ERP For Ice-Cream Manufacturing Industry
ERP For Ice-Cream Manufacturing Industry- A Recipe for Success
The ultimate old-fashioned dessert, Ice-cream, is known for years. The distinguished assortment of thousands of irresistible flavors offers at least something for everybody. This is the reason that love for Ice-cream is universal. There are several myths about the origin of Ice-cream, but it’s no surprise that it is being used globally as a dessert for years.
Earlier because refrigeration was not possible, Ice-cream used to be considered as an expensive treat, and only wealthy people could afford it. But, in the past 75 years, with continuous manufacturing improvements, manufacturers have succeeded in making Ice-cream readily available. The emergence of the first electrical refrigerator proved to be the biggest boon for the Ice-cream industry. This facilitated manufacturers with damage-proof storage for long periods, which brought prices down exceptionally.
Such timely technological developments cleared the way for Ice-cream manufacturers to experience an unstoppable ride of success. Despite the numerous modifications, industry owners are experiencing shortcomings on multiple fronts of production, which is obstructing businesses from growing. And if no concrete step is taken, manufacturers will continue to face these challenges in the years ahead.
Challenges to the Ice-Cream Manufacturers-
Getting too soft, too hard, excessive spongy, off-taste due to incorrect composition, contaminated raw materials, etc., anything can go wrong during Ice-cream manufacturing. Understanding the science of Ice-cream manufacturing is not that easy. The joy of making Ice-cream at home becomes a grueling task to accomplish, imaging the challenges of manufacturing Ice-cream on a huge scale.
Getting the best texture and a soft consistency; that’s neither too airy nor too dense, needs good R&D with robust technological advancements. Specifically, milk, cream, and sugar are the chief ingredients that are processed in a specific manufacturing procedure that includes operations namely:
- Blending
- Pasteurizing the mix
- Homogenizing
- Ageing the mix
- Adding liquid flavors
- Freezing
- Hardening
- Packaging
Out of the above-mentioned processes, freezing is the prominent process of every Ice-cream manufacturing plant. The quality of the finished product depends on the specific parameters that have been chosen during the freezing process. Therefore, incorrect execution of any of the processes could end up with huge losses.
- Handling Perishable Items- About 70% of the ingredients of Ice-cream are derived from milk. And milk is a highly perishable item hence, it's processing along with maintaining its shelf-life requires a great amount of calibration.
- Balancing Health & Taste- The changing demands of today’s well-informed consumers make it necessary for the manufacturers to precisely perform the challenging tasks such as ingredient options/selection, formulation, mix making, whipping/freezing, handling, etc.
- Managing Production Costs- Being precarious, the Ice-cream manufacturing industry encounters various losses due to inefficient management of various costs, Variable & Fixed. Just because companies often miss on cost-saving opportunities, the overall return on investment gets minimized.
- Ice-Cream Shrinkage- When Ice-cream is transferred from one altitude to another, the change in atmospheric pressure causes Ice-cream to shrink. Moreover, other reasons include improper blending of materials, significant changes in temperature, small air cells, heat shocks, etc.
Adopting ERP- The Scoop of Success
The food industry is highly controlled by regulatory bodies—ensuring quality control standards and product awareness. This keeps manufacturers on their toes to deliver more safe consumables than ever before. Manufacturers must adhere to the food safety protocols enforced by Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) before the product reaches the store shelves.
Manufacturing Ice-cream on a big scale involves various types of operations that require a higher degree of precision. Hence, enabling process automation with a systematic & precisely designed ERP Software for Ice-Cream Manufacturing facilitates manufacturers in reducing the operational chaos and preventing the loss or contamination of Ice-cream. Apart from providing the unmatchable extent of automation, flexibility, and quality control, let’s have a look at what more Ice Cream Software offers:
- Managing Inventory- Ice cream manufacturing requires a wide range of ingredients. Apart from the chief ingredients: milk, sugar, and cream, multiple flavors, emulsifiers, stabilizers, and sweeteners are added to the Ice-cream mix. And inefficient management of inventory could hang up the production in between—failing to meet the required demand. An ERP efficiently manages the incoming raw ingredients and storage of temperature-sensitive materials—minimizing the waste exceptionally. It also maintains the optimum inventory level to avoid any interruption during production.
- Quality Assurance- The important factors that make up for the quality of the Ice-cream are: Color, Texture, and Taste. And to achieve the same consistency every time, careful formulation is the solitary way. ERP undoubtedly performs this well. Apart from streamlining the formulation process, it allows to create new formulas effortlessly, and also maintains the record of existing formulas which eases the task of maintaining the balance between the quantities of: Fat & Sugar: Responsible for controlling the fattiness in the mouth Water & Solids: Responsible for controlling the texture of Ice-cream
- Traceability: Product traceability has been an important aspect of the F&B industry. Automating this operation with food ERP allows to track every single movement of the production; right from the raw material procurement to delivery—ensuring supply chain efficiency & product quality. In case of any defect or contamination, it also helps to accelerate the process of identifying the exact batch out of the delivered ones—speeding up the recall action.
- Compliance Management- To ensure the safety of manufactured Ice-cream, following the HACCP, GMP, and FSSAI guidelines is one of the crucial tasks. Helping to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs), an ERP efficiently performs critical operations like pasteurization, freezing, etc., and helps to stay compliant with the regulatory standards.
- Labeling- It’s a global mandate to label every packed product with its ingredients list. Since, Ice-cream manufacturing involves the mixing of several ingredients hence, the quantities of certain ingredients, and special storage conditions must be mentioned. ERP helps manufacturers by simplifying the task of generating ingredients labels in all the FDA approved formats.
- Managing Product Variations- Along with manufacturing numerous delicious flavors, the growing demand for healthier Ice-creams such as dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free alternatives, etc., has made manufacturers work more precisely. Incorporating ice cream manufacturing software enables swift R&D without the laborious calculations and it also accurately manages the different formulas as well as records the modification made in any of them.
Concluding Words-
Amidst shifting consumer behaviors and changing trends, the expectation of a business to be sustainable and growing at every touchpoint seems unworkable without an ice cream manufacturing software. The bottom line? Choose BatchMaster ERP for icecreams that efficiently handles every operation of Ice-cream manufacturing—helping you stay ahead of the competition. Get in touch with our team of experts today!