1. Company profile
"Amrut Snacks & Beverages" (fictional; similar to the Glorium food-manufacturer case: 4-month project, now handles 500 orders/day).
- Namkeen snacks and bottled juices; 300 SKUs; FSSAI compliance; distributors + modern trade + own D2C site.
- Raw materials with expiry (oil, spices, fruit pulp); batch production; recalls must be traceable within hours.
2. Pain points
No batch traceability; expired stock found late; recipe costs unknown; quality records on paper; distributor schemes managed in Excel.
3. Apps
Inventory (lots + expiry), Manufacturing, Quality, Purchase, Sales, Accounting, eCommerce (D2C), Barcode, Maintenance, PLM (recipe versions), Sign (supplier certificates).
4. Design decisions
| Topic | Decision |
|---|---|
| Tracking | Lots on all raw materials and finished goods; Expiration dates ✔ (expiry, best-before, removal, alert dates on the product) |
| Removal strategy | FEFO on product categories (first expiry, first out) |
| Units | Raw materials in kg/L; finished goods in units with packaging (carton of 24) |
| BoM | Recipe for a batch size (e.g., 100 kg dough → 400 packs of 250 g); by-products (oil sludge); co-products where relevant |
| Manufacturing | 3 steps (Pick → Produce → Store) with a quality check before storing |
| Quality | Incoming QCP (moisture %, FSSAI certificate as instructions), in-process (temperature, Measure), finished goods lab test with Quality alerts on failure |
| Traceability | Lot traceability report: upstream (which raw lots) / downstream (which customers) for recalls |
| Pricing/schemes | Loyalty & promotions for distributors (buy 10 cartons get 1 free), pricelists by channel |
| Costing | AVCO; landed costs for imported ingredients |
5. Configuration steps
- Inventory settings: Lots & Serial Numbers ✔, Expiration Dates ✔, Multi-step routes ✔, Packages ✔, Quality ✔.
- Product (raw): Tracking = By Lots, expiration time 180 days, alert 30 days, removal 15 days before expiry.
- Product category "Raw – perishable": removal strategy FEFO.
- BoM "Masala Chips 250 g × 400" with operations Fry, Season, Pack; by-product oil sludge.
- QCP: receipt of fruit pulp → Measure Brix 10–12; Pass-Fail for packaging seal; Control per = Quantity for sampling.
- Warehouse manufacturing: 3 steps; cold-room location for pulp with a putaway rule by category.
- Reordering rules on raw materials; MPS for festive-season demand.
- Sales: pricelists Distributor/Modern Trade/MRP-retail; Discount & Loyalty programs.
- eCommerce: D2C shop with expiry-aware stock (only sellable lots).
- Reports: Lot traceability, expiry alerts (Inventory > Reporting > Lots/Serial, filter "Expiration alert"), quality alerts kanban.
6. Recall drill (test it in UAT)
- Inventory > Products > Lots/Serial Numbers > lot PULP-2409 > Traceability.
- Downstream: see the finished lots → delivery orders → customers.
- Create a quality alert, block the lots (move them to a "Quarantine" location), then contact the customers.
7. KPIs
Yield % (actual vs BoM), waste/by-product %, expiry write-offs, QC failure rate, OTIF to distributors.
8. Pitfalls
- Recipes in fractional quantities: set UoM rounding correctly (0.001 kg).
- Lot naming convention agreed with production (date + line).
- Don't let users skip lot entry on receipts; make it mandatory via tracking.
9. Version notes
| v18 | v19 | v20 |
|---|---|---|
| FEFO, expiry alerts, quality worksheets | Forecasted report shows expired products; lot/serial navigation improved | Traceability report upstream/downstream; bulk lot generation in barcode; quality admin bypass; continuous production for packing lines |