Dynamics 365: Innovative Solutions for Quality Management in Food Production
In an industry where quality, traceability, and compliance are non-negotiable, Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP delivers a complete platform for food production and quality management.
Microsoft D365 ERP transforms food production from reactive to proactive—empowering manufacturers to protect their brands, delight consumers, and grow with confidence.
Quality Testing
Quality is the foundation of consumer trust and brand reputation. Inconsistent texture, off-flavors, or contamination can result in costly recalls or damage to brand loyalty. With Dynamics 365 ERP, quality testing is integrated directly into the production workflow, ensuring every item meets your standards before reaching a shelf.
Capabilities include:
- Raw Material Testing: Automatically trigger testing for incoming ingredients based on vendor, lot number, or predefined quality parameters. This ensures materials meet quality thresholds before entering production.
- In-Process QA Monitoring: Define control points during mixing, cooking, cooling, or packaging to monitor temperature, pH, moisture, or texture variables. Data can be logged manually or via IoT device integration.
- Batch Hold and Release: Any batch that doesn’t meet specs can be held until approved, retested, or disposed of. Quality holds prevent the distribution of compromised products.
- Corrective Action Workflows: In case of a deviation, Dynamics 365 facilitates root cause analysis, assigns corrective actions, and tracks resolution status—all within the platform.
Shelf-Life Monitoring
Shelf life is vital to production planning, inventory management, and customer satisfaction. Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP tools enable real-time tracking and forecasting of shelf life across the entire supply chain.
Features That Enhance Shelf Life Control:
- Ingredient-Level Shelf Life Data: Track supplier expiration dates and set ingredient-specific shelf life rules to ensure fresh input materials for each recipe.
- Automatic Expiry Calculations: D365 calculates expiration dates for finished goods based on ingredient composition, processing method, and storage conditions.
- First-Expire, First-Out (FEFO): Optimize inventory usage by ensuring that the earliest expiring materials or finished goods are used or shipped first.
- Shelf-Life Reporting & Alerts: Generate reports on items nearing expiration and trigger automated alerts to repurpose or remove those products before they become waste.
Compliance Tools
Global food regulations are increasingly complex and vary by region, product type, and target market. Whether it’s FDA, FSMA, USDA, EU FIC, or local food authorities, Microsoft Dynamics 365 reduces the administrative burden of compliance to help producers always stay audit-ready.
Compliance Management Tools:
- Labeling Compliance: Automatically generate nutrition facts, ingredient lists, allergen declarations, and regulatory statements based on recipe data. D365 ensures your labels match regional compliance standards.
- Full Lot Traceability: Instantly trace raw materials back to suppliers or forward to distributors, enabling rapid response in case of a recall or audit request.
- Digital Audit Trails: Maintain complete documentation of testing, approvals, and production activity—backed by time stamps and electronic signatures compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11.
- Vendor Certification & COA Management: Track supplier compliance documents, certificates of analysis (COAs), and expiration dates to ensure only approved vendors are used in production.
Process Control
The food production process often involves dozens of steps—from ingredient preparation to thermal processing and packaging. Small inconsistencies can lead to big problems. Process control powered by Dynamics 365 ensures each product is made the same way every time—reducing waste, boosting yield, and improving product quality.
Key Process Control Benefits:
- Standardized Production Instructions: Attach detailed instructions to each recipe or batch, including temperatures, mixing times, and equipment settings.
- Automation Integration: Sync D365 with smart equipment and IoT devices to automatically monitor process variables and adjust in real-time based on live data.
- Real-Time Monitoring Dashboards: Gain immediate visibility into production line performance, bottlenecks, and compliance metrics.
- Exception Handling and Alerts: Set rules for deviations and trigger alerts when parameters fall outside acceptable ranges, allowing operators to take corrective action immediately.
D365 Processing and Shelf-Life Tracking
Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows food manufacturers to integrate recipe management, inventory tracking, production processes, and post-production shelf life data into a single system. From the moment raw ingredients arrive to the time products hit store shelves, D365 ensures every process is traceable, every product is safe, and every decision is backed by data. End-to-end visibility allows you to make smarter decisions, faster.
Integration Benefits:
- Batch Processing Intelligence: Every batch has a digital record that includes source ingredients, processing data, quality test results, and shelf-life projections.
- Automated Shelf Life Assignment: Based on ingredient age and process history, D365 calculates and assigns accurate expiration dates for every product unit.
- Inventory Status by Shelf Life: View inventory by freshness, days remaining, or expiration risk to better inform logistics, promotions, and repurposing strategies.
- Integrated Reporting & KPIs: Analyze trends in batch quality, product lifespan, production efficiency, and shelf-life adherence across products and facilities.
Talk to the Stoneridge Team Today to Boost Your Food and Beverage Manufacturing Processes with Dynamics 365!
Want to see what sets Microsoft Dynamics 365 apart from other ERP systems? Talk to the Stoneridge experts today to see how we can revolutionize your food production ERP.
Under the terms of this license, you are authorized to share and redistribute the content across various mediums, subject to adherence to the specified conditions: you must provide proper attribution to Stoneridge as the original creator in a manner that does not imply their endorsement of your use, the material is to be utilized solely for non-commercial purposes, and alterations, modifications, or derivative works based on the original material are strictly prohibited.
Responsibility rests with the licensee to ensure that their use of the material does not violate any other rights.