For process manufacturers, a formula defines more than which ingredients go into a product. It also determines how the product is produced, tested, packaged, traced, and costed. While Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides a strong foundation for finance, inventory, planning, and manufacturing, formula-based production often requires functionality beyond standard bills of material and production orders.
Yaveon 365 adds specialized Business Central formula management capabilities for product development, batch production, quality control, costing, packaging, and traceability. Together, they connect what a manufacturer planned to make, what it actually produced, and the records needed to prove how each batch was made.
Does Business Central Include Formula Management?
Business Central Premium includes manufacturing functionality, but it does not include a dedicated formula management system. Manufacturers can use production bills of material and routings to define what goes into an item and how it is produced. Business Central can then plan materials and capacity, create production orders, record consumption and output, track lots, and calculate production costs.
That foundation may be sufficient for straightforward production. However, companies evaluating Business Central recipe management often need capabilities beyond a conventional bill of material, including:
- Controlled formula development and versioning
- Scaling, yield, and production tolerances
- Bulk production, filling, and multiple outputs
- Integrated quality inspections and product release
- Traceability through intermediate and finished products
These requirements can be managed through spreadsheets, manual procedures, or custom development, but that separates critical formula information from the ERP records used to plan, produce, cost, and ship the product.
If you are still determining whether your current processes justify a dedicated solution, start with the signs that you need formula management software.
Yaveon 365 fills this gap with purpose-built capabilities for recipe and formula management, batch manufacturing, quality assurance, product development, costing, and traceability. Manufacturers retain Business Central as their financial and operational foundation while adding the controls required for formula-based production.onal foundation of Business Central while adding the process-specific controls their products require.
How Yaveon 365 Adds Formula Management to Business Central
Yaveon 365 is a suite of applications developed specifically for process manufacturers and regulated industries. Yaveon 365 is a modular suite of applications for process manufacturers and regulated industries. Instead of operating as a separate formula management system, it extends the Business Central environment already used for finance, purchasing, sales, inventory, planning, and warehousing.
With Yaveon 365 formula management, information can remain connected throughout the product lifecycle. An approved formula can support production planning, operators can record the ingredient lots and quantities consumed, quality results can control whether a batch is released, and production costs can flow into the company’s financial records.
This makes Business Central for formula-based manufacturing more than a collection of disconnected tools. Manufacturers can select the Yaveon applications that match their processes while maintaining a shared operational and financial record.
Create One Controlled Source for Formulas and Recipes
When formulas are stored in spreadsheets, emails, shared folders, and paper instructions, it can be difficult to determine which version is approved for production. Even a small difference in an ingredient quantity or processing step can affect product quality, compliance, and cost.
Yaveon 365 manages this information through manufacturing specifications that connect a product’s materials with the operations and instructions used to produce it. Manufacturers can maintain specifications for finished goods, intermediate products, and bulk materials while preserving the relationships between production stages.
Centralized formula version control separates approved specifications from formulas still being developed or revised. Authorized users can review a formula’s components, production steps, and where-used relationships before making a change, helping ensure production follows the correct version.
Move New Formulas from R&D into Production
A formula may pass through dozens of trials before it is ready for commercial production. Ingredients are substituted, quantities are adjusted, and costs are recalculated. If that work happens outside the ERP, the approved formula must eventually be recreated in the system used by production.
Yaveon 365 Research & Development allows teams to create development items and recipes within Business Central while keeping them separate from active production records. They can document trials, compare formula variations, calculate preliminary costs, and preserve the history behind each version.
Once approved, a development item can be converted into an active production item and used to support manufacturing specifications, costing, and production planning.
For example, a cosmetics manufacturer could test several concentrations for a new moisturizer, compare the projected cost of each version, and move the approved formula into production without manually rebuilding it from a spreadsheet.
Scale Formulas and Plan the Right Batch Quantity
A formula developed for a 500-kilogram batch will not always be produced at that quantity. Demand, equipment capacity, or ingredient availability may call for a larger or smaller run. Scaling it in a spreadsheet leaves production teams responsible for calculating each ingredient quantity and transferring the results into the ERP.
Yaveon 365 connects the planned batch quantity to its material requirements while accounting for production tolerances and actual consumption.
| Planned production | Actual production |
|---|---|
| Target batch quantity | Quantity actually produced |
| Expected ingredient consumption | Ingredient quantities consumed |
| Expected yield | Actual yield |
| Standard production cost | Recorded production cost |
| Anticipated waste | Waste or loss reported |
If a planned 1,000-kilogram batch produces only 960 kilograms of usable product, the variance affects inventory, costing, purchasing, and future planning. Recording it in Business Central helps determine whether the loss was expected or indicates a recurring production problem.
Scaling, rounding, and tolerance rules vary by formula and should be defined during implementation.
Connect Each Formula to Its Production Instructions
The correct ingredients do not guarantee a consistent product. Mixing sequence, processing time, temperature, equipment, and other operating conditions can be just as important as the quantities in the formula.
Consider a chemical manufacturer producing an industrial coating. Adding the same materials in a different order or mixing them at the wrong temperature could change the viscosity, stability, or performance of the finished product.
Yaveon 365 manufacturing specifications connect formula components with the operations and instructions required to produce them. Production teams can see both what to use and what to do, then record the materials consumed, output achieved, processing activity, and permitted adjustments.
This creates a more complete manufacturing record and reduces reliance on separate formulas, paper instructions, and employee knowledge. It also gives quality teams better information when investigating an inconsistent production result.
Build Quality Control into Formula-Based Manufacturing
A batch can follow the correct formula and still fail its specifications. Its pH, moisture, viscosity, potency, or another characteristic may fall outside an acceptable range. Quality control must therefore extend beyond confirming that production used the correct ingredients.
Yaveon 365 Quality Assurance connects inspections and test results to materials, production, and inventory in Business Central.
| Stage | Possible quality controls |
|---|---|
| Receiving | Inspect ingredients, verify supplier documentation, and place material on hold |
| Production | Record in-process measurements and identify deviations |
| Finished batch | Compare results against product specifications and determine its status |
| Release | Approve, reject, quarantine, or restrict the batch before further use or shipment |
Inspection plans define what must be tested and which values or tolerances determine whether material passes. Results remain connected to the relevant item and batch, giving production, quality, and inventory teams visibility into its status.
This allows a finished batch to remain restricted until it is approved for packaging, further production, or shipment. Yaveon supports these quality and compliance processes, but the system must still be configured around the manufacturer’s procedures and regulatory obligations.
Trace Every Batch from Raw Materials to Customers
When a supplier reports a problem with an ingredient lot, the manufacturer must identify where it was used, which batches were affected, and which customers received the resulting products.
Yaveon 365 preserves lot and batch relationships as materials move through production:
Raw-material lot → production batch → intermediate or bulk product → packaged item → customer shipment
Manufacturers can trace forward from an ingredient lot to the products and customers that may be affected. They can also trace backward from a finished product to the batches, intermediate products, and raw materials used to make it.
For example, a nutraceutical manufacturer could identify every batch that consumed an out-of-specification vitamin lot, determine which bottles were filled from those batches, locate the remaining inventory, and review completed shipments.
This level of batch traceability supports faster investigations, more precise recalls, and clearer production histories for customers and auditors.
Calculate the True Cost of Every Formula
A formula may appear profitable when only its ingredients are considered. Its true cost can also include labour, equipment, overhead, packaging, expected losses, and other production expenses.
Formula cost = materials + capacity + overhead + packaging + production-related costs
Yaveon 365 Costing brings these elements together within Business Central. Manufacturers can calculate preliminary costs during development, compare formula versions, and evaluate how an ingredient change affects the finished product.
If the cost of a key material increases, the manufacturer can assess whether to adjust its selling price, revise the formula, or evaluate an approved substitute. Planned costs can also be compared with recorded consumption and output once production begins. Lower yield, excess ingredient use, or increased packaging costs may explain why the actual margin differs from the estimate.
These results still depend on a well-defined costing model. Labour, overhead, waste, and shared production expenses must be configured to reflect how the business assigns costs.
Account for Yield, Waste, Co-Products, and By-Products
Process manufacturing does not always produce one predictable output. Evaporation, filtering, trimming, and natural material variation can change the usable quantity, while some processes generate secondary products that can be reused or sold.
These outcomes need to be recorded differently:
- Yield measures how much usable product was produced compared with the expected output.
- Waste accounts for material consumed without becoming a usable output.
- Co-products are multiple valuable products created by the same process.
- By-products are secondary outputs produced alongside the primary product.
Recording only the primary output would understate inventory, hide part of the process’s value, and assign all production costs to one item.
Yaveon 365 can record actual output, production losses, and additional products created through joint production. Costs can be distributed across the resulting outputs according to the manufacturer’s chosen method while maintaining the lot relationships required for traceability.
This gives operations a clearer view of production efficiency and finance a more realistic basis for valuing inventory and calculating margins.
Connect Bulk Production with Filling and Packaging
One formula can create several finished products. A cosmetics manufacturer might produce one bulk batch of lotion and fill it into 100-millilitre bottles, 500-millilitre bottles, and five-litre containers. Each item uses the same formula but has different packaging materials, inventory requirements, and costs.
Creating a separate formula for every package size would duplicate information and make changes harder to control. Yaveon 365 allows manufacturers to manage the bulk product separately from the items created during filling and packaging.
The approved bulk batch can be allocated to different container types or package sizes. The filling process records how much bulk material was consumed, how many packaged units were created, and which packaging materials were used.
The relationship between the bulk batch and each packaged item remains traceable. This reduces duplicate formula maintenance while giving production, inventory, quality, and finance an accurate view of both stages.
What a Connected Formula Management Workflow Looks Like
The value of formula management in Business Central becomes clearest when the entire product lifecycle is Consider how a nutraceutical manufacturer could manage a new powdered supplement:
- Develop and approve the formula. R&D tests versions, compares projected costs, and converts the approved formula into an active production item.
- Plan and procure. Business Central considers demand, inventory, open purchases, production requirements, and available capacity.
- Receive and inspect materials. Raw materials are recorded by lot and inspected before being approved for production.
- Produce and record the batch. Operators record the ingredient lots consumed, production activity, output, yield, and waste.
- Test, release, and package. Quality results determine whether the batch can be released before the bulk product is filled into its finished package sizes.
- Ship, trace, and analyze. The manufacturer can review customers by lot, compare planned and actual costs, investigate variances, and trace the complete production history.
The value of formula management in Business Central comes from maintaining continuity as a formula becomes a produced, tested, packaged, costed, and traceable product.
Which Yaveon 365 Applications Do You Need?
Yaveon 365 is modular, so a manufacturer does not need to implement every application in the suite. The right combination depends on how products are developed, manufactured, inspected, costed, packaged, and traced.
| Business requirement | Relevant solution |
|---|---|
| Finance, purchasing, sales, inventory, planning, and core manufacturing | Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central |
| Manufacturing specifications, batches, production, and filling | Yaveon 365 Manufacturing |
| Formula trials and product development | Yaveon 365 Research & Development |
| Inspections, test results, quality statuses, and product release | Yaveon 365 Quality Assurance |
| Preliminary and production costing | Yaveon 365 Costing |
| Co-products and by-products | Yaveon 365 Joint Production |
| Lot details, shelf life, and batch visibility | Yaveon 365 Lot Management |
| Extended forward and backward tracing | Yaveon 365 Lot Management and Business Central tracking capabilities |
A food manufacturer with straightforward recipes may primarily need manufacturing, quality, and lot management. A chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturer may require additional applications for R&D, costing, document control, or other regulated processes.
The appropriate combination should be based on documented business requirements. This keeps the implementation focused and avoids paying for or configuring functionality the company will not use.
When Is Business Central with Yaveon 365 a Strong Fit?
Business Central with Yaveon 365 is worth evaluating when a manufacturer:
- Produces goods from formulas or recipes
- Manufactures in batches or creates products in bulk
- Develops, revises, and approves multiple formula versions
- Performs inspections and controls when inventory can be released
- Requires lot traceability across several production stages
- Creates multiple packaged items from one bulk batch
- Records variable yield, waste, co-products, or by-products
- Wants production, quality, inventory, and finance to share the same data
However, not every manufacturer needs specialized recipe management software. Standard Business Central may be sufficient for companies with straightforward bills of material, predictable output, limited quality controls, and no need for controlled formula development or joint production.
The deciding factor is not the industry alone. It is the complexity of the company’s formulas, production processes, quality requirements, costing methods, and traceability obligations.as, production processes, quality requirements, costing methods, and traceability obligations.
What Should You Define Before Implementing Formula Management?
A successful implementation begins with understanding how formulas move through the business today. The goal is not simply to reproduce existing spreadsheets inside a batch manufacturing ERP. It is to determine which information must be controlled, who is responsible for it, and how each decision affects the next stage of the process.
Our formula management software features checklist provides a more detailed breakdown of the capabilities manufacturers should evaluate before comparing solutions or preparing for demonstrations.
Formula development and control
Document where formulas are currently stored, how new versions are created, and who can review or approve a change. Determine whether formulas use fixed quantities, percentages, concentrations, potency calculations, or a combination of methods.
Production and packaging
Define how formulas are scaled, how expected yield is calculated, and how operators report actual consumption and output. Manufacturers should also identify any bulk products, intermediate items, filling processes, co-products, by-products, or waste streams that the system must record.
Quality and traceability
Map the inspections performed during receiving, production, and final release. This includes determining when inventory must be held or quarantined, which results must be recorded, and how far traceability must extend across ingredients, batches, packaging, and customer shipments.
Costing and reporting
Establish how the company assigns material, labour, equipment, overhead, packaging, waste, and shared production costs. It should also identify which variances and performance measures decision-makers need to see.
These requirements determine which Yaveon applications are needed and how they should be configured. Defining them early helps keep the implementation focused on the processes that create the greatest operational, quality, and financial risk.
Bring Formulas, Production, Quality, and Finance Together
Business Central provides a strong financial and operational foundation, but formula-based production often requires capabilities beyond standard manufacturing. Yaveon 365 fills those gaps by connecting formula development, production, quality, costing, packaging, and traceability within the Business Central environment.
The value of Business Central formula management is not any one feature. It is the ability to follow a formula from R&D through production and delivery while maintaining a connected record of what was planned, produced, tested, costed, and shipped.
Sabre Limited helps food, chemical, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and other process manufacturers implement Business Central with the Yaveon 365 applications that fit their requirements.
Want to know whether Yaveon 365 fits your manufacturing process? Contact Sabre Limited to discuss your formulas, batch production, quality controls, costing, and traceability needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Business Central include formula management?
Business Central Premium includes bills of material, routings, production orders, planning, lot tracking, and manufacturing costing. Yaveon 365 adds the specialized formula development, batch production, quality, costing, and traceability capabilities many process manufacturers require.
Can Business Central manage recipes?
Business Central can define the components required to make an item. More advanced formula management in Business Central may require Yaveon 365 for development recipes, manufacturing specifications, version control, batch processes, and quality requirements.
Is Business Central suitable for process manufacturing?
Yes. Business Central can provide the foundation for finance, purchasing, inventory, planning, warehousing, and production. Yaveon 365 extends it for more complex formula-based and batch manufacturing requirements.
Can Yaveon 365 scale formulas for different batch sizes?
Yaveon 365 can separate development formulas from active production items and support different planned production quantities. Version approvals, scaling, rounding, tolerances, and yield rules should be configured around the manufacturer’s processes.
Does Yaveon 365 support batch traceability?
Yaveon 365 works with Business Central tracking capabilities to preserve lot and batch relationships through receiving, production, intermediate stages, filling, packaging, and shipment. Manufacturers can trace forward from a raw material or backward from a finished product.
Do manufacturers need every Yaveon 365 application?
No. Yaveon 365 is modular. Manufacturers can select applications based on their requirements for R&D, manufacturing, quality, costing, lot management, filling, joint production, and other processes.
