Supermarket Perimeter - February 2021 - 54

TECHNOLOGY

INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT

THE LAST YEAR has only
proved the importance of
tightly managing the inventory
commissaries, central kitchens,
and other third-party kitchens
have on hand. As the pandemic
continues to alter the speed of
the food chain and consumer
preferences, third party kitchens
should ensure their inventory
management is integrated with
all parts of their planning system,
said Mike Edgett, vice president
of product marketing for Atlanta,
Ga.-based Sage Software.
" From an inventory
management perspective
the question is going to be
do [production facilities and

distributors] have the tools in
place to give them good visibility
of the inventory? " said Edgett.
" Your inventory management has
to be aligned to be able to look at
your supply management. "
It's helpful to have an inventory management system that is
capable of keeping track of not
only what's in stock but includes
features such as shelf-life, traceability and quality management.
For larger commissaries and
central kitchens, it is also beneﬁcial to have software that's able
to keep up with where supplier
and retailer inventory is at in the
food chain.
For facilities looking to improve

their inventory management
function, Edgett encourages
companies to ﬁrst dig deep into
the inventory management
software they already have
in place.
" Before they go out and buy
a new system, they need to
understand what they already
have, because too often they're
not taking advantage of the
capabilities that may have already
been built into their solution, "
Edgett said. " Where we see
companies struggle is when
they've bought an inventory
management solution that
doesn't understand the nuances
of the food industry. "

From an inventory management
perspective the question is going to be do
[production facilities and distributors]
have the tools in place to give them
good visibility of the inventory?
Mike Edgett, Sage Software
54 - FEBRUARY 2021

supermarketperimeter.com

The right inventory
management software will help
facilities manage four key areas:
* Achieving compliance while
managing costs - Production
facilities need to invest in
efficient and accurate tracking
along the supply chain that can
ensure meeting food safety
regulations.
* Preparing for possible recalls
- The ﬁnancial risk from
recalls can be catastrophic.
The right technology can
help facilities plan and
manage potential ingredient
or product recalls.
* Maintaining consistency
- As supply, demand and
the marketplace continue
to change, retailers are still
expecting consistency from
commissary and centralkitchen-made products. Proper
inventory management can
help facilities stay in control,
keep costs down and retain
ﬂexibility.
* Accountability - With the
increased demand for
sustainability, businesses need
to be held accountable for their

SAGE SOFTWARE

by Emily Park
http://www.supermarketperimeter.com
Supermarket Perimeter - February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Supermarket Perimeter - February 2021
