Run your pet food and feed exports from recipe to shipment on one platform
In pet food and feed exports, the work does not end when the order lands: recipe-based production, lot and shelf-life tracking, veterinary health certificates, destination-country paperwork and inward processing offsets scatter the operation across dozens of spreadsheets. Sighthem pulls that chain onto one platform. From finding distributors to work orders, from lot-based shipments to the COMMERCIAL INVOICE and the VAT refund file, every step feeds the next. When an auditor or a buyer asks about a lot, you answer with a single lookup, showing exactly which container it left on.
Finding distributors and importers in new markets: sales are won in the field, not on the shelf
In pet food and feed exports, the buyer is usually a country-level distributor, importer or retail chain purchaser, not a supermarket shelf. Sighthem helps you find those companies in your target market and reach the right person.
- List pet food distributors, feed importers and retail chain buyers in your target country with company discovery; confirm decision-maker emails with the verification service instead of burning campaigns on dead addresses
- Build separate email sequences for dog food, cat food and farm feed segments; use open and click data to pull interested buyers forward into the pipeline
- Scan business cards collected at industry trade fairs with the mobile PWA; OCR creates the lead automatically, fair leads run in their own flow, and no manual entry waits for you back at the office
- Talk to buyers in their own language with the official WhatsApp API and live call translation; every message and call record stays on a single customer card
From sample to order: quote, proforma and buyer approval in one flow
A pet food buyer asks for samples, waits for analysis results and negotiates per ton; private label projects bring revision after revision. Sighthem records that back and forth version by version.
- Build the quote with product, tonnage, unit price and Incoterm; the quote becomes a proforma and the proforma becomes an order in one click, with nothing copied by hand
- Manage EUR, USD and TRY quotes for the same customer with multi-currency support, keeping a record of which market got which price at which rate
- Revision history stores every change to price, quantity and delivery terms; buyer approval is captured in the system, so which version was accepted is never up for debate
- Run letter of credit (L/C) sales with document tracking from the moment the order lands; latest shipment and presentation date alerts keep critical deadlines visible
Recipe (BOM) based production: from formula to work order to quality
Producing pet food and feed is formula work: protein ratio, raw material mix and batch size must be exact on every work order. Sighthem starts production from the recipe and closes it with quality control.
- Define a recipe (BOM) for every product; when a work order opens, raw material requirements are calculated from the recipe and checked against stock on hand
- Run work orders through the production approval flow; critical batches land in the approval hub, so no unrecorded run ever starts
- Apply incoming quality control to raw materials; issue a non-conformity report for a failed batch, and verify invoice-order-receipt consistency on the supplier side with 3-way matching
- Create a QC record and certificate of conformity for every finished batch, so the quality paperwork the buyer expects goes straight into the shipment file
Lot, shelf life, FEFO and cold chain: recall-ready traceability
When a destination-country authority asks about a lot, the answer should not live in a folder of files. Sighthem tracks every lot with its expiry date across stock, shipment and reports.
- Assign a lot number and expiry date to every batch produced; keep stock per lot across multiple warehouses, with transfers fully recorded and bulk stock imports via Excel
- Pick by FEFO so the lot with the nearest expiry ships first and no food or feed goes out of date sitting in the warehouse
- Scan GS1 barcodes to record which lot went onto which pallet; order-based stock reservation stops the same lot being promised to two shipments at once
- Log temperatures for cold chain products; the violation audit report keeps your HACCP audit trail ready at all times
Shipment, customs, inward processing (DIIB) and VAT refund: closing the loop from input to finished product
Feed and pet food producers often import raw materials under an inward processing permit and export the finished product. Sighthem runs both the physical and the regulatory side of that loop from the same record.
- Bind shipments to packages and pallets; the packing list is generated with lot and expiry data, and partial shipments are tracked line by line
- See where a container is waiting with forwarder and demurrage tracking; container tracking keeps delay costs from arriving as a surprise
- Keep the GTIP code on the product card; link the customs declaration to the shipment and collect the VAT refund documents attached to the export transaction
- Offset inputs imported under the DIIB against finished-product exports; watch commitment closure status in the DIIB report and plan the shipments you still need before the deadline
Veterinary health certificate, document set and COMMERCIAL INVOICE: paperwork complete
In exports of animal-origin products, it is the documents that cross the border: the veterinary health certificate, certificate of origin, analysis reports and whatever else the destination country requires. Sighthem manages the document set per shipment and reports on the whole operation.
- List the document set (veterinary health certificate, bill of lading, certificate of origin, insurance, packing list, COMMERCIAL INVOICE) per shipment; a missing document shows up before the cargo moves
- Get alerts on latest shipment and presentation dates for L/C sales; AI-assisted letter of credit reading surfaces the document requirements buried inside the terms
- Produce a COMMERCIAL INVOICE for exports and a GIB-compliant UBL-TR e-invoice for domestic sales; the system works with your e-invoice integrator
- Shape order, shipment, DIIB, cold chain, incoming QC and production reports with the column picker and download to Excel; role-based permissions keep everyone within their own scope
Set up your product cards with GTIP, shelf life and recipe data before the first order ships. When lot and expiry fields are filled from day one, FEFO picking and the packing list feed on that data automatically on every later shipment, and you manage the document set without ever backfilling data.
With the recipe, lot records and export paperwork on one platform, a lot query from a buyer or authority becomes a single lookup: which work order produced it, which raw materials went in, which container it left on. Chasing traces across spreadsheets, and the risk of contradictory answers that comes with it, disappears.
If the lot and expiry data on the packing list does not match the veterinary health certificate, the cargo waits at the border and can even be turned back. Check the document set per shipment from a single list; watch DIIB commitment closure deadlines with the same discipline, because a missed closure carries serious sanction risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does lot and shelf-life tracking work in Sighthem for pet food exports?
Every batch produced gets a lot number and expiry date; stock is kept per lot across multiple warehouses, with transfers recorded. Picking runs by FEFO, so the lot with the nearest expiry ships first. Scanning GS1 barcodes records which lot went onto which pallet, and order-based reservation stops the same lot being written onto two shipments. In an audit, you show a lot's history from stock to shipment with a single lookup.
Are recipes (BOM) and production work orders supported?
Yes. You define a recipe (BOM) for every product; when a work order opens, raw material requirements are calculated from the recipe automatically. Work orders pass through the production approval flow, and critical batches land in the approval hub for manager sign-off. A QC record and certificate of conformity are created for each finished batch, so the quality paperwork the buyer expects goes straight into the shipment file.
How do I track the veterinary health certificate and destination-country documents?
The document set is listed per shipment: the veterinary health certificate, bill of lading, certificate of origin, insurance, packing list and COMMERCIAL INVOICE sit on one screen. A missing document shows up before the cargo moves, and on L/C sales you get alerts for latest shipment and presentation dates. AI-assisted letter of credit reading surfaces the document requirements buried inside the terms.
Can I track input imports and commitment closure under the inward processing permit (DIIB)?
Yes. You offset raw materials imported under the DIIB against finished-product exports; inputs, offsets and commitment closure status are tracked in the DIIB report. Because customs declarations are linked to shipments, it is always clear which export counts against which permit. You see the remaining commitment before the deadline and plan the shipments you still need accordingly.
What does it offer for cold chain records and HACCP audits?
For products that need a cold chain, temperatures are logged and violations are collected in an audit report that keeps your HACCP audit trail ready. Incoming raw materials go through inbound quality control, with a non-conformity report for any failed batch. You can shape the cold chain and incoming QC reports with the column picker and download them to Excel.
How do I find a pet food distributor or feed importer in a new market?
Company discovery lists distributors, importers and retail chain buyers in your target country, and the verification service confirms decision-maker emails. Segmented campaigns send email sequences per product group, and open and click data pulls warm buyers forward. Business cards collected at fairs become leads automatically through the mobile PWA and OCR, and conversations continue on the same card over WhatsApp and live-translated calls.
Run your pet food and feed exports on one platform, from finding distributors to shipping documents. Try Sighthem free for 14 days on the PRO plan, no card required.
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