Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for packaged food manufacturers.
A checklist built from how packaged food manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Ingredient lots and approved suppliers
- Batch records and recipes
- Allergen and label data
- Line records and checks
- Pack coding and shelf life
- Trace and recall search
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For goods inward staff
- For production planners
- For line operators
- For quality teams
- For sales and dispatch
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Batches by recipe, line and result
- Ingredient lots used by batch
- Finished stock by days to best before date
- Line check results by shift
- Customer orders shipped by lot
- Complaints by product and batch
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Barcode and label printing
- Scale and checkweigher data import
- EDI or order portal import
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can a returned pack be traced to its ingredient lots?
- How are recipe changes handled?
- Does it hold allergen declarations?
- Can chilled stock be separated from ambient?
- Can line checks be filled in on a tablet?
- Can it print retailer case labels?
- Can we pack for another brand?
- Who owns the batch records?
- What does the quotation depend on?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Batches do not name their ingredient lots
- Recipes change without a record
- Allergen data is kept in a separate file
- Shelf life is tracked by eye
- Recall drills take too long
Prefer to talk it through? See the packaged food manufacturers page.