiding issues like overstocking and product shortages.
2. Implement the First-In, First-Out (FIFO) method
Use the FIFO inventory method to arrange items in storage by the production date and ensure that the items with upcoming expiration dates sell first. Cin7’s inventory management software makes this easy by tracking expiry dates. This method minimises spoilage and waste while providing customers with fresh items.
A good inventory management solution like Cin7 will also provide First-Expired, First-Out (FEFO) and other special costing methods helpful to food and beverage companies.
3. Regularly monitor inventory levels
Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers can use regular audits, stocktakes, and inventory tracking software to monitor stock levels for popular items such as dairy products and packaged goods.
By reviewing these levels, sellers can see when items are running low and reorder ingredients or products promptly to avoid stockouts and provide customers with a well-stocked selection of goods.
4. Automate reordering processes
Use automatic reorder points to help guarantee a steady supply of products without the need for manual intervention. With this feature, your inventory management software will automatically place an order for a product or ingredient when it drops below your designated minimum supply level.
5. Use batch and expiry date tracking
Assign batch numbers and expiry dates and track each production run for better quality assurance. Tracking makes it easy to quickly recall items if you detect a quality issue in a specific batch, this helps to minimise total loss, reduce the impact of customers, and protect your brand reputation.
6. Manage supplier relationships
Maintaining strong relationships with suppliers enables producers and sellers to strengthen their supply chain, ensure timely deliveries, and lower overall costs by negotiating better prices. In addition, becoming a preferred buyer can lead to opportunities to purchase higher-quality ingredients and products from your vendors.
7. Optimise production schedules
Combining demand forecasts and production planning tools helps maximise equipment usage, reduce idle time, and meet customer demand. For example, a distillery that produces whiskey, vodka, and gin may review demand forecasts for each spirit and the availability of their distillation equipment.
By scheduling production runs based on these forecasts, the distillery can ensure that the whiskey barrels have enough time to age while meeting the immediate demand for vodka and gin.
8. Implement traceability systems
Traceability systems enable food producers and sellers to track individual products moving through the supply chain. For instance, a meat processing plant can use a traceability system as part of its inventory management to track each cut of meat, know which farm it came from, and where the meat was processed.
If a food safety issue occurs, the producer can easily trace and isolate other affected products throughout the supply chain to ensure consumer safety and compliance with regulatory requirements.
9. Optimise storage conditions
Proper storage is key to ensuring the high quality of food and beverage products. Controlling storage conditions through tools like humidity and temperature sensors connected to your inventory system helps ensure optimal storage conditions and prevent product loss due to spoilage or degradation.
10. Implement efficient returns management
Whether a customer returns products due to an incorrect shipment or dissatisfaction with the quality, having a robust Returns Merchandise Authorization (RMA) portal helps streamline returns and maintain a pleasant customer experience.
Moreover, this allows producers and sellers to monitor return reasons, identify quality control issues or return abuse, and decide whether to restock or dispose of returned items.
Optimise your food and beverage inventory with Cin7
By using these tips in combination with Cin7’s inventory management software, food and beverage companies can improve production and inventory management, reduce waste, provide a consistent supply of high-quality products, and maximise profitability.
- Schedule a free demo today to see how Cin7’s inventory management software supports these best practices to ensure your business operates smoothly and effectively.
