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and margins for all parties involved.” Although produce software is becoming simpler, in many cases, the complexity remains. “With more holistic end-to-end systems come more capabilities and potential for complexity, but also the opportunity to improve and unify the user experience,” says Todd Berg, director of product management and customer success at HarvestMark-Trimble, headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA. “Successful software solutions implementers are hiring trained, user-expe- rience designers and implementing web and mobile software that is more intuitive and role-
based, targeted for the speci c jobs of the user.” Produce software is helping create more visibility in the supply chain, starting at the eld through the retail shelf and helping with compliance and inventory. “ e more trans- parent a supply chain becomes, the more cost-e ective it will become,” says Randy Fields, chairman and chief executive of Park City Group/ReposiTrak, in Park City, UT. “ ere is a greater degree of problem-solving around too much inventory, which is costly, but equally important is too little inventory. e only way to get there is with visibility. We are working like crazy on that. e technology is there, but we have to get people to say they
really want to solve the problems.”
Produce software allows users to easily and
PHOTO COURTESY OF SILVER CREEK SOFTWARE
accurately track product from eld to ware- house to purchase. Users can easily locate products in any warehouse or storage facility, monitor and manage products in multiple trucks, docks, coolers and warehouses all in real-time, giving users enterprise wide visibility to one of the most important areas of their operations, according to Heather Hammack, president of Famous Software LLC, based in Fresno, CA. “Fewer clerical errors, improved order tracking, faster communication, less paperwork with corresponding cost savings and invoices that get sent sooner and paid sooner are just a few highlights,” she says.
HELP IN A CHANGING WORLD
Technology can help the global produce industry, which is facing seismic changes. In the United Kingdom, a shortage of Euro- pean laborers left strawberry elds unpicked.
Buyers were turning to China, where labor costs are lower, to supply the fruit, says Andy Makeham, chief executive of Linkfresh, Inc., headquartered in Ventura, CA. Makeham notes how produce software can help the produce industry during some of its most challenging times. “All sorts of tectonic shifts are happening in the marketplace now, all of which leads to the need for better information and better technology, which is the driving force,” he says. “We are almost at the perfect storm in the fresh produce marketplace.”
Software can change instantly and is advancing by o ering more functionality at less-expensive implementation costs, says Tina Reminger, vice president and general manager of the Boise, ID-based Silver Creek Software. is past year, a lot of work has gone into automation on the hardware and software sides. “ ere is a big emphasis on Warehouse Management Systems, using technology to help with receiving, order ful llment and inventory management operations,” she says.
“Companies are realizing there are oppor- tunities to both increase e ciencies and save costs by adapting this technology.”
Technology is always advancing and helping the produce industry, says Swart, who cites blockchain as an example. “When innovations that originated in other industries come to the
n MAJOR ADVANCEMENTS
Among the latest trends in produce software for distributors is directed work in the warehouse, building mixed pallets for orders, directing loaders to fill the right product on the pallet for the right order in the most efficient way possible, says Heather Hammack, president of Famous Software LLC, based in Fresno, CA. “Today, we have thousands of ruggedized handheld devices in hundreds of warehouses,” she says. “Mobile device technology is an excellent tool that we can offer our customers to help them create efficiency, accuracy, and improved traceability with their inventory management programs.”
Increasing automated data exchange between retailer and supplier is a major advancement, explains Mick Hetherington, vice president of sales for Prophet North America, Westlake Village, CA. “There is a clear need for richer, more accurate and faster data exchange between systems through the supply chain,” he says. “Crop availability, the growing conditions relevant to a specific consign- ment, the measured condition of the product as it is harvested and packed for shipment and the conditions the product experienced during shipment, as well as the progress that any consignment is making through the supply chain, all of this data can drive the key decision-making in any fresh produce business and provide the retailer with more confidence in the security of the supply chain.”
Randy Fields, chairman and chief executive of Park City/ ReposiTrak, in Park City, UT, describes the “Amazon effect” as
galvanizing the industry in a new way. As the retail produce industry cannot compete against Amazon through lower prices (which require lower costs) or increased variety (which adds more complexity to a store’s business), the answer is to fight Amazon with the same technology Amazon uses. “Attempt to bring more technology cost-effectively to your business to better compete with Amazon,” says Fields. “Delivery is driving the need to improve inventories. We are seeing a lot of interest in that. We are providing technology to help with that problem.”
Produce software improvements allow customers to order from suppliers similar to how they order products via Amazon. By default, past orders and standing orders appear in the customers’ profiles, which make for efficiencies and offer the same prices no matter whom the customer speaks with on the telephone, says dProduce Man’s president Charles Shafae.
Inventory management is critical and is becoming easier, says Shafae. dProduce Man’s software is cloud-based, which eliminates the need for expensive in-house systems and makes use easy, he says. “Management of inventory is the most important thing,” says Shafae. “The produce industry really is 99 percent inventory.” When there’s spoilage of an avocado, for example, that box costs $40. “Not a week goes by that we don’t get a request from an existing customer that one of their customers wants EDI (Elec- tronic Data Interchange) or wants to order online,” he says. pb
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