TROPOS is a powerful and flexible ERP system, widely used in the UK food and drinks industries. TROPOS has been developed for regulated, short-cycle demand-driven manufacturing using the process model. This makes it ideal for food processors and packers, particularly those supplying the major retailers or those distributing short shelf-life products.

Meat Products

Meat products encompass both cooked and uncooked meat products, sold to retail, foodservice or for further processing. Processors of meat may have their own abattoir or kill line, or take meat cuts as a key ingredient. Most meat products are stored and delivered either chilled or frozen. The meat industry is closely aligned with agriculture, and subject to seasonal and economic price and availability constraints. Process plants are often highly automated and need sophisticated integration with business systems to provide visibility of in-plant operations.

TROPOS features that support the manufacture of short shelf-life food products are ideally suited for manufacturers and distributors of meat-based products. However, these manufacturers have functional requirements in addition to those required for other food products. These may include:

• Information systems integration with process plant and equipment
• Management of “Day one for day two” production (forward planning, catch-weights)
• Manufacture of “many-to-many” product relationships, where there are alternative ingredients cuts and end products: the “exploding” Bill of Materials
• Meat industry-specific quality management and traceability
• More complex inbound logistics to cater for flock maturity, animal grades and quality specifications
• Special timing considerations

Management of meat-based production also requires a high level of in-process tracking, for traceability, quality control and allocation of animals or meat cuts to products to meet customer requirements according to grade, size and other criteria.