ERP for food & beverage: lots, shelf life and recipes under control.
Food businesses combine manufacturing and trade: recipes and lots on one side, retail customers, EDI and promotions on the other. We map both in one system – so that the question about a lot is answered in minutes, not days.
Where food businesses usually get stuck.
The call comes on Thursday at four: a supplier reports a problem with a raw-material lot. Now every hour counts. Which products does it go into? What has already been delivered, and to whom? Anyone who has to piece that together from lists and delivery notes has a long weekend ahead.
On top of that comes everyday life between two worlds: in production it is recipe, yield and shelf life that count; in sales it is listings, promotions and the retail chains' EDI requirements. Both have to fit together – every day.
This is what we hear most often:
- Lots and best-before dates are tracked in lists instead of the system – a recall takes days
- Recipes with yields, losses and by-products don't fit standard bills of materials
- Retail price and condition models (listings, promotions, rebates) are tracked by hand
- EDI orders and dispatch notices for retail chains take detours
- Quality evidence for IFS, BRC or HACCP is scattered across folders
- Cold chain, storage zones and FEFO (first expired, first out) aren't reflected in the warehouse
Odoo and SAP building blocks for food & beverage.
Depending on your focus we draw on the manufacturing and trade building blocks – plus what makes food special. In a group, Odoo runs as the plant or sales system next to SAP, with lots, master data and postings kept in sync.
Lots & traceability
Lot numbers and best-before dates on every receipt, production run and delivery – traceability from raw material to customer in seconds. In an emergency you know which customers are affected – and which are not.
Recipes & yields
Recipes as bills of materials with yield, loss, by-products and packaging levels; manufacturing orders with lot creation and label printing. For each production run you see what was planned and what was actually consumed.
Warehouse with FEFO & shelf life
Picking by expiry date (FEFO), zones for chilled and ambient goods, blocking of expired lots, barcode scanners in the warehouse. The system suggests which lot has to leave first – not gut feeling.
EDI & retail integration
Orders, dispatch notices and invoices via EDI with retail chains and wholesalers; master data alignment via GTIN and listings. We clarify in advance what your retail partners require and connect them via interfaces.
Price lists, conditions & rebates
Customer-specific price lists, promotion periods, rebates and annual bonuses in the system instead of side calculations. So you still know after the promotion what the product actually earned.
Quality & audits
Inspection plans, incoming and final checks, allergen and nutrition data on the product, documentation for IFS, BRC and HACCP. At the audit, the evidence is attached to the transaction instead of spread across folders. That doesn't replace certification, but it makes preparing for it far more relaxed.
A traceability test – before and after.
Before: The auditor names a raw-material lot and asks for the trace. Quality assurance fetches folders, production looks for the records of the days in question, and sales checks delivery notes. By the evening there is a list – with gaps, because one stock transfer in the warehouse was only noted on paper.
After: The lot is called up in the system. You can see which production runs it went into, which finished-goods lots resulted and which customers received them. Remaining stock is blocked, and the list of affected deliveries is ready before the coffee has gone cold.
The example is deliberately generic and not a customer reference. What it looks like in your business is something we clarify in a conversation.
How we work.
Analysis
We follow a product through your business – from raw-material receipt through production and warehouse to delivery to the retail customer. On site or remotely. Result: a clear list of what works and where it gets stuck.
Concept
You receive a solution proposal: how lots and best-before dates are managed, how recipes are structured, which retail partners are connected via EDI, in what order and with what effort. No black box, no surprises.
Implementation
We implement in short stages – for example the warehouse with lots and best-before dates first, then production and EDI. Your key users test with real recipes, and a traceability test is part of the acceptance before go-live. Training is part of it.
Operations
After go-live we stay available: support, new listings, further retail partners and updates. Small adjustments we handle hands-on, without long waiting times.
What food businesses ask us before they start.
Odoo tracks lots and best-before dates end to end, from goods receipt through production to delivery, so traceability can be called up in both directions. Which evidence your standard requires in detail is something we go through with your quality assurance team in the analysis.
Mostly, yes. Odoo bills of materials handle by-products, multi-level structures and packaging levels; yield and loss are mapped on that basis. Where your recipe demands more, we tell you openly whether an adjustment is needed.
No. Odoo runs productively with a single module. You can start with the warehouse and lot tracking, for instance, and add production, EDI and conditions in further stages. You decide the pace.
We migrate products, recipes, customers, price lists and conditions in a structured way. Stock is recorded with lot and best-before date at the cut-off date – so traceability is complete from the first day in the new system.
Yes. Odoo runs as the plant or sales system alongside SAP; lots, master data and postings are kept in sync. That way you get the best of both worlds – more under SAP and Odoo.
How reliable is your traceability today?
In 30 minutes we clarify where you stand, what is worth doing and what a sensible next step looks like. No obligation, no slide show.