How Cannabis Growers and Processors to Save Money

As the market uncertainty in the cannabis industry continues—and the competition grows fiercer— growers and processors need to maximize profits to protect their bottom line. By deploying an automated ERP solution like SilverLeaf running on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in the cloud, managers can gain access to key performance indicators that identify areas where they can save money. For example, real-time reports can show you how cost increases will impact your overall profitability as well as specific products where the costs eat up all the profits.

Here are five specific areas where growers and processors can leverage SilverLeaf and Business Central to save money:

#1 Data Integrity

Utilizing an enterprise ERP system enables you to maintain a single source of the truth for all your data. Businesses that store conflicting information in multiple systems spend extra time collecting data to know the true cost of their products. And without accurate measures, it’s impossible to make decisions on how to cut costs. A centralized ERP system also allows you to create data change approval workflows and audit trails to track changes. So if a data point is off, you can more easily identify the root cause.

#2 Operational Efficiency

With real-time inventory visibility, you can accurately gauge product availability. SilverLeaf automatically factors on-hand inventory with sales orders, purchase orders and upcoming production so you can more effectively manage your supply chain. This allows you, for example, to avoid spending extra money on air freighting raw materials because you didn’t realize what your current and allocated stock levels were. For costing, you can use standard, average, LIFO, or FIFO cost methods, assign overhead costs to items, track labor and machinery costs, and roll up the costs of finished goods.

#3 Real-Time Information

You can’t run a business with financial statements and reports that come in two weeks down the road as you wait for someone to create them manually. With automated, real-time reporting, you receive timely information so you can make decisions fast and reduce the month-end close time for financial reports. With the Dimension reporting capabilities of SilverLeaf, you can use any combination of report filters—which can be added or removed quickly—to drill into the specific data sets you require.

#4 Data Integration

Integration across workflows and with other systems reduces redundant data entry. For example, with SilverLeaf you can set up multiple business entities and create inter-entity relationships while also consolidating financial reporting. You can also easily link to third-party solutions such as the BarTender label printing solution, the Metrc track and trace system for conforming with state regulations, and LeafLink for ordering products to send to wholesalers or customers. All the information these systems generate automatically flows into SilverLeaf.

#5 – Test Tracking

SilverLeaf also includes a module for tracking all the components of a product and the test results of product batches—tracing lots from raw materials to finished products. If there’s something wrong with a batch ingredient, you can see which other product lots it was used in. With the test data, you can also manage the quality of your ingredients to provide higher-grade products with fewer defects to your customers. This reduces the cost of rejected products that you throw out. You can also measure the quality of products you receive from each vendor to see which vendors have a high failure rate.

End-to-End ERP Critical for Cannabis Success

In the highly regulated cannabis industry, an end-to-end ERP like Silver Leaf running on Business Central solution is crucial to becoming a successful key player in the market. To learn more about cost-saving measures for your cannabis business, check out our YouTube series, Five Steps to Financial Success. The series covers how to maintain a financially healthy business and how to understand your cash flow, revenue forecast, and AR/AP. And to learn more about how SilverLeaf can help your business reduce costs, connect with us today.