How To Choose And Implement The Right Food Traceability System (Part Two Of Two)

By Wayne Slater, co-author, Food Traceability For Dummies

In part one of How To Choose And Implement The Right Food Traceability System, we explored five key points in determining your company’s readiness to implement an electronic food traceability system. Here, in part two, we look at which approach to traceability is right for your business and review several key points to determine which food traceability software best fits your company’s unique needs.

The most confusing decision you will need to make when implementing an electronic food traceability system is determining which software solution is right for you. Now this is an extremely personal decision you need to make as not every solution is right for you. Some basic high-level questions you should start with are:

1. Do they understand my business? (protein, produce, dairy, etc.)
2. Do I want to keep my existing accounting package or ERP system? 
3. Do I want to just track my manufacturing data or also manage my inventory?
   1. How many warehouses and locations in each warehouse do I want to manage?
4. Do I have, or plan to have, supply-chain partners that require me to exchange data electronically (EDI) with them?

So, which one is right for you?  Some basic examples are:

ERP Systems For Large Processors
If you are a large processor with multiple locations, but need centralized management, you may already be running an Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) system. This is good, as some ERP systems offer add-ons that extend the ERP to the plant floor in food manufacturing for things such as production data and traceability data collection.

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