Page 31 - January_2019

PHOTO COURTESY OF DPRODUCE MAN SOFTWARE
SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
HELP PRODUCE INDUSTRY KEEP PACE
Simplicity is a major selling point as mobility, automation advance supply chain.
Produce software is advancing across all facets of the supply chain. O ering solutions for almost every step of the growing, shipping and procurement stages, software
provides almost everything a grower, shipper, packer, distributor and retailer needs. at soft- ware is also becoming easier to use. Transactions are moving toward online or via smartphones.
Mobility and access to data from anywhere continues to revolutionize the industry. Produce software helps with inven- tory management. Mobile applications allow customers throughout the supply chain to meet speci c needs, including quality control, transportation and warehouse management, from anywhere. Technology, including enter- prise resource planning (ERP) software, helps better manage assets and by reducing costs, helps increase pro tability, which allows suppliers to send retailers product at the requested price points.
“Within the next ve years, the most important advancements in technology deployment within the fresh produce supply chain will come from automation, smart algo- rithms and arti cial intelligence,” says Mick Heatherington, vice president of sales for Prophet North America, based in Westlake Village, CA. “In order to get to automation
BY DOUG OHLEMEIER
and arti cial intelligence and the bene ts, fresh produce companies will need to imple- ment the right ERP — one capable of a deep implementation and focused on the visibility, control and reporting of the inventory and all tasks in the fresh produce business process through an integrated set of ERP applications in one real-time, multi-user database. Right now, the prevalence of disconnected, and, in e ect, closed databases, is holding produce companies back in a major way.”
About 85 percent of the clients of dPro- duce Man Software’s customers use online ordering. “ e reason it’s becoming more prevalent and why more people like to use it is because of the time savings,” says Charles Shafae, president of the Half Moon Bay, CA-based company. “It increases the sales, pro tability increases and e ciencies increase.”
Ease of use is important, he says. “ e business-to-business transaction is getting much easier and much faster,” explains Shafae. In the past, systems were required for use in the o ce. Because the system is cloud- based, workers can use any device, including smartphones, notebooks or laptops. “ e key is users can use any device to place orders,” he says. “ at really makes it much easier for them to use. ey are not bound by any particular device.”
SIMPLER USE
Produce software is becoming less complex. e new customer additions at Woodridge, IL-based Produce Pro Software have allowed the software and technology company to add additional product functionality. “ e market is complex, and our solutions have been tailored and designed to handle just that,” says Marc Hat eld, national sales manager. “Our software makes the complex simple, with an all-in-one software solution. We’ve seen that our customers want speed and ease of use when looking for an ERP system to help run their business. It is imperative to have a system that allows them to buy and sell product at a rapid pace while maintaining visibility of product at any given point in time.”
Overly intricate feature sets can hamper productivity if they are non-intuitive and don’t provide users the information they need at the right time, says Alex Swart, product marketing manager for iTradeNetwork, in Dublin, CA. “As timing becomes more of a factor and participants increase their purchase order volumes, the number of trading partners and commodity inspections, simplicity has become a major selling point for food tech- nology,” he says. “Simpler interfaces and faster technological infrastructure help the produce supply chain maximize commodity shelf life
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