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Contract Manufacturing with CompuTec Solutions

CompuTec solutions support contract manufacturers with customer specification management, batch traceability, quality documentation, and job costing within SAP Business One.

Customer Specification Management
Batch Traceability
Accurate Job Costing

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Solutions for Producing to Someone Else's Specification

Contract manufacturing means producing to someone else's specification, whether that's co-packing food and beverage products for retail brands or co-manufacturing chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or consumer goods. Managing multiple customers' specifications, meeting quality and traceability standards, and capturing accurate job costs to price competitively are everyday realities. CompuTec solutions give contract manufacturers the tools to manage all three, with the data held directly in SAP Business One.

The Business Value of CompuTec Solutions for Contract Manufacturing

Winning and keeping contracts depends on meeting each customer's requirements consistently and knowing what each job really costs. The areas below cover both, from specification control through to job costing.

Customer Specification Management
- Organized Customer Records: Each customer's formulation and production requirements can be maintained separately, reducing the risk of errors at changeover.
- Controlled Recipe Access: User access controls can be configured to restrict visibility of customer-specific formulations between customers.
- Confident Product Switching: With each customer's specification clearly defined, production teams have what they need to switch accurately between customer products.
Batch Traceability for Brand Owners
- A Complete Production Record: Batch data can be recorded at every stage from raw material receipt to customer delivery.
- Forward and Backward Tracing: Any batch can be traced back to its raw material source or forward to every delivery it contributed to, supporting recall response.
- Quality Documentation: Certificates of Analysis can be generated from quality control test results and shared with brand owners.
Quality Standards per Customer
- Customer-Specific Quality Control Protocols: Quality Control Test Protocols can be configured per item, supporting different quality standards for different customers.
- Formal Non-Conformance Records: NCMRs document quality failures and the corrective actions taken, creating a formal record that can be shared on request.
- Supplier Quality Visibility: Quality control results linked to incoming batches feed the Supplier Scorecard, with testing frequency set according to past performance.

Minimum Shelf Life Management
- Customer-Specific Shelf Life Compliance: Expiry date management and picking rules can be configured to support minimum shelf life agreements per customer.
- Expiry Visibility Across Stock: Expiry dates tracked at batch level give teams visibility of stock approaching minimum shelf life.
- Reduced Shipment Risk: Picking rules can help prevent stock that does not meet a customer's minimum shelf life from being selected for their orders.
Accurate Job Costing
- Reliable Cost Basis per Job: The Costed BOM and Costed Manufacturing Order give a detailed cost picture per job, supporting accurate pricing.
- Cost Simulations for Quotation: The financial impact of price changes or alternative specifications can be modeled before a quote is submitted.
- Planned vs. Actual Visibility: Manufacturing Orders can carry both planned and actual cost data, supporting variance analysis per contract.
Multi-Customer Production Planning
- Material Planning Across All Jobs: MRP II recommendations factor in stock, open orders, and lead times across all customer jobs.
- Capacity Visibility: Scheduling tools give planners visibility of resource availability and load across all customer orders simultaneously.
- Early Warning of Delivery Risks: The scheduling board identifies when a customer order cannot be completed on time and suggests the earliest achievable date.

Contract Manufacturing Sub-Sectors Served by CompuTec Solutions

CompuTec solutions support contract manufacturers and co-packers across a wide range of industries, from food and beverage and life sciences through to chemicals, metals, and consumer goods.

Industry Challenges and How CompuTec Solutions Address Them

Contract manufacturers face a distinctive set of daily operational challenges. Here is how CompuTec solutions help them manage the most demanding ones.

Customer Stories

More than 500 businesses run their operations on CompuTec solutions, in industries including manufacturing, logistics, and distribution. They operate from Canada to Kenya, from France to Fiji, and from the United Kingdom to the United States. These are a few of them: what they needed, what they changed, and how their operations run now.

Want to see how CompuTec solutions could support your contract manufacturing operation?

For contract manufacturers, CompuTec ProcessForce and CompuTec WMS keep each customer's specifications, quality records, and job costs organized and traceable within SAP Business One.

Learn about CompuTec ProcessForce Learn about CompuTec WMS

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Built for Your Industry

Traceability, quality control and compliance work differently in food production than in aerospace. Our solutions are built for those specifics, industry by industry.

Don't see your industry here?

Many of our customers work in industries beyond the ten listed here. Tell us what you need and we'll tell you if our solutions are a good fit.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does CompuTec ProcessForce support multiple customer specifications?

BOM revisions can be maintained per customer specification, keeping each customer's formulation, packaging, and production requirements clearly organized and separate within SAP Business One. User access controls can be configured to restrict visibility of customer-specific formulations, supporting confidentiality between customers.

What batch traceability records can be shared with brand owners?

In CompuTec ProcessForce, batch data can be recorded at every stage from raw material receipt through production to customer delivery. Forward and backward batch tracing gives a complete production history per batch. Certificates of Analysis can be generated from quality control test results and shared with brand owners as documented evidence of quality for each production run.

Can quality control protocols be configured differently for each customer?

Yes. Quality Control Test Protocols can be configured per item, supporting different quality standards and testing requirements for different customers within the same production environment. When a test fails, an NCMR formally documents the non-conformance and the corrective action required, providing a quality record that can be shared with the brand owner.

How are minimum shelf life agreements supported for each customer?

Expiry dates are tracked at batch level within SAP Business One. First Expiry First Out (FEFO) picking rules can be configured to support minimum shelf life agreements, helping to ensure that stock selected for a customer's orders meets their contractual shelf life requirements. Minimum shelf life agreements are most common among food and beverage contract manufacturers producing perishable goods for retail customers.

How does CompuTec ProcessForce support job costing for contract manufacturers?

The Costed BOM and Costed Manufacturing Order give a detailed cost picture per job, covering materials, resources, and overheads. Cost simulations allow the financial impact of raw material price changes or alternative specifications to be modeled before a quote is submitted. Each Manufacturing Order can carry both planned and actual cost data, supporting variance analysis and more informed pricing decisions on future contracts.

What operational labeling capabilities does CompuTec Labels offer for contract manufacturers?

CompuTec Labels is an operational labeling solution for warehouse and logistics processes. It automates the generation of warehouse and logistics labels, pulling live batch, serial, and transaction data from SAP Business One. Label templates can be defined per customer and applied automatically at the point of dispatch. Country of origin recorded at item level can also be included on labels, which matters for customers supplying EU retail markets.

Can production be planned across multiple customer orders at once?

In CompuTec ProcessForce, MRP II recommendations factor in current stock, open orders, and lead times across all customer jobs, giving procurement teams a reliable basis for material planning. Scheduling tools give visibility of resource availability and production load across all customer orders simultaneously. Where a customer order cannot be completed on time, the scheduling board flags it and suggests the earliest achievable date.

Is item-level serialization supported for life sciences contract manufacturers?

Yes. In CompuTec ProcessForce, serial numbers can be assigned to individual items within a batch based on configurable rules, with serial number data recorded through production and warehouse processes in SAP Business One. CompuTec WMS supports packing and repacking of serialized batches at the warehouse level using barcode scanners, with every transaction posted back to SAP Business One. This is particularly relevant for contract manufacturers producing pharmaceuticals, infant food, or other products with item-level traceability requirements.

Does CompuTec WMS support GS1 and SSCC compliance for contract manufacturers supplying retailers?

Yes. Storage Units in CompuTec WMS can be assigned Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC) numbers, supporting standardized pallet identification for retailers with GS1 compliance requirements. Dispatch Control can verify items against business partner catalog numbers before a delivery is processed, supporting accuracy at the point of shipment.

How is catch weight handled for customers billed on measured weight?

In CompuTec WMS, catch weight items carry both a nominal quantity and the actual weight measured on integrated weighing scales, so the quantity recorded at goods receipt and dispatch reflects what was physically handled. Food and chemical contract manufacturers often bill customers on measured weight rather than unit count. Catch weight data can also be included on warehouse and logistics labels through CompuTec Labels.