Case study · Food & beverage manufacturing
A recall report in minutes, not a weekend
Food manufacturers must be able to trace every ingredient lot to every customer who received it. On paper that takes days. This is how we made traceability a by-product of everyday work in Dynamics 365 Business Central, from goods-in to dispatch.
Project overview
Business Central manufacturing with full lot traceability.
- Industry
- Food & beverage
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Traceability and production
- Platform
- Business Central
- Timeline
- 14–20 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Standards
- BRCGS / SALSA audits
- Hardware
- Scanners and label printers
- Deployment
- Business Central online
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to gain
Traceability projects are judged in the audit room and during a mock recall. These are the targets the project was planned against.
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Minutes
To trace a lot forwards or backwards
One report follows a lot from supplier delivery through production to every customer shipment.
Instead of hours or days of paper searching; depends on scanning discipline at goods-in
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20–40%
Less stock written off to expiry
First-expiry-first-out picking and expiry warnings stop older stock sitting behind newer stock.
Target range; depends on product shelf life and picking accuracy
-
50–70%
Less time preparing for audits
Batch records, quality checks and traceability reports come out of the system instead of binders.
Target range across BRCGS and SALSA style audits
Business challenges
How traceability worked before
Most small and mid-sized food makers keep traceability on paper because their accounting system was never built for it.
Goods-in
Supplier lot numbers are written on a delivery sheet, if the driver waits long enough.
Production
Batch sheets record what went into a mix, but not which delivery each ingredient came from.
Stock
Expiry dates live on the pallet label and nowhere else, so old stock is found during a count.
Dispatch
Customer orders record products, not lots, so a recall means phoning every customer.
Audits
A mock recall takes a team most of a day and still leaves gaps the auditor notices.
Proposed solution
What the Business Central build covers
Standard item tracking and manufacturing, set up for food, plus scanning so the data gets captured where the work happens.
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Lot and expiry tracking
Every ingredient and finished product tracked by lot with expiry dates, from purchase receipt onwards.
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Production orders
Recipes as production BOMs with yield and scrap, and consumption recorded against the actual lots used.
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Quality holds
Incoming and finished lots can be blocked pending checks, so nothing on hold can be picked or shipped.
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FEFO picking
Warehouse picks suggest the earliest-expiring lot first and warn before anything near its date leaves.
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Recall and trace reports
Forward and backward trace from any lot, with customer contacts ready for a recall.
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Scanning
Handheld scanners at goods-in, production and dispatch so lot numbers are scanned, not typed.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The trigger was an audit finding and customers asking for faster traceability. The real goal is that nobody has to do anything special to be traceable: receiving, producing and shipping stock records the lot automatically.
We design the process with the production and warehouse teams, because traceability only works if scanning fits the way they already move around the site.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Every lot traceable to every customer
- 02Expiry visible before stock goes out of date
- 03Quality holds the system enforces
- 04Audit reports on demand
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
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Suppliers who don't print lot numbers or barcodes
What we did
Internal lot labels were printed at goods-in for deliveries that arrived without a barcode, so every pallet was traceable from the door.
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Rework and part-used ingredient sacks
What we did
Rework and part-used sacks were given their own labels and consumption entries, keeping them inside the lot trail.
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Production floors without reliable Wi-Fi
What we did
The scanning app was built to work offline and sync when back in range, and Wi-Fi gaps on the floor were mapped early.
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Retailer-specific labelling rules
What we did
Label templates were held per retailer and selected automatically from the customer on the order.
What we watched for
- Capture lots at goods-in or nowhere
- Keep scanning steps to the minimum people will actually do
- Test the recall report before go-live, not during an audit
- Label part-used ingredients so they stay traceable
Development process
Traceability built into the working day
We start at goods-in, because a lot that isn't captured on arrival can't be traced later.
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Process walk-through
A day on site following ingredients from the delivery bay to the dispatch dock, noting where lot numbers are and aren't recorded.
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Item and recipe setup
Items, tracking codes, units of measure and recipes cleaned up and configured, including yields and allergens.
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Scanning and labels
Scanner workflows and lot labels designed and tested with the people who will use them on the floor.
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Mock recall and go-live
A mock recall run on test data before go-live, then cut-over with a stock count by lot.
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Handover
Training for supervisors, a trace report the quality team owns, and support through the first audit.
Technology stack
Standard Business Central, set up for food
Business Central manufacturing and item tracking, with scanning added where it saves the most typing.
ERP
- Business Central Manufacturing
- Item tracking
- Warehouse management
Scanning
- Handheld scanners
- Mobile warehouse app
- Label printing
Quality
- Quality holds
- Lot blocking
- Inspection records
Reporting
- Trace reports
- Power BI
- Audit exports
Quality assurance & deployment
Proved on the client's own data before go-live
An ERP is trusted when the numbers agree. Configuration and extensions were tested in a sandbox on the client's own data, and finance signed off the figures before cut-over.
- Sandbox testing of every process on the client's own data
- User acceptance testing with key users, by scenario
- Migration rehearsals, reconciled to the old system
- Automated tests for extensions, run before each release
- Permission sets checked role by role
Deployment
- 01Mock recall and go-liveA mock recall run on test data before go-live, then cut-over with a stock count by lot.
- 02HandoverTraining for supervisors, a trace report the quality team owns, and support through the first audit.
- 03Cut-over planA rehearsed cut-over with a checklist, opening balances signed off by finance, and a rollback point.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyConsultants on hand through the first month-end, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Traceable without trying
At the end of the project every lot that enters the site is scanned once and followed automatically: into production, into finished goods, onto a pallet and out to a customer.
A mock recall becomes a report the quality manager runs in a few minutes, and the next audit is spent on the process rather than on searching for paper.
- Forward and backward trace from any lot
- Expiry-aware picking
- Blocked lots that can't ship
- Audit evidence from the system
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Business CentralProduction and sandbox environments
- 02ExtensionsSource code and documentation
- 03Migrated dataReconciled and signed off
- 04Key-user trainingWith process guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| To trace a lot forwards or backwards | Minutes | Instead of hours or days of paper searching; depends on scanning discipline at goods-in |
| Less stock written off to expiry | 20–40% | Target range; depends on product shelf life and picking accuracy |
| Less time preparing for audits | 50–70% | Target range across BRCGS and SALSA style audits |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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The work produced by the team was of exceptional quality.
Jon Thies
CTO, Model Rocket Feb 2022 – Mar 2023
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Silver Scintilla was responsive, respectful, and enjoyable to work with, quickly addressing any questions or requests.
DeShawn Brown
CEO & Founder, Lithios Jun 2021 – Nov 2022
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Custom Software Development
Web-Based HRM System Development
Silver Scintilla provided the best solution with scalable functionality, personalized features, and robust security.
Suheb Khan
Director, Collaborative Insight Technologies Jul 2020 – Jun 2022
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