Driving Sustainability in Food and Beverage Manufacturing with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
For food and beverage manufacturers, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword—it’s an actionable goal that impacts every facet of their operations, from sourcing ingredients to packaging and distribution. To help manufacturers make real progress toward their sustainability goals, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has introduced a set of features focused on environmental management.
Here’s a closer look at how these tools can support manufacturers in reducing waste, minimizing emissions, and optimizing resource use across the board.
1. Sustainability Manager Role Center: Your Command Center for Sustainability Data
The Sustainability Manager Role Center provides a single, comprehensive dashboard where all sustainability-related data is consolidated. This role center centralizes key environmental metrics—such as emissions data, waste figures, and energy consumption—making it simpler for sustainability managers to monitor these metrics, adjust strategies, and track progress against goals in real time.
Example
A food and beverage manufacturer with multiple production sites can use this dashboard to view emissions and energy data for each location, quickly identifying areas with higher energy use or emissions. From this central hub, they can set benchmarks, monitor compliance with regulatory standards, and make data-backed adjustments that align with broader corporate sustainability objectives.
2. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Tracking
Business Central’s emissions tracking capability allows manufacturers to break down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into three defined scopes:
Scope 1
Direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company, such as machinery or delivery vehicles.
Scope 2
Indirect emissions from purchased energy, like electricity or heating.
Scope 3
Other indirect emissions occurring up and down the supply chain, including those from raw materials, third-party logistics, and even employee commuting.
By mapping emissions across these three scopes, food and beverage manufacturers can gain a complete picture of their carbon footprint. This granularity is crucial for identifying which areas need the most attention. For instance, if Scope 2 emissions from energy use are particularly high, manufacturers might look into renewable energy sources. With Scope 3 emissions, they might partner with suppliers who adhere to eco-friendly practices. Over time, tracking these detailed metrics helps teams set meaningful reduction targets and prioritize the actions that will have the greatest impact.
3. Sustainability Scorecards and Goals: Measuring and Achieving Impact
Sustainability scorecards in Business Central allow manufacturers to set specific goals and track their progress over time. These scorecards can cover metrics such as waste reduction, emissions, or energy efficiency, enabling teams to assess how close they are to meeting their objectives.
Example
A food manufacturer, for instance, might set a goal of reducing plastic packaging by 15% within a year. By setting up this goal in the scorecard, they can monitor monthly progress, allowing managers to see if adjustments in packaging practices or supplier choices are needed. This approach keeps the team aligned and motivated, creating a structured framework for continuous improvement in sustainability efforts.
4. Internal Carbon Fee Calculation: Assigning Value to Emissions to Drive Sustainable Choices
One unique feature in Business Central is the ability to assign an internal carbon fee to different operations, essentially putting a price on emissions. This internal fee reflects the cost of carbon output, creating a financial incentive for different departments to reduce emissions.
For food and beverage manufacturers, this can encourage greener practices across various business units.
Example
Production teams might be motivated to reduce machine idling times or seek more energy-efficient equipment to minimize their carbon costs. By assigning real costs to emissions, companies encourage every department to take ownership of sustainability goals, making eco-friendly decisions that also align with financial priorities.
5. Carbon Credits Management: Balancing Emissions with Offsets
In addition to emission reduction efforts, carbon credits offer a way to offset unavoidable emissions, supporting companies in reaching net-zero targets. Business Central’s carbon credits management feature allows manufacturers to purchase and manage these offsets, tracking the environmental impact of their credits alongside their total emissions.
Example
A food manufacturer working toward net-zero status could, for instance, purchase carbon credits to balance out emissions from transportation and logistics. By tracking these offsets within Business Central, they can monitor their overall carbon balance and make sure they’re achieving the right level of offset for their total emissions.
6. Sustainability Financial Reporting: Integrating Environmental Metrics into Financial Performance
With sustainability financial reporting, food and beverage manufacturers can see the cost savings tied directly to their sustainability efforts. Emission fees, waste reduction savings, and energy costs are all tracked alongside traditional financial data, offering a clear view of the return on investment for environmental initiatives.
Example
A beverage manufacturer that invests in energy-efficient cooling systems can track energy savings over time. By integrating these savings into their financial reports, the company gains a full understanding of how sustainability improvements impact their bottom line. This level of insight helps justify ongoing investments in sustainable practices and makes it easier to communicate the financial and environmental benefits to stakeholders.
7. Sustainability Certificates Tracking: Supporting Compliance and Green Sourcing
Many food and beverage manufacturers rely on suppliers who meet specific sustainability standards, such as organic or fair-trade certifications. Business Central’s certificate tracking feature helps companies manage these credentials, ensuring that their vendors align with their green sourcing policies.
With this feature, manufacturers can keep detailed records of vendor certifications, making it easy to verify that all ingredients and materials meet sustainability requirements.
Example
A company sourcing organic ingredients for its product line can use certificate tracking to maintain an up-to-date record of each supplier’s certifications, supporting transparency and compliance in their sourcing practices.
8. Production Sequencing: Reducing Energy and Material Waste Through Optimized Production
NIC Systems, an affiliate of FoodCloudPlus, offers the Production Sequencing app, compatible with Business Central, to help manufacturers group similar production orders to reduce equipment changeovers and minimize idle time.
Example
By grouping similar product runs together, a beverage manufacturer reduces the energy needed to start up and shut down machinery multiple times throughout the day. This optimized sequencing helps cut down on unnecessary energy consumption, supporting both cost savings and emissions reduction goals.
Supporting Sustainability with Smart Solutions
To further enhance the sustainability features in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, NIC Systems offers apps that provide additional support for eco-friendly practices:
Help reduce waste and ensure fresher products reach consumers by preventing items near peak freshness or expiration from being shipped or received.
By reducing partial shipments, this app lowers transportation emissions and improves shipping efficiency.
Boosts sustainability by splitting orders into smaller, efficient batches, reducing waste, optimizing resource use, and lowering energy consumption.
The NIC Systems apps along with Business Central’s sustainability features, offer food and beverage manufacturers a comprehensive suite of tools to achieve their environmental goals and optimize operations in a practical, measurable way.
About FoodCloudPlus Services
We leverage the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform and add food-specific functionality through our BC Apps that addresses compliance, food safety, quality, recalls, recipe management, batch processing, staging and spice room management.