Most Australian food manufacturers run batch records and traceability on paper, spreadsheets and an ERP that stops at the warehouse door. We build the layer in between: lot capture at receival, batch records on a tablet, HACCP checks with the critical limits built in, and dispatch tied to customer. It feeds the ERP you already run, starts with a $9,000 + GST Rapid Insight Workshop, and turns a mock recall from a day of matching paper into a report.
Food & Beverage
Food manufacturing software that keeps every batch traceable, without retraining the floor.
What does a missing batch record cost a food manufacturer?
The auditor asks for a trace and someone spends the afternoon matching a receival docket, a mixing sheet and a dispatch record by hand. Retailers expect that trace within hours, and a gap found at audit can cost the contract.
When each lot is captured where the work happens, the trace runs itself, the HACCP record is complete before the shift ends, and the audit is an export.
What a recall-ready batch record captures
A recall is only as narrow as the weakest of these six records. They are listed by how often an audit finds the gap.
Goods in, by lot
Every ingredient and packaging delivery captured against a supplier lot, with the certificate of analysis attached. A record that names an ingredient but not its lot cannot narrow a recall.
The batch record
What was made, when, on which line, by whom, from which lots and at what yield. Captured as production happens, not copied from paper at the end of the shift.
Critical control points
Temperatures, metal detection, pH and checkweights recorded against the batch. A failed check raises a corrective action that cannot be skipped.
Allergens and changeovers
What ran before, what cleaning was done and who signed it off. This is where paper is most often right in practice and unprovable at audit.
Goods out, by customer
Which batch codes went on which pallets to which customer, and when. Without it the forward trace stops at the warehouse door.
The mock recall
The trace run on demand, forwards and backwards, as a report. Retailers and certifiers expect it within set hours, so this is the real test of the system.
Traceability, HACCP and production software for food manufacturers
Each card is a page you can read on its own. A trace usually breaks in the handover between two systems, not inside one.
Warehouse management
Batch and expiry enforced on the pick, so the oldest stock leaves first and nothing short-dated goes out the door.
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Systems integration
Quality checks, production runs and demand planning joined to the ERP and warehouse, so a batch is recorded once and read everywhere.
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ERP integration
Ingredient cost, yield and price in one place, so margin per product is a number rather than an estimate.
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Outgrowing CartonCloud
A system built for third-party logistics, in a business that owns its own stock. Connect it, build around it, or replace it — and what each costs.
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What does a mock recall look like when the records are joined up?
A retailer emails at 3pm: a supplier has flagged a lot of sesame. Your QA manager types the supplier lot into one screen and sees every batch that used it, the line and shift it ran on, the changeover checks either side, and every pallet that left with those batch codes, by customer and date.
The report goes back the same afternoon, scoped to the batches affected, not the whole week's production. That is the difference between a narrow recall and a wide one.
Seasonal demand, changing food safety rules, and suppliers who never quite line up — we build systems that take all three in their stride.
How we work with F&B teams
We start by learning how your production runs. Then we find where the time and errors come from: data typed in twice, compliance gaps, or systems that buckle at your volumes. We work in short sprints alongside your team and test against real production conditions before anything ships.
- A dedicated team, not a ticket queue
- Food safety and compliance built to from day one
- Support and improvements after launch
How food and beverage businesses work with us
Every one of them starts with a Rapid Insight Workshop: a paid session that maps your operation and hands back a prioritised roadmap. What you do next depends on what it finds.
Apex
We stay embedded and work through the roadmap with you month after month, from the production floor through to compliance. One monthly fee, measured against results we agree at the start. From $15K a month, six-month minimum term.
Amplify
One build, scoped in writing before anything starts, then quoted at a fixed price against that scope. A one-year warranty, and the code and the IP are yours. Typically $100K and up.
Ignite
Prove a traceability or production tool on one line. Fixed price, $25K to $50K, and working software in four to eight weeks — enough to test it with real users before you spend more.
Questions food and beverage businesses ask us
With the workshop. It maps how work moves from the production floor through to compliance: the systems you run, where batch and stock data is recorded twice, and which fix returns the most. You get a prioritised roadmap back about three weeks later, before committing to a build.
Yes. We have worked across production, wholesale and direct-to-consumer F&B operations, so we understand batch management, traceability requirements and the integrations these businesses depend on. The common thread is an operation that has outgrown the spreadsheets holding it together and is carrying the cost of that in manual reconciliation.
Yes, and compliance goes into the product architecture from the start rather than being added before an audit. That covers batch records, lot traceability, audit trails, and the reporting your team needs for food safety audits and regulatory submissions. The evidence is captured as production happens, so a recall trace is a query rather than a week of paperwork.
Both, and the choice follows how the work is actually done. Floor-level capture wants a mobile or tablet interface that survives gloves, wash-down areas and shift handover; planning, compliance and management reporting want web. We scope the right format for each part of the operation rather than forcing one on all of it.
Yes, and this connective layer is often the whole job. We regularly integrate with MYOB, Xero, ERP platforms, production line sensor data and third-party logistics providers, so batch data flows through to dispatch and finance without being retyped. Integration scope is confirmed and tested before build begins, because that is where these projects usually go wrong.
No. Most food manufacturers have an ERP that handles purchasing, stock and invoicing well enough, and a plant floor still on paper. The traceability layer sits between the two: it captures the batch record where the work happens and feeds the ERP. That is a far smaller and less risky project than replacing the ERP.
Fast enough to finish while the auditor is still in the room, once batch links are captured as the work happens. A mock recall usually stalls because the receival docket, the mixing sheet and the dispatch record sit in three places and someone has to match them by hand. When each ingredient lot is scanned at receival and each finished batch is tied to its dispatch, you pick a lot and see every customer it reached in one view. Your retailer's supplier portal and your HACCP auditor both ask for this.
You keep the ones you already have, and new records stop starting on paper. Historic HACCP sheets, temperature logs and cleaning checklists stay on file for the retention period your certification body expects; scanning the recent ones is usually enough for a trace. Going forward, your QA manager gets the same checks on a tablet at the point of work, with the critical limits built in, so an out-of-range reading raises a corrective action instead of a tick. Floor staff see the form they already know, just on a screen.
Yes, alongside your team rather than around it. Depending on the situation we act as a build partner, a specialist integration resource, or a full delivery team. Your operations people know where the real friction is, so we work in focused sprints with them and test against real production conditions before anything ships.
Monitoring, optimisation and ongoing product iteration. For Apex clients that is embedded in the engagement at no separate cost. For project-based work, support is scoped and agreed upfront so there are no surprise bills. Either way, the first full season of real production usage will surface things discovery could not, and we stay on to act on them.
Connect it, build around it, or replace it, and the first thing we check is whether you should replace it at all. CartonCloud is built for third-party logistics — holding someone else's stock and billing for the handling — so it tends to stop fitting once you own what you move and batches, expiry and customer-specific pricing enter the picture. There are three routes: connect it to the rest of your systems, build the parts it does not cover around it, or replace it. The first two are cheaper and land sooner, and most operators who arrive asking about the third leave with one of them. Outgrowing CartonCloud covers which fits.
The first step is the $9,000 + GST workshop, which sets the scope. The build is then priced against that scope in the stream that fits, shown in the three options above.
A typical build runs two to 12 months. The workshop takes two sessions of your team's time and returns a roadmap and business case about three weeks later. We stage the rollout around production, so one line or one record type can move off paper first.
Buy one if its standard workflows fit how your plant runs. Packaged systems charge per-user licence fees every year, while a custom build has no per-user fee and you own the code. Custom earns its place when your process is the advantage, or when the product forces workarounds and double entry. We will tell you which side you are on.