Case Study

Digital Manufacturing at Beerenberg

A family-owned South Australian producer of jams, condiments and sauces, crafted on the family farm in Hahndorf since 1839.

Client

Beerenberg

Project Type

MES Implementation

Location

South Australia

The problem

Overview

Beerenberg’s production runs from ingredient preparation through kettle cooking, filling and palletising, with quality checkpoints at every stage. Records were captured across paper forms, spreadsheets and a legacy custom-built ERP, making batch documentation slow to compile, audit preparation labour-intensive, and ingredient traceability difficult to reconstruct after the fact.

Quality escalations relied on operators noticing and raising them, and there was no visibility of material movements between the prep room and the kettles.

As the business grew, Beerenberg needed a digital tool that would scale with them, capturing quality and traceability digitally at the point of work, and removing the double-handling of records into separate administrative systems.

The solution

What we built

ERP Integration & Advanced Production Scheduling

A custom connector links Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with TilliT’s Scheduler and Digital Operations modules.

–Work orders flow from the ERP into the Scheduler, where production is planned across the site’s assets
–Digital Operations posts production and inventory transactions back to the ERP
–Both systems stay aligned with no double entry

Digital Quality Checks

–Quality checks delivered to operators at the right moment in the process, with QA review built in
–Out-of-specification results and missed checks escalate automatically
–No longer reliant on someone noticing and raising issues manually

Material Traceability

TilliT’s Track and Trace module captures every material movement as production happens.

–Traced from ingredient prep through cooking, filling and through to the finished pallet
–Full batch traceability delivered as a by-product of the workflow

Connected Operations

–Warehouse requests, returns, stock takes and waste capture built into the order workflow
–Flows directly to Microsoft Warehouse Management in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations
–Inventory stays aligned with what’s actually on the floor

What was achieved

Results

Paperless Quality

Quality checks, test results and QA signoffs are captured digitally at the point of work, giving batch documentation a single source of truth.

Single

source of truth for all batch documentation

Traceability by Design

Every batch is traceable from ingredient to pallet without any separate record-keeping effort, digitally tracked from start to finish.

End-to-End

traceability from ingredient prep to finished pallet

Built to Scale

A digital foundation that grows with the business. New products, lines and workflows can be added without adding paperwork.

Scalable

foundation ready for new products and lines

Cumulus have been a fantastic partner throughout the implementation of TilliT at our manufacturing site. The team are knowledgeable in all aspects of MES implementation, including assisting with the development of middleware to connect to our ERP. I really look forward to continuing to work with them on our future projects, including connecting our Ignition SCADA system into TilliT.

Morgan Price — Production Supervisor, Beerenberg

The bigger picture

Conclusion

This project shows how a growing food manufacturer can move from paper, spreadsheets and a legacy ERP into a digital manufacturing platform without disrupting how operators actually work.

Orders flow from Business Central to the shop floor, production is scheduled digitally, and quality assurance, escalation and full ingredient traceability are built into every batch – from the prep room to the pallet.

Phase 1 went live in June 2026.