Guide

Food Services

Koray Çetintaş 9 January 2026 2 min read

From Manual Warehouse to Smart Supply Chain

Stock losses decreased by 65%, and the spoilage rate dropped by 40%.

Client Profile: Mid-sized Food Production Company

Area of Activity: Deli products and ready-to-eat meal production
Number of Employees: 120 people
Monthly Production: 45 tons


Problem:

Inventory Management Crisis:

  • Raw material stocks were tracked in Excel, leading to discrepancies between physical stock and records.
  • Expiration dates were manually controlled, resulting in continuous spoilage.
  • Emergency orders increased costs due to the inability to foresee when products would run out.

Production Planning Difficulty:

  • Orders were received via WhatsApp and phone, making coordination impossible.
  • What to produce on which day was decided in morning meetings, lacking flexibility.
  • Disruptions on the production line led to delivery delays.

Lack of Quality and Traceability:

  • Batch number tracking was not possible, making it impossible to identify which product went to which customer during recalls.
  • Hygiene and temperature records were kept on paper, taking hours to find files during audits.

Our Solution:

Integrated Food ERP System Implementation:

  1. Smart Warehouse Management Module
    • Inbound-outbound automation with barcode readers
    • Automatic shelf-life management with FEFO (First Expired, First Out) logic
    • Automatic supplier notifications at critical stock levels
  2. Production Planning System
    • Dealers gained the ability to enter online orders via an order management portal
    • Automatic production schedule generation based on production capacity and raw material status
    • Instant status updates from the production line via a mobile application
  3. Quality and Traceability Module
    • Automatic QR code generation and labeling for each production batch
    • Continuous monitoring with digital temperature sensor integration
    • Automatic preparation of Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock reports

Tangible Results:

Operational Improvements:

  • Stock losses decreased by 65% (annual savings of 280,000 TL)
  • Spoilage rate reduced by 40%
  • Stock count duration reduced from 2 days to 4 hours

Increased Efficiency:

  • Order-to-production cycle time decreased from 5 days to 2 days
  • Raw material procurement costs decreased by 23% (emergency orders eliminated)
  • Time spent by administrative staff on inventory tracking decreased by 75%, enabling focus on strategic tasks

Quality and Compliance:

  • Full batch-based traceability achieved, audit preparation time shortened by 90%
  • Hygiene record-keeping time reduced from 2 hours per day to 15 minutes
  • Root cause analysis time for customer complaints reduced from 1 week to 1 day

Financial Impact:

  • Total cost savings of 450,000 TL in the first year
  • System investment paid for itself in 8 months
  • Production capacity increased by 18% with the same resources

About the Author

Koray Cetintas is an advisor specializing in digital transformation, ERP architecture, process engineering, and strategic technology leadership. He applies a "Strategy + People + Technology" approach shaped by hands-on experience in AI, IoT ecosystems, and industrial automation.

Get Support for Your Project

I can help guide your digital transformation initiative. Book a free preliminary call to discuss your priorities.