Food Production Planning Software Development

MRP calculation driven by customer orders or demand forecast, exploding each product's recipe to determine the ingredient quantities required. Stock availability check against current inventory levels and confirmed purchase order delivery dates, showing the materials available for each planning period. Material shortage alert where confirmed demand cannot be met from available stock and open purchase orders, with the shortfall quantity and the products affected displayed before the production plan is confirmed. Purchase order recommendation generated from the MRP output showing the quantity and required delivery date for each ingredient where stock is insufficient. Planning horizon configuration from daily through to weekly and monthly, with rolling plan recalculation when new orders are received or stock levels change.

Production line configuration capturing line capacity by shift, product run rates, and setup and changeover times by product pair. Allergen changeover rules defining which product transitions require a full validated clean rather than a standard changeover, with the associated time and cost built into the schedule. Line schedule generation sequencing production runs to meet delivery dates while minimising changeover time and cost -- the allergen sequencing logic applied automatically rather than relying on the planner's memory of which transitions are clean. Shift allocation across the planning horizon with capacity visible by line and by shift. Schedule conflict detection where the planned production volume exceeds line capacity in a given period, with the constrained runs flagged for replanning. Schedule publication to production supervisors with the confirmed sequence and timing for each line.

Work order generated from the confirmed production plan for each scheduled production run, carrying the product, recipe version, planned quantity, line assignment, and scheduled date and shift. Ingredient requirements listed on the work order from the recipe, with the planned issue quantities for the batch. Lot number pre-assignment from available stock based on FIFO or FEFO stock rotation rules, so the stock picker has the specific lot numbers to issue rather than choosing from the shelf. Packaging material requirements listed alongside ingredient requirements. Work order printing or screen display for the production floor in a format configured to your operation. Work order status tracking from planned through in-progress to completed, with completion recording the actual start and finish time.

Actual yield recorded at batch completion -- finished goods quantity produced against the planned quantity calculated from the recipe yield factor. Yield variance calculated and displayed by batch, by product, and by production line over any selected time period. Scrap and waste recording by waste type -- trimming waste, process loss, quality rejection -- linked to the batch record so variance can be attributed to a cause rather than reported as an unexplained number. Yield trend reporting showing whether yield performance is improving or deteriorating by product and by line over time. Planning yield factor update workflow where sustained actual yield evidence supports adjusting the planning assumption for a product, with sign-off required before the updated factor is used in future MRP calculations.

Production performance dashboard showing planned output vs actual output by day, week, and period for each product and each production line. On-time completion rate for production runs against the planned completion time, identifying chronic schedule slippage before it becomes a delivery problem. Downtime and stoppage recording linked to the work order, categorised by cause -- changeover overrun, equipment fault, material shortage, quality hold -- with time recorded against each cause. OEE calculation from planned rate, actual output, and downtime where line speed data is available. Period summary report showing total planned production, total actual production, and variance by product group for operations and commercial review. The production reporting that moves planning conversations from anecdote to data.

Real-time stock balance updated as goods-in receipts, production issues, and finished goods completions are recorded, replacing the daily stock count as the primary inventory source. FIFO and FEFO stock rotation rules applied to ingredient lot selection for production issues, with the system identifying the correct lot to pick rather than leaving rotation discipline to the warehouse operator. Stock age and shelf-life reporting showing ingredients and finished goods approaching their use-by date, with alert thresholds configured to your operational requirements. Minimum stock level management with reorder point alerts for ingredients where stock falls below the defined minimum. Stock reconciliation reporting comparing system balances against physical count results with variance investigation workflow.