📚 New Blog Posts
1. Batch Production Best Practices for Process Manufacturers
2. This Month in Process Manufacturing – June 2026
3. The Real Reasons ERP Projects Succeed or Fail
Livestock Mineral Manufacturing • 32 Years in Business • United States
Sunbelt Custom Mineral has manufactured livestock mineral products for 32 years, serving producers who depend on safe, compliant animal nutrition. Operating under the oversight of regulatory agencies, the company runs in an environment where accuracy and traceability are non-negotiable. As Sunbelt grew, the limitations of managing production, inventory, formulations, and financials across three disconnected systems became impossible to ignore.
This is the story of how Sunbelt Custom Mineral addressed that challenge with a purpose-built process manufacturing ERP—and how those gains are now driving the decision to take operations even further.
| COMPANY | Sunbelt Custom Mineral |
| INDUSTRY | Livestock Mineral Manufacturing |
| LOCATION | United States |
| YEARS IN BUSINESS | 32 years |
| CHALLENGE | Disconnected systems slowing growth and limiting financial visibility |
| OUTCOME | 30% business growth, 50% → 90–95% production capacity; upgrading to fully integrated ERP |
RESULTS AT A GLANCE
| ~30% Business Growth Since 2019 | 50% → 90–95% Production Capacity Utilized | 1 System Replacing 3 Disconnected Applications |
THE CHALLENGE: THREE SYSTEMS, ONE GROWING BUSINESS
Before implementing a process manufacturing ERP in 2019, Sunbelt Custom Mineral managed operations through QuickBooks, spreadsheets, and manual paperwork. Once the manufacturing system was in place, operations improved significantly—but the company still ran two parallel systems that had to stay in sync. Financial data flowed from the manufacturing platform into QuickBooks, creating performance bottlenecks and visibility gaps. Non-production costs—utilities, services, overhead—lived entirely in QuickBooks, making it difficult to see the true cost picture of the business.
At the same time, Sunbelt was operating in a heavily regulated environment. Regulatory compliance requirements demanded thorough record-keeping and ingredient-level traceability. With production approaching full plant capacity and the business continuing to grow, Sunbelt recognized that the next step was a fully unified platform—one that could bring manufacturing, formulations, and financials together in a single system.
THE EVALUATION: CHOOSING THE RIGHT PATH FORWARD
Sunbelt evaluated several alternatives, including solutions built on Microsoft Business Central and a cloud-based platform. The evaluation was thorough—multiple demos, detailed walkthroughs of specific pain points, and honest conversations about what the transition would require.
Several factors shaped the final decision:
- Continuity over disruption: After years on the same manufacturing platform, the team already understood the workflows and terminology. Staying within the same ecosystem made the upgrade path significantly less disruptive than starting over with an unfamiliar system.
- On-premise deployment: Cloud-only solutions were eliminated early. Sunbelt required on-premise installation for greater control over data and tighter integration with existing local tools and processes.
- Unified financials: The primary driver for the upgrade was bringing all business costs—production and non-production alike—into one system. The new platform needed to handle both manufacturing depth and financial breadth without compromise.
- Proven manufacturing fit: Formula-based manufacturing, lot traceability, and batch-level tracking were non-negotiable capabilities given Sunbelt’s regulatory environment and operational complexity.
THE RESULTS: GROWTH POWERED BY OPERATIONAL DISCIPLINE
Real-Time Cost Visibility
With ingredient costs fluctuating more than ever, having formulation costs automatically linked to current pricing has given Sunbelt accurate finished goods costs in real time—without the manual recalculations that previously consumed significant time. Real-time cost visibility has been one of the system’s most impactful capabilities for daily decision-making.
Compliance and Audit Readiness
The process manufacturing ERP enforces the tracking discipline required by Sunbelt’s regulatory environment. Every ingredient, every batch, every production run is captured with the precision required by regulatory agencies. When an inspector arrives, the documentation is there.
Scalable Operations
Since implementing the system in 2019, Sunbelt has grown approximately 30% and increased plant utilization from around 50% to between 90 and 95% of capacity. The operational infrastructure in place made it possible to absorb that growth without adding proportional administrative overhead.
Streamlined Batch Processing
With production and inventory managed in a dedicated manufacturing platform, the manual tracking and reconciliation that once consumed significant time has been replaced by structured, automated workflows. Batch entry is faster, inventory accuracy is higher, and the team spends less time on administration and more time running the business.
“Since we started with BatchMaster, we’ve grown about 30%. That kind of growth would have been really difficult to manage without a system like this.”
– Jacob Mazoch, VP, Sunbelt Custom Mineral
LOOKING AHEAD
The results Sunbelt has achieved on its current platform have made the case for going further. The company is now upgrading to a fully integrated ERP system that will bring manufacturing, formulations, and financials together under one roof—eliminating the remaining friction between systems and providing a complete picture of business performance in real time. With a core team already fluent in the manufacturing workflows, the transition is expected to be manageable.
For a 32-year-old manufacturer running at 90–95% of plant capacity and planning its next chapter of growth, the path forward is clear: a single system, a complete picture, and the operational discipline to scale confidently.