New Manufacturing Automation Tools for the Food Industry: Icicle ERP’s 2023 Feature Round Up

At Icicle Technologies, we are dedicated to developing the best manufacturing automation solution for the food industry – and that means a commitment to continuous innovation and collaboration with our customers. 2023 was no different than other years, except that the range of ways we can enable automated manufacturing processes expands with our suite of features that cover the entire manufacturing lifecycle from receiving to shipping and beyond. (That’s probably why we won Overall Post Harvest Company of the Year at the AgTech Breakthrough Awards in August!)

In fact, this long list of highlights doesn’t even include some of the big releases from last year that are still evolving, such as the newly launched set of advanced dashboards for production, quality assurance, sales, and more. Stay tuned for the first feature update of 2024, but for now, we present a roundup of Icicle ERP updates from the last year, from our first rollout of Artificial Intelligence (AI) features and new process automation tools to the increasing bounty of Icicle’s planning and costing features for optimizing profitability, and more.

We continued building up Icicle ERP’s accounting software capabilities, including integrations with Xero (new!) and QuickBooks Online

The Icicle team kicked off 2023 with enhancements to our QuickBooks Online integration – launched in 2022 – with some creative solutions to help QuickBooks understand and carry over detailed inventory information at the same level that Icicle can (that is, the level that food and beverage manufacturers need!). By summertime, we were able to launch another accounting integration, this time with Xero, an increasingly popular cloud-based solution in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK. Xero is a particularly effective online accounting system because it can account for the complex range of regulatory requirements and overlapping tax regimes characteristic of their major markets. We developed the new Xero integration to handle that complexity, allowing users to seamlessly create bills and invoices directly from purchase and sales orders (including all associated costs and taxes), just like they could with QuickBooks Online.

Integrations weren’t the only accounting upgrades in Icicle last year. We also launched two new reports for invoices (customers) and bills (suppliers), which came with the ability to generate results by relative timeframes (current month, last month, last three months, six months, last twelve months) – an idea we liked so much that we added it to other Icicle reports too. User feedback helped us build out those reports to include all the relevant information you need on hand, like net amounts of sales orders on Invoice Report and Sales Reports to total amounts for taxes on Invoice Reports and Billing Reports.

We brought Icicle ERP users even more in-depth, real-time costing data based on automated manufacturing processes

Building out Icicle’s planning and costing features has been one of our big priorities over the past couple of years, and our users keep thinking of great ways to make it better. One useful improvement is the introduction of overtime labour for labour costing. Icicle users can assign labour costs to users or roles, which feed into granular insights about the cost of production, maintenance, and other activities – even down to particular lot codes. Total labour costs are readily visible on the Production Run Details page, which has a new section showing both loaded and overtime labour associated with that particular production run.

Another great idea was to leverage costing data to send the procurement team alerts when prices change for ingredients and other raw materials. These alerts can be customized to notify designated users when prices increase over a particular percentage (a great use of intelligence automation technology). And since the ability to monitor price increases seemed so relevant to us, we tweaked Icicle’s purchase orders interface to show price changes directly on the Purchase Order Detail page.

Sales reporting and other features were expanded to prioritize manufacturing profitability

Right at the end of 2023, we added a new column to Sales Reports to show the cost of products in addition to the units sold and the sales price – in a nutshell, a direct measurement of profitability. That was the cherry on top of the other features we introduced for profit optimization over the summer. With the ability to assign a default salesperson and customizable tags to customers, Icicle’s Sales Reports now allow users to trend sales performance in even more ways. In addition to product groups and customers, users can generate insights on sales performance for particular salespersons or categories like geographic region or SKU. This was so helpful that we made it possible to search invoices and invoice reports by salesperson and customer tag too.

We launched Icicle ERP’s first artificial intelligence tools with the “AI Assist” Button

Starting in October, Icicle users began to see a new “AI Assist” button appear in a few places around Icicle’s manufacturing automation software. The first AI Assist buttons streamlined documentation management by allowing users to use sophisticated AI technology to generate procedures and define hazards for ingredients, materials, and packaging. Icicle already had similar tools like Smart Hazard Suggestions, which drew on Icicle’s extensive database to generate results.

Though anything generated by AI should always be checked over by a qualified person, the new AI features take advantage of even larger data sets to suggest text and more for common documents and other activities – a valuable way to expedite repetitive tasks with process automation and even (as our users have found) learn more about food safety.

We found more ways to improve workflows (and reduce paperwork) with manufacturing automation technology

Like our new AI Assist button, a key advantage for growing food and beverage manufacturers is business process automation – particularly as they scale up and need to manage their resources efficiently to sustain their success. This is Icicle ERP’s speciality, and we love coming up with more process automation tools for our users. In 2023, we released automations for work orders, sales orders, and purchase orders to streamline workflows and add better quality data to automated manufacturing processes.

When an Icicle user creates a work order from a work request, all the information from the work request is automatically added to the new work order so you don’t have to duplicate paperwork. When an Icicle user fills out a purchase order, Icicle will automatically fill in the estimated time of delivery for incoming inventory using supplier lead time data. And when someone creates a shipping record from a sales order in Icicle, Icicle’s intelligence automation tools will automatically populate a default shipping date based on available information.

You can now even send purchase orders and sales orders to suppliers/customers in one click or tap – and Icicle will generate an email with the purchase order or sales order attached and a default message that you can customize before you send.

Note that this last feature is only available for sales orders that are associated with an existing invoice in Icicle (you can send emails directly from invoices too). Procurement and sales staff can see which purchase orders or sales orders have been sent directly from the list view.

We added more process automation to Icicle’s incident management tools to reduce human error and streamline corrective actions

No one wants to face adverse events and recalls, but if any situation arises, you want the security of advanced manufacturing technologies to back you up and implement corrective actions immediately. Right at the end of 2023, we released a series of features to streamline the process for responding to customer complaints. From December, Icicle users who log a customer complaint can send an email to the purchaser, salesperson, and responsible person with the relevant documents for the complaint in one click or tap.

There’s more: if you don’t know the exact lot number for a product associated with a customer complaint, you can now search for matching lots directly from the Customer Complaint List page or the Details page. We added the ability to search customer complaints by purchaser, salesperson, and responsible person too, in order to make it even easier to implement procedures quickly and properly. Our recall management features were also expanded earlier in the year to automatically generate contact lists so you can take action immediately to notify relevant parties of a recall or mock recall.

Identifying root causes and preventative measures became easier with more trending capabilities for inspections

Last spring, Icicle users gained a variety of new ways to implement data-based preventative measures with inspections trending and analytics tools that leverage advanced manufacturing automation technologies. The new Inspections Report can generate insights by type of inspection, facility, or a given timeframe based on a range of criteria from inspection scores and results to product costs. This new feature amplifies the effectiveness of food safety staff, who can use the data to identify frequent problems during inspections and correct them with preventative measures.

On the Inspection List page, we added the ability to trend inspections by date range and display pre-op inspection scores, as well as show how many items from the inspection questionnaire were filled out (all data points that show up in Excel if you export the report).

We introduced new food safety and quality assurance tools (including our Allergen Database) for complete manufacturing automation

Around the same time that we boosted the ability of Icicle users to implement data-based preventative measures with advanced analytics, we made it easier to train and guide staff through regular compliance activities to make sure those preventative measures are implemented correctly. That included adding context-specific instructions to product specifications, which can be customized for each step of a quality control check and displayed right there on the Icicle interface for staff to follow as they complete the check.

Just before customizable instructions were added to quality control checks, we launched a new allergen control tool that takes advantage of Icicle’s vast database of food ingredients and hazards (one of the largest in the world at this point!). Users can search the Allergen Database by allergen, ingredient, or item name to easily reference all of the items that contain the specified allergens.

As with other Icicle interfaces, search results with undeclared allergens will be flagged for food safety and quality staff to take immediate action – one more layer of security and confidence for your compliance programs.

Icicle’s interfaces for food production were tweaked to maximize usability

2023 was a big year for fine tuning our production interfaces to make them more adaptable to the wide range of processes employed by Icicle users. One improvement from early on in the year was the addition of a Nutritional Facts panel to production runs, which users can easily reference to confirm details on the spot, right alongside other packaging and labeling information. Since labeling errors are a major cause of product recalls, making the Nutritional Facts panel accessible to workers on the production run floor (who might not have user access to view Product Details) boosts transparency and food safety culture.

That feature update was quickly followed by a reference tool perfect for advanced manufacturing technologies: Icicle gained the ability to generate a Total Bill of Materials report that captures all the materials needed for multiple production runs over a period of time. Icicle’s Suggested Raw Materials report, which pulls real-time data from sales orders and current inventory levels to suggest specific ingredients and materials to use in production, was enhanced too with a new export option. Since Icicle is designed for food manufacturers first and foremost, the report takes the shelf life of raw materials into account so you can maximize your product’s shelf life (and profitability) while also minimizing inventory costs by optimizing consumption.

Then, Icicle’s Production interface got a new Production Stages section, which helps users with long production processes – involving processes like fermentation, drying, etc. – use factory automation to move through production and stay on track. Just like users can create timers to count down (or up) for particular steps in their recipes, they can now specify stages for timeframes of one or more days in product formulas (recipes) and make changes during production as needed. When production advanced to the next stage (manually or based on manufacturing automation settings), Icicle shows users the exact date and time when the last stage was completed as well as how much time has elapsed in the current stage.

Icicle will also automatically send out alerts and assign tasks during production runs based on these preconfigured settings for stages. Note that this automated option is only available for formula stages that do not require human verification (and that have stages defined in the formula).

We enhanced communication features for logistics and sales teams to make more happy customers

As a unified manufacturing automation solution for the food industry, Icicle is built on the understanding that what happens on the production floor is tightly connected to what happens in the warehouse. Similarly, the sales department and the logistics department are interlinked, and facilitating collaboration is the key to successful implementation of automated manufacturing processes. In the spring, Icicle’s Sales Order Report became even more useful for optimizing profitability, not only showing the quantities of items ordered, shorted, shipped, or outstanding on any given day (including pricing information), but also real-time information on exactly how much inventory you have “on hand” for each item. Like the Suggested Raw Materials report, Icicle will display quantities by item lot code and inventory location, along with shelf life data so sales teams have everything they need to guarantee successful, on-time delivery to customers.

Around the same time, we launched a new filter to Sales Order Reports so that sales teams can export results sorted by the net weight for each item, helping them predict – and plan out – the overall weight of shipments from the warehouse. Sales Order Reports and the Sales Order List got a new “Ship By” date field for efficiently sorting and planning orders for shipment (by date, timeframe, or customer).

Icicle users also gained instant visibility into the status of sales orders with new status icons on the Sales Order List. Then, in June, we expanded Icicle’s task management infrastructure to notify relevant users when a Sales Order has been changed after it was approved, whether due to changes to items, quantities, or shipping dates.

Icicle’s manufacturing automation tools were extended for multiple facilities

During the second half of 2023, our development team was busy building out Icicle’s abilities to manage multiple facilities from the same account for truly computerized integrated manufacturing. With the new features, Icicle users can manage inventory information on a more detailed level per facility, generate reports for specific facilities, transfer inventory between facilities while maintaining their traceability chain, and more. Icicle users who only have one facility on their account will notice the new “facility” field across the interfaces of our advanced manufacturing technologies, but otherwise will see no changes to their workflows.

Whether users are setting up multiple facilities or making changes to the way they track inventory in one facility, another tool we launched in 2023 was the ability to add default inventory locations for multiple items at the same time and edit inventory locations for multiple items too. These new features streamline the process for organizing inventory, no matter how complex, for better warehouse management and manufacturing automation.

🎉 And that’s our high level summary of 2023 for Icicle ERP’s evolving manufacturing automation tools! The Icicle team wants to thank the many active users who submitted their feedback and shared their ideas with us over the last year. If you submitted a feature request or want to see them all (we skipped the little ones in this post), head over to the Feature Request Forum in your Icicle account.

If you want to find out how Icicle can help your food or beverage business take the leap into automating manufacturing processes and streamlining operations, request a demo here or check out our case studies.