Infor highlights life-cycle management at IFT

Mike Edgett, food and beverage industry strategy director for Infor, told FoodProductionDaily.com that despite the company’s broad software offerings, each product shares the same goal.

“All of our offerings have the capability to help our customers optimize their operations​,” he said.

Life-cycle management​

Edgett explained Optiva, its life-cycle management (LCM) product that helps process engineers accelerate product development, minimize production cost and ensure regulatory compliance.

Optiva helps food firms pinpoint ways to simplify the development process, improve supply-chain collaboration and integrate LCM with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other processes. It also can aid in optimizing formulas by analyzing material cost, inventory and manufacturing capacity.

Infor also debuted Advanced Scheduling 5.5, a program to streamline schedules in processing operations. Like other Infor products, this program is designed to give users a visual, intuitive interface to help make it easier to operate.

Program updates​

The latest version of the program includes several updates over previous programs:

• Usability enhancements cut down on unnecessary schedule interaction.
• Advanced cleaning in place management permits automated scheduling of CIP processes.
• Small-batch sequencing capability enables drag-and-drop interaction for smaller process components.
• The ability to calculate non-productive time and costs based on production attributes enables more efficient throughput.

Getting to market​

Another recent software introduction, Infor Implementation Accelerator, helps food and beverage firms reduce the time that products move from development to market. It includes pre-configured business processes, training material and other time-saving functions enabling multiple departments to tackle challenges related to launching products.

"Food and beverage manufacturers of all sizes face similar challenges when dealing with short-shelf life materials, regulatory compliance, volatile demand, and an increasingly complex supply chain​," Edgett said.