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Top 8 ERP Features for Frozen Food Manufacturers

Top 8 ERP Features for Frozen Food Manufacturers

While there are plenty of ERP options out there for manufacturers, most tend to be fairly generic. To fit the needs of frozen food manufacturers. If you are an SME frozen food manufacturer, all options may appear reasonably promising. But none might resonate with you. So what are the top ERP features for frozen food manufacturers?

The reason: frozen food manufacturing is unique and irrespective of how small your business might be, you need to ensure that the ERP you select supports your critical processes. Here are different frozen food segments whose business processes are typically similar. If you are one of them, read on to learn more about the critical features you would require in an ERP:

  • Frozen specialty foods manufacturing: fruits and vegetables; meals; pizzas; frozen bakery products such as bread, waffles, and pancakes; gluten-free food items; snacks and bars; desserts; manufactured ice; ice creams
  • Frozen pet food manufacturing: raw meals, cooked meals, packaged frozen food, kitted products, and re-packaged products.

Most popular ERP systems would probably provide the majority of the standard features. That may be enough for a ton of manufacturing companies. However, not as sufficient for frozen food manufacturers due to their specific needs.



The 2025 Digital Transformation Report

Thinking of embarking on a ERP journey and looking for a digital transformation report? Want to learn the best practices of digital transformation? Then, you have come to the right place.

1. Process Manufacturing Management

While discrete ERP vendors might argue that there is not much of a difference between process or discrete manufacturing, that’s not true at all. Process manufacturing differs significantly, especially with their BOMs and product management processes.

The biggest difference between process and discrete would be in the structure of their BOMs (bill of material or manufacturing). Discrete manufacturing UOMs (units of measure) are relatively simpler. And the quantities of the materials don’t necessarily follow a dependency formula. On the other hand, process manufacturing formulations could be quite complex. Like a mathematical formula such as Z = 2X + Y where material Z is dependent upon the quantities of materials X and Y. While discrete manufacturing has its own challenges, the challenges related to process manufacturing don’t exist for them. This is perhaps one of the most essential ERP features for frozen food manufacturers.

2. Production Management

The process of manufacturing frozen food is complex. Similar to other F&B counterparts, you are likely to perform operations such as grinding/cutting, mixing, pouring, baking/cooking (if you are in the cooked-food segment), quality control, and packaging as part of your shop-floor operations. However, you may have additional steps, such as blast-freezing or thawing. As well as temperature-controlled picking, packing, and shipping. These operations could pose unique operational challenges to frozen-food manufacturers. Such as long-standing processes due to blast freezing, segregation of batches on the production line, etc.

The other production challenges could include having a two-step production process where part of the process is formulation-centric to prepare a batch of a base. The other part is the packaging of the base in different product configurations, similar to discrete processes. An ERP that can’t support both formulation and discrete processes simultaneously may not be sufficient for a frozen food manufacturer.



ERP Selection Requirements Template

This resource provides the template that you need to capture the requirements of different functional areas, processes, and teams.

3. Pre-assigned Lot Numbers

While the lot-control feature is required in many industries, these requirements are unique to frozen food manufacturing. Why? Due to the need for recall management as well as HACCP compliance. There are very few ERP systems out there that would have features such as pre-assigned and intelligent lot numbers. If the pre-assigned lot numbers are not supported by the ERP system, your end-to-end traceability is likely to fail. Why? Due to the mixing of batches or the manual tracking of lots on the production line. In addition, the manual process might require printing a temporary number (which may not be recognized in the system)–defeating your automation and traceability goals.

4. 3PL Process Support

Most frozen food businesses also use a 3PL frozen storage facility. Because building the same capacity as part of the production site is challenging and expensive. Also, since the shipping of frozen raw materials is expensive, you might not be able to capitalize on vendor discounts if you solely relied on your internal warehouses. If your 3PL vendor allows you to use your ERP system for them to receive the goods, allocate lot numbers, and assign expiry dates, one option could be to treat your 3PL warehouse as just another warehouse.

However, 3PL warehouses are typically large. And it’s hard for them to accommodate the preferences of every customer due to the training and management overhead. Because of this issue, you require an ERP system that supports the 3PL processes natively. And a consultant like ElevatIQ who understands this space deeply to help with these unique challenges.



ERP Selection: The Ultimate Guide

This is an in-depth guide with over 80 pages and covers every topic as it pertains to ERP selection in sufficient detail to help you make an informed decision.

5. HACCP Compliance

If you plan to attain Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification for your products, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires you to develop and implement an HACCP plan to address food safety by analyzing and controlling several hazards, including biological, chemical and physical. The plan must be comprehensive to include all processes, starting from the traceability of the origin of raw materials. And their production, procurement, and handling. To production, distribution, and consumption of finished goods.

HACCP aims to minimize the negative consequences associated with the release of contaminated products to consumers as well as with their recall. This requires companies to incorporate thorough quality processes across the enterprise along with a material review board. HACCP also drives the need for detailed documentation due to audits and reporting. Unless the ERP has a built-in quality management module designed to cater to the needs of the frozen food business, complying with HACCP is nearly impossible. This compliance also requires a comprehensive document management system to record, implement, and monitor standard operating procedures (SOPs). As well as support for both forward- and backward traceability to attain end-to-end traceability management goals,

Finally, HACCP requires your suppliers to be audited and the records about their performance to be maintained. So, only the highest quality raw materials are consumed through the process. The ERP solution for frozen food must support the audit and performance recording of suppliers. This is among the top two essential ERP features for frozen food manufacturers.

6. In-house Fleets

It’s very common for frozen food manufacturers to maintain their own in-house fleets, as the 3PLs might not carry their load due to their MOQ requirements. They might also struggle to work with 3PLs due to the unique requirements of how frozen food needs to be distributed. The frozen can’t stay out for a very long time. So, they have unique requirements for route planning. As well as how much load each truck might be able to carry.



ERP System Scorecard Matrix

This resource provides a framework for quantifying the ERP selection process and how to make heterogeneous solutions comparable.

7. Document Management

The document management needs are not only applicable to HACCP needs. They may need them for managing versions of their packaging and marketing materials. As well as any documentation required to maintain quality and compliance.

8. Electronic Signatures

The solution must also support record keeping and electronic signatures if you may be carrying food and beverage products where you might need to comply with the FDA-compliant inspections.

Conclusion

In conclusion, process manufacturing is hard. Frozen food manufacturing, with the added burden of compliance, is even harder. Having a consultant who has a mastery of the nuances of frozen food manufacturing and a system that supports your critical processes is vital to selecting the right ERP for your business and its successful implementation.

ERP System Evaluation Checklist Questions to ask your ERP consultant

ERP System Evaluation Checklist: Questions to ask your ERP consultant

ERP implementations could be frightening, especially for small-sized businesses with limited implementation budgets and experience. While most ERP systems appear alike, they are distinctly different, designed to support specific business processes and transactions. They might also appear alike as each term could have multiple meanings depending upon the context, requiring careful evaluation of your requirements.

Additionally, it is important to build a target operating model and vet thoroughly and comprehensively with the process and data model of a target system. While ERP system evaluation checklists such as the one below could help to some degree, they require substantial experience in interpreting and contextualizing them. But here are some of the common questions relevant to ask your ERP vendors and resellers.



ERP Selection Requirements Template

This resource provides the template that you need to capture the requirements of different functional areas, processes, and teams.

Publisher

While you might not pay as much attention to the questions related to publishers, as your focus is likely to be on the product and functionality. But with an ERP system, there are several factors related to publishers that drive whether you will be successful with the ERP implementation or not. So questions related to the publishers are critical for your ERP system evaluation checklist. Some questions that you should think of including are below:

  • Who built the original product? Some popular ERP vendors include SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Infor.
  • What is their customer base like? If they carry several products and if their flagship product may not target businesses comparable to your size, you might not get the same attention. The attention that you would get from a vendor whose primary customer base is similar-sized to yours.
  • How large is the company that has developed the product? What is their market share in ERP products?
  • What is the financial standing of the publisher? Are they profitable as of today?


The 2025 Digital Transformation Report

Thinking of embarking on a ERP journey and looking for a digital transformation report? Want to learn the best practices of digital transformation? Then, you have come to the right place.

Product

The questions related to the product are likely to be on your ERP system evaluation checklist. But you might not have all the macro-level questions, such as product install base, which is equally critical for your ERP selection. Some questions that you may want to include are below:

  • Have they designed the product for your industry? Does it contain the last-mile functionality needed for your specific micro-industry?
  • How many successful installations does the product have?
  • How many times has it been installed for your specific industry?
  • What is the customer base like? Are 80% of the customers similar-sized to yours? The product customer base is equally important as the publisher’s customer base.

Customization

  • Would there be any add-ons involved? You may need to ask specific questions, such as who owns the code for each add-on. And review the contract.
  • How much customization would be needed to support your unique processes?

Pricing

  • How fluid and easy their pricing model is? Is it per-user, consumption-based, or concurrent?
  • How much did the price increase in the last 5 years?
  • Is the vendor able to lock down pricing for 3-5 years?
  • Do they offer monthly payment options?

Roadmap

  • Can the product support all of your business models and processes as of today but also in the next 5-7 years?

Data Ownership

  • Who owns the data?
  • Where is the data stored?
  • Is the vendor friendly enough to let you export the data or provide access to it when you need it?


ERP Selection: The Ultimate Guide

This is an in-depth guide with over 80 pages and covers every topic as it pertains to ERP selection in sufficient detail to help you make an informed decision.

Mobility

  • Can the product be used across devices? Mobile, tablet, desktop. If yes, is the experience consistent across devices?

Licensing

  • Would there be a tier where your instance will be hosted? If so, do you need to upgrade to more expensive tiers if you grow out of the smaller tier?
  • Would there be any storage limitations?

Ecosystem

  • Is the talent ecosystem developed enough if you need to hire an internal expert or change the implementation partner later on?
  • Are there enough companies developing add-ons if you need additional features that may not be provided by the publisher?
  • Are there open-source communities and enough help available publicly for your users in the future?


ERP System Scorecard Matrix

This resource provides a framework for quantifying the ERP selection process and how to make heterogeneous solutions comparable.

Implementation Partner or System Integrator

  • How do they price their services? Fixed Quote, Time and Material, or Recurring Service Subscription?
  • How long have they been in business?
  • How many customers do they have on this product?
  • Are they allowing you to talk to the project lead who will implement the project?
  • What has been their attrition rate in the last 5 years?
  • Would there be a change in the project team or consultants once the project starts?
  • Would the consultants be working onsite or remotely?
  • Can they provide local support if needed?
  • How much would they charge for post-implementation support? Do they have a packaged offering for unlimited support?

What Is A CRM System?

Customer Relationship Management: What is a CRM system?

An enterprise software category for managing front-facing customer-centric workflows, CRM stands for customer relationship management. Addressing the needs of various touchpoints across the customer journey, most common CRM systems contain several different suites. These suites range from Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Customer Service Cloud, Field Service Cloud, Advertising Cloud, and Call Center Operations. In some cases, they might also have industry-specific capabilities and their cloud.



The 2025 Digital Transformation Report

Thinking of embarking on a ERP journey and looking for a digital transformation report? Want to learn the best practices of digital transformation? Then, you have come to the right place.

With variations in their business models and transactions, each industry may have several business models and unique customer journeys. While smaller CRM packages accommodate standard sales cycles, customizing them might be challenging as they prioritize ease of use over scalability. In general, each market segment, such as startups, small, mid-sized, and large, has unique needs for its CRM system. Startups might prioritize easier implementation because of a limited implementation budget. Larger companies, on the other hand, focus on security and auditability, their primary need of data requirement to manage larger teams.

The importance of CRM Systems

CRM systems come in various shapes and sizes, some primarily dealing with marketing automation workflows while others specialize in downstream transactions. Depending on the business model, the needs of a CRM system could vary. But regardless of your use cases, a CRM system is critically important because of the following reasons:

  • Customer Acquisition. CRM allows you to track the activities of your prospects when they engage with your brand or content, regardless of whether internal or external channels. This makes personalized content easier, helping with research and customer journeys. All in all, these strategies will help improve your conversion rate.
  • Customer Retention. CRM also helps nurture relationships with your existing customers and prospects, keeping their memories refreshed with brand updates and key activities. So your brand is at the top of their mind when they might be in the market for your product or service.
  • Customer Experience. Because of the consistent customer view across different departments, internal employees operate on the same data. This allows consistent messaging and seamless interaction, adding substantially to customer expereince.
  • Customer Insights. Data collected through multiple channels is stored in appropriate hierarchies, allowing insights at every touch point, whether transactional insights or to support macro-level decision-making.
  • Territory Planning and Allocation. CRMs also allow teams to maintain their workspaces without conflicts, recording interactions and activities and making them available for other teams. It helps sales leadership align territories with various permission sets, whether they prefer complete visibility into the entire account base or partial visibility.

While these are just some of the core benefits, a CRM suite helps companies manage their customer-facing channels with omnichannel traceability and experience.

Wrapping up!

Most CRM systems are more of the platforms requiring substantial consulting help unless the sales and marketing processes are relatively straightforward. Selecting a CRM system requires carefully evaluating the needs of each stakeholder, creating an as-is and to-be process model, and validating that with the capabilities of the target system.

While some level of customization might be possible, assuming that they are infinitely scalable might fire back, locking yourself in a long-term contract without generating much business value. Hiring an independent CRM consultant to manage the selection and change management could be one way to mitigate these risks.

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2025 Digital Transformation Report

This digital transformation report summarizes our annual research on ERP and digital transformation trends and forecasts for the year 2025. 

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