Multiple production steps. One complete pet food formula.

Pet food manufacturing involves multiple stages, each with its own ingredients, processing conditions and formulation requirements. From meat preparation and extrusion to drying and coating, changes at one stage can affect the nutritional composition, moisture levels, yield and cost of the finished product.

Managing these stages through separate recipes, spreadsheets or disconnected calculations can make it difficult to understand how a change in one step affects the complete formulation.

BESTMIX multi-step formulation software brings these stages together within a single recipe, helping manufacturers manage complex formulations while keeping the finished product in focus.

One recipe. Multiple production steps.

BESTMIX supports multi-step formulation within a single recipe, with individual sub-recipes for different production stages. Each step can have its own ingredients, constraints and optimization settings, while nutrient calculations are combined into one consolidated view of the finished product.

For dry kibble, formulators can build a base recipe with dry ingredients, add an extrusion step that accounts for water addition and evaporation, and include a coating step with ingredients such as poultry fat and palatants. The consolidated composition view brings these stages together, allowing the complete formulation to be optimized.

For wet and canned pet food, BESTMIX supports slurry formulations with ingredients such as fresh meat, broth and gravy. Rehydration factors can be defined per ingredient, and moisture loss and rehydration can be modeled at both ingredient and production-step level.

For dehydrated treats, formulators can build a pre-drying recipe, account for evaporation during drying and calculate yield-adjusted costs based on production parameters.

These capabilities allow manufacturers to optimize individual production stages while maintaining visibility into the nutritional composition of the finished product.

Moisture changes. Your calculations should reflect that.

Moisture loss during processing affects more than the final moisture percentage. It influences nutrient concentrations, finished-product yield and cost.

BESTMIX allows formulators to define evaporation at both ingredient and production-step level. These changes are reflected in the calculated finished-product composition, helping maintain accurate nutritional values and yield-adjusted costs.

Rather than relying on a single yield factor for the entire recipe, formulators can account for moisture loss at individual production stages and calculate costs based on the expected finished-product yield.

When one ingredient changes, understand the impact across the recipe.

A change in an ingredient or sub-recipe can affect multiple formulations and finished products.

BESTMIX automatically updates recipes that depend on the changed ingredient or sub-recipe. This reduces the need to manually adjust calculations across multiple formulations.

Deviation reporting helps identify finished products that may fall outside specification, while the audit trail records what has changed.

These capabilities support more controlled reformulation when manufacturers need to respond to changing ingredient specifications or update recipes used across multiple products.

Extend optimization beyond individual recipes.

Multi-step formulation structures the individual recipe, but manufacturers also need to manage ingredient costs, availability and quality across their product portfolio and production orders.

BESTMIX Multiblend supports portfolio-wide reoptimization. When the price of a shared ingredient changes, manufacturers can reoptimize multiple recipes simultaneously within approved formulation ranges and generate a consolidated purchasing plan.

BESTMIX Procision brings optimization closer to production by using actual ingredient lot data, including NIR or laboratory measurements, to optimize individual production orders based on the raw materials available rather than average ingredient values.

Multi-step formulation, Multiblend and Procision address different levels of optimization: the individual recipe, the product portfolio and the production order. These complementary capabilities help manufacturers respond to ingredient variability while maintaining control over nutritional requirements and formulation costs.

Explore what multi-step formulation could mean for your production.

Every pet food manufacturer faces different challenges, from managing complex formulations and ingredient variability to maintaining consistent product quality and controlling costs.

Let’s look at your current processes together, identify opportunities for improvement and explore how BESTMIX could support your team. Book a tailored demo with our pet food experts to start the conversation.

Bestmix Software N.V.
hello@bestmix.com
www.bestmix.com

Looking for: Manufacturers