The demand for frozen foods has risen sharply in the recent past. The frozen food market primarily consists of ready-to-eat meals, frozen meat & poultry, frozen seafood, frozen vegetables & fruits, frozen & refrigerated soups and frozen potatoes.
Growing at 15.35% from the previous year, the frozen foods industry has expanded to $291.8 billion in 2021. This growth is expected to continue with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 5.98% and reach $385.04 billion by 2028.
The direct-to-consumer frozen foods business is in its nascent stages in most countries. Globally existent fast-food chains have paved the way for the commercial use of frozen foods.
These chains of restaurants and hotels primarily use frozen foods to standardize their taste profile and keep their operating costs in check.
For the customer’s convenience…
Frozen foods, also known as convenience foods, have witnessed a swift rise in popularity. This sudden surge in demand is attributed to radical lifestyle changes.
Due to a substantial increase in the number of working women, consumer preference has shifted towards pre-cooked meals and frozen foods.
Fruits can be frozen when ripe and fish can be frozen when caught, resulting in the retention of freshness and flavour upon consumption.
The presence of industry-grade freezers in supermarkets & hypermarkets has made frozen products accessible to everybody.
And during the pandemic, a compulsion of buying larger quantities of food supplies at once made consumers prefer frozen foods.
How ERP can help…
With increasing consumer demands, frozen food manufacturing industry’s operations also need to be scaled up. By implementing various software solutions in the supply chain, a business can get ahead of its competition.
Frozen food ERP software is one such solution that enables manufacturers to navigate the transforming landscape and respond to changes proactively.
Frozen food manufacturing ERP software can help organizations stay abreast with the safety and compliance requirements.
Companies can eliminate waste and reduce product recall with the help of customized ERP software for the frozen food industry.
Challenges
A unique business poses unique challenges. Let’s discuss some of the major issues encountered by the frozen food industry:
Innovation –
Innovate or perish. It is as simple as that. After all, the concept of frozen foods itself is based on innovation. With new products flooding the market every day, manufacturers should strive to innovate in terms of taste, nutrition and product range.
Frozen food ERP software can help companies develop new formulas/recipes and perform ‘WHAT-IF’ analysis on various available alternatives.
Keeping track of complex recipes for multiple product ranges is also very easy with the help of ERP.
Inventory management –
For the F&B industry as a whole, inventory management is the top priority. With so many perishable ingredients stacked up on the shelf, the primary concern for companies is to not let them go to waste. Having SKUs in large quantities makes it necessary for inventory items to be batch-tracked.
An ERP software majorly helps manufacturers with inventory management techniques like FIFO and just-in-time, for waste reduction and fresher ingredients.
Also, tracking the ingredients used in a particular batch of production is an important function that can be performed through a customized frozen food ERP software.
Traceability –
Full lot traceability gives the manufacturer a clear picture of the ingredients, timeline, quality checks and location of the items.
Having such detailed information in hand makes troubleshooting easier. In the case of lot recall, an entire production batch doesn’t need to be called back but the problematic lot only.
An ERP software for frozen food manufacturers can make this process easier by automatically assigning lot numbers and enabling full lot traceability. In this way, ERP software becomes essential for a frozen food company.
Cost Control –
Compared to traditional F&B products, frozen foods manufacturing involves additional processes like blast-freezing, thawing and temperature control.
These techniques are expensive as most of the associated technology is relatively new. Additionally, the infrastructure for temperature control proves to be a significant financial burden. Therefore, the frozen food industry operates on very tight margins.
Frozen food ERP can help manufacturers manage resources to their optimum capacity and reduce costs.
Compliance –
The objective of governments across the globe is to protect their citizens. Administrations put stringent guidelines on the processing and packaging of food items.
Frozen food ERP software can be configured to maintain a database of HACCP and cGMP guidelines, protecting manufacturers from any unforeseen government action.
Also, it is the manufacturer’s duty to inform the customer about product ingredients and an ERP can help manufacturers in labelling their products with pristine accuracy.
Conclusion
A lot of moving parts in the supply chain means a huge margin for error. Even a collection of human minds can’t keep a track of so many things at once. Therefore, getting customised ERP software is the need of the hour for frozen food manufacturers.
With features like recipe management, bi-directional traceability and recall, shelf-life determination, CAPA and quality assurance etc., frozen food ERP software can streamline the supply chain and increase productivity.
Keep your frozen food business fresh forever with BatchMaster ERP. Write to us for more information, or to schedule a demo.
