As the organic soda market evolves, Long Island, N.Y.-based producer Fresh Fizz Sodas is staying on top of traceability regulations with easy-to-use, effective tools. After using a spreadsheet solution for its materials requirements planning (MRP) requirements, Fresh Fizz switched to an MRPeasy system and created more balance in its tracking system, according to a release from the manufacturing software company.
Fresh Fizz produces sodas without additives and refined sugars. The company uses natural ingredients and sweetens its beverages with honey, a formula that makes regulatory compliance important.
“Operating in a highly regulated industry, we need to track which ingredient lots go into which finished products and which customers bought those products,” says Yoni Schwartz, President of Fresh Fizz Sodas. “This full traceability was also a key requirement for acquiring an organic food certification.”
The company used spreadsheets during its first years of operations, but Schwartz says Fresh Fizz needed a solution to handle its traceability needs without being too complex. Schwartz points to MRPeasy’s ability to let companies start using its software without a demo and sales pitch as a deciding factor. The software has self-education materials freely available, which allowed Fresh Fizz to further experiment with the system.
“By checking out the educational materials, you get more time on your free trial,” Schwartz adds.
Fresh Fizz began implementing MRPeasy in March 2024, and within a few weeks, the system went live. Aspects such as setting up bills of materials (BOMs) with product quality in mind were challenging, but with some thinking and the use of MRPeasy’s online resources, the Fresh Fizz team worked through the kinks.
“It’s a simple program,” says Director of Operations Thomas Perez. “In addition to the user manual and demo videos, the AI chatbot on MRPeasy’s website is great for answering any small questions that one might have.”
Traceability and cost tracking without complexity
Fresh Fizz finds full traceability and accurate cost tracking with MRPeasy. The software records vital events related to ingredient lots and product batching as well as associated costs. This helps the soda producer know the cost of a product batch or unit, explore the details of various cost components, such as materials or labor, and make decisions that help reduce manufacturing costs.
“Everything we sell now matches up with specific ingredient lots, so we know what our products cost, where the inputs came from, and which customers purchased the products. We get complete visibility,” Schwartz states.
Moreover, the layout of products from ingredient lots to final deliveries makes it easier for Fresh Fizz to identify root causes of potential problems and quickly develop a response.
“If an ingredient had an issue, we would be able to organize a targeted product recall,” Schwartz says.
Furthermore, MRPeasy feeds cost of goods sold (COGS) and inventory value data directly into the accounting platform Xero, which reduces the manual workload of accountants.
Overall, Fresh Fizz Sodas says MRPeasy’s software helps the company strike a balance of ease-of-use without the hassle of something like a complex enterprise-grade ERP system.
“What I found with MRPeasy is that it has this balance of user-friendliness and power,” states Schartz. “It’s robust enough for what we need but also pretty easy to pick up.
