Agilysys, a leading developer of software and solutions for the cruise industry, went in-depth today via a webinar audio/visual presentation on the company’s Eatec inventory and procurement system for cruise ships.

At its core, the Eatec software can oversee recipe/menu development; purchasing and receiving; inventory control and reporting; and cycle menu planning.

To rope all these elements together is no easy task, but the software gets it done along with additional functionalities like catering, customer and equipment databases, sales staff options, invoicing and more.

Reggie Clark, from Agilysys, presented the Eatec’s external system interfacing – how it can integrate with suppliers and issue purchase orders.

The program can also accept bids from suppliers, while expertly managing inventory and showing purchase history. Bids can be ordered by price and other factors, with the software allowing companies to be designated as primary, secondary and emergency suppliers.

The program can centrally manage inventory items and pricing shoreside, and push that information to the ships, along with standard recipes (which affects inventory), and transactions done on vessels can be reflected in shoreside software totals for planning and purchasing actions.

The system helps reduce food costs by taking advantage of bulk purchasing and buying volume, identifying the most efficient vendors; controlling transportation costs; managing inventory; and quickly being able to react to high-cost times.

Cruise lines can use the Eatec platform to compare ship-to-ship and voyage-to-voyage data.