With the margin of profit in the food industry defined not by dollars, but by fractions of cents, it is essential that manufacturers understand and control the costs of production.

And today, food manufacturers are being squeezed like never before. Distributors and consumers expect fresh, high-quality products at the lowest cost at the same time that input prices for producers are skyrocketing. Intense competition, new regulations and compliance requirements, and changing global market conditions demand fast, efficient inventory control processes.

However, many food manufacturers instead rely on inventory procedures peppered with disconnected technologies and manual processes. These manual inventory procedures do not provide the depth and breadth necessary to provide enterprise-wide inventory tracking and costing analysis. While food manufacturers have little control over rising raw material and energy costs, they often overlook the one area where they can control costs, their inventory.

This paper explains how to avoid the five problems caused by poorly controlled inventory and how to protect your margins in an uncertain market.