Inventory management app for fresh produce reduces waste: Manage fruit vegetable inventory storage, stock-take, fresh produce inventory reporting; all from the farmsoft Fresh Produce App.
Producer Inventory Management for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Sales to Retail Outlets
Next generation fresh produce inventory management with optional RFID pallet control
Barcode labels and inventory & pallet management, stock take (mobile & PC), cold store, 3D storage, shipping container management...
Manage the sales process by scanning pallets onto orders/invoice, or simply select inventory from a list if you dont use the barcode scanning Android app.
Reduce fresh inventory waste with FIFO and bar-code inventory management & waste alerts & reporting.
Generate accurate labels, automatic paperwork, quickly, and accurately. Reporting and KPI for fresh inventory and perishable goods.
Manage all fresh produce inventory, packaging materials, and raw materials. Full stock-take, inventory auditing, inventory reporting, ageing inventory analysis and more...
Learn about our optional RFID pallet control solution.
Manage & monitor inventory
Inventory storage and status (ie: in processes such as sorting, grading, cooling, ripening etc) of all produce, especially FIFO and alerts for ageing inventory help to reduce post harvest inventory losses of fresh produce.
Movement history
Inventory movement, creation date, date of loading, date of entry into a batch, inventory quality tests and more is being captured in the background, providing an inventory audit trail of which inventory was stored where at what times, and moved by whom; providing an unparalleled background traceability and inventory auditing management for all fresh produce inventory
Optionally use bar code
Inventory control for fresh produce with ruggedized tablet or smartphone, or add a bluetooth/wifi scanner to any device that doesnt have built in scanning for precise inventory control.
Inventory mobility
Move fresh produce between cool rooms, ripening rooms, hyrdro-coolers, and warehouses (with and without bar code scanning). Move inventory between pallets or even build new pallets instantly with or without inventory bar-code use.
Multi-site inventory
Manage fresh produce that is stored across many sites, including sites that may be anywhere in the country, or even across the world with unlimited warehouse storage areas, which can even use 3D storage to increase accuracy in large cool rooms and warehouses. Rapidly move inventory between sites using the inventory site to site transfer, simply scan the transfer document at the destination site to officially log the inventory at the destination site. View the exact location of all inventory at all times including inventory in transit.
Inventory stock-take
Stock take fresh produce based on comprehensive filters allowing rapid stock takes of very specific produce, or stock takes in specific locations, or for specific finished products, produce historical stock takes, optional barcode stocktake functions
Manage inventory using unique identifiers
Inventory management using unique identifiers for each inventory item, including over 60 labels with bar code and human readable options, and the ability to design your own labels or ask your consultant to design them for you. Pallets, batches, quality tests, deliveries, and shipment also have unique identifiers to ensure maximum inventory traceability.
Manage raw fresh produce inventory
Manage raw and finished inventory that is on pallets, or not on pallets; at unlimited sites, cool rooms, and depots.
Inventory pricing
Set standard (current) sale prices for different types of inventory (produce, variety, feature, customer). Create price lists and authorize which customers are entitled to which fresh produce price list.
Manage expiring inventory
With the ultimate goal of zero inventory waste, farmsoft helps you track the age of inventory and ensures it is used, packed, or sold long before expiry of quality loss happens.
Full pallet inventory management
Full pallet management and control, manage and track pallet types, pallet labels and pallet stock take. Track the balance of your empty pallet inventory, pallets given to you by external suppliers, and pallets your company gives to customers to ensure a current inventory balance of pallets is always available (for each customer and supplier, and your own company).
Inventory delivery receipts
Print delivery receipts for suppliers/farms, or have them automatically emailed to the supplier during inventory delivery. Receive an alert if a deliery is made that doesnt match the original purchase order.
Assign inventory to purchase orders
During inventory delivery, simply scan the purchase order (or select it from a list, or enter the PO number) to assign inventory to the purchase order - giving you robust traceability directly back to the supplier from the instant the inventory is delivered.
Field to packhouse inventory scanning
As an alternative to using screen with big image buttons for deliveries, you can issue barcodes to the farm, or your suppliers, that can be rapidly scanned during delivery. This provides a high level of traceability and makes inventory deliveries very fast and accurate becuase manual user input is being avoided.
Inventory labels and identification
All inventory or pallets or bins or totes/bags have a label rapidly issued to identify the inventory during initial delivery.
Inventory management for fresh produce reduces waste
Inventory management fresh produce
Bar-code inventory management
Use your phone or tablet (ruggedized or regular) to scan inventory & pallets to:* move location
* sell / add to order / invoice
* add to a batch
* stock-take or perform quality control
* look up full details
* reprint pallet or inventory labels
* scan harvested units (bin/tote/crate etc) to collect harvest pay or contractor pay information (requires farming module)
Inventory management for fresh produce reduces waste
Inventory management for fresh produce
Inventory management with or without bar-codes...
Select from lists of produce to move, sell, add to batch/manipulate fresh produce.
You don't have to use bar-codes to maintain easy and accurate fresh produce inventory management.
Receive First In First Out (FIFO) sales suggestions based on inventory age and current orders.
Achieving Proactive Inventory Traceability
Traceability for safety and quality control. Traceability systems help firms isolate the source and extent of safety or quality control problems. This helps reduce the production and distribution of unsafe or poor-quality products, which in turn reduces the potential for bad publicity, liability, and recalls. The better and more precise the tracing system, the faster a producer can identify and resolve food safety or quality problems. One surveyed milk processor uniquely codes each item to identify time of production, line of production, place of production, and sequence. With such specific information, the processor can trace faulty product to the minute of production and determine whether other products from the same batch are also defective.
In 2016, UM Dining unveiled South Avenue Garden, which is approximately three times larger than Lommassen Garden. At the time of this story's publishing, construction is about to commence on a roughly 500-square-foot greenhouse near the South Avenue Garden. Scheduled to open by fall 2017, the greenhouse will utilize ground-to-air heat transfer, which Lowell says will presumably extend the growing season by four or five months. One of the challenges, especially at schools, is that your harvest seasons don't line up with the busiest times for your operations,” Lowell says. So, we're always looking for ways — ‘Can we value-add some of our garden produce? Can we pickle it or store it or can it?' We worked with the State Department of Ag here in Montana on this grant project, and they gave us some grant money to build this greenhouse.”
Three ways innovation will transform the fresh produce Inventory management for fresh produce reduces waste supply chain
The fresh produce supply chain was once pretty much invisible, but today’s consumers are eager to know the story of how and where their food is grown and packaged.
A recent report from Innovative Fresh and Pink Sky stated: “It is increasingly important to talk to customers about food production, food miles, ingredients, health, ethics and value. Innovation in supply chain management from field to fork will form an enormous part of the future of food production”.
Freshtalk Daily has taken a look at the many innovations surrounding the fresh produce supply chain and has selected three use cases that we feel will most impact the industry in the coming months.
1. Produce tracking through ‘Big Data’
The confusion surrounding the fresh produce supply chain under the cloud of Brexit has meant that the volatility of goods, in terms of logistics, has never been greater.
Keeping track of the freshness levels of perishables is vital, so innovations that use data (in the form of digital records) are set to make a huge impact upon fresh produce inventory.
Companies like IBM are investing heavily in product tracking innovation and ‘Cloud’ information storage for both importers and exporters to provide a freshness knowledge-base for the industry.
IMD Professor, Ralf Seifert, who specialises in digitalization trends in the supply chain explains that: “Having digital records for the entry and exit of products at each stage of the supply chain can help ensure a ‘first in, first out’ policy for fresh produce, which will decrease inventory age – and therefore reduce shrinkage due to spoilage."
“Digital supply chain solutions, therefore, provide enormous potential for accurate demand forecasting and better inventory management. “
Dr. John Ryan, a global food safety expert, agrees that digital-tracking is the way of the future, adding: “When food enters a transportation area, it basically becomes invisible. Nobody knows where it is. Nobody knows what conditions it’s being shipped under. The old adage rings true; you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
2. Robotics in agriculture
The lack of seasonal workers has, over recent years, been a huge bone of contention for UK growers, so its no surprise that innovation in this arena is set to make a huge impact.
Fieldwork Robotics, a spin-out from the University of Plymouth, have recently made headlines with the successful trial of their raspberry picking robot, developed in partnership with Hall Hunter, one of Britain’s main berry growers, who supply Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose.
The developers explain: “Guided by sensors and 3D cameras, the robot’s gripper picks a raspberry in 10 seconds or less and drops it in a tray where the fruit gets sorted by maturity, before being moved into punnets, ready to be transported to supermarkets."
“The final robot version, which we hope will go into production next year, will have four grippers, all picking simultaneously.”
3. Enabling a ‘Just in Time’ supply chain ethos
Modern AI technology, such as Machine Learning, can provide real-time visibility into supply and demand data and allow smaller retailers to purchase only what their customers want, in turn, minimising waste and maximising freshness.
One retailer who has adopted a ‘Just in Time’ approach to supply chain management is online grocery store, PicNic.
Their supply chain planner, Linda Rietveld, explains why the small US-based company is flourishing as a result of the decision: “A just-in-time supply chain is a simple concept: minimise the number of goods held in stock. Perishable goods (apples, avocados, etc) become part of a fluid supply chain and never sit for long periods in storage. This reduces the time between harvest and consumption, maximising freshness for all the products that our customers order."
Using the latest supply and demand data allows us to only purchase what customers want. That accuracy means that, unlike conventional supermarkets, we don’t keep an oversupply of goods, thus minimising waste across our supply chain.
Working alongside wholesalers, the 'Just in Time' approach is gaining traction within the smaller retail arena in the UK and has already been shown to make an impact upon food waste and shrinkage levels.
Fruits: berries (other), berries (strawberries), melons
Vegetables: beans, beets, broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), onions, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), sweet corn, tomatoes
Practices
Farm Business Management: cooperatives
Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, new business opportunities
Proposal abstract:
Project Summary Expanding markets for local fruits and vegetables can be challenging. Farmers need an efficient system to market fresh local fruits and vegetables through existing retail markets while maintaining a high percentage of the retail dollar. This project proposes to set up a system based on producer inventory management similar to that which is done with bakery items. Fresh fruits and vegetables will be delivered on a daily basis and placed in the sales area. Non-fresh items will be removed from the display and the business will be given a credit for these items. This method will return a greater portion of the retail dollar to the farmers as the grocery store does not have to deal with waste and reducing the prices for older, inferior produce. The community will benefit from a greater number of retail establishments offering local fresh fruits and vegetables. Consumers will be educated as to what produce in the store is produced locally, and why purchasing these products is important through point of sale advertizing.
Million of tons of vegetables and fruits are harvested and then distributed throughout Europe every year. However, fruits and vegetables can be regarded as highly perishable foods and are especially susceptible to changing climatic conditions (temperature, humidity) after harvest. The long distribution pathways in combination with insufficient technologies for appropriate transport and storage lead to a high amount of food wasted as well as to products with inferior quality arriving at the consumer. Close to 50% of all fruits and vegetables get wasted in the EU, about a third of which can be attributed to the step between harvest and consumption. Food waste is currently a priority topic in the EU with a reduction target of 50% by 2020.
A novel, innovative humidification/disinfection technology which has been developed based on several successful European research activities can contribute substantially to this target while simultaneously enhancing the shelf life and the hygienic properties of fruit and vegetables. By means of ultrasonic humidification as well as natural sanitizers for disinfection a cool, humid, and germ-free climate will be established preserving quality and freshness of fruits and vegetables (e.g. reduced weight/moisture loss, structural changes, decay, etc.) along the entire post-harvest supply chain. In five real-scale case studies (directly after harvesting - washing step, in transportation, storage, and retail facilities) the market potential of this technology will be demonstrated. Therefore, an unbroken cold as well as humidity chain will be achieved from farm to fork, substantially reducing waste along each step. Thorough analysis of the achieved results in terms of ecologic, technological and economic benefits as well as in-depths market research will provide the basis for an extensive training, promotion, and dissemination program aimed at multipliers and potential clients, thus achieving a successful market introduction.
Project objectives from proposal:
The goal for the first year will be:
-10 farmers to market fresh fruits and vegetables to two retail outlets
-Farmers to increase fruit and vegetable sales by 25%
At the end of the season farmers will be asked to complete a survey which will gather information about their sales, satisfaction with the program, and suggestions for improvements. The retail businesses owners/managers will also be surveyed to determine their satisfaction with the producer inventory management process and local product point of sale advertizing. At least three times during the summer at each of the retail location, customers will be asked to complete a survey to determine the benefit of having local produce at established retail businesses. These surveys will be reviewed by the producer group for improvements to the business plan for year two.
During year two of this project, the goal will be to increase the number of farmers involved to 15 and the retail businesses to four. The goal will also be to increase sales by 25% over the previous year.
Quality to prevent food loss and waste
UNECE’s quality standards for the safe and transparent trade of food and agricultural produce ensure that the consumers in rural and urban areas receive a constant supply of high-quality, healthy and nutritious food. Maintaining the quality of food traded from the farm to the shop through international best practice reduces losses, enhances the economic value of food trade, opens income opportunities and alleviates health risks for the more vulnerable city dwellers. The trade in and availability of good quality food is a prerequisite for sustaining the growing population and facing the climate and environmental challenges. In addition, creating sustainable employment in rural areas for woman and youth through the redistribution of food otherwise lost or wasted helps address the rural-to-city migration problem.
UNECE has addressed the food loss challenge since 2013 – including in view of enhancing the circular economy in its member states. Through the constant review of its quality standards for agricultural produce traded internationally and nationally, we ensure that the quality of the produce used and traded is maintained along the entire supply chain. Food loss is therefore prevented and reduced. We also focus on the food lost in the trade process before it reaches the consumer and even retail. These often-neglected hotspots for food loss are at heart of the work of our expert groups.
Our innovative solutions provide tools and holistic, impactful solutions for governments and the private sector and enhance the circular economy. Their core aim is to prevent, reduce and keep as much food as possible in the human consumption chain; repurposing and redistributing to feed all, create income possibilities and employment opportunities and support climate change action.
Resources:
Food Loss and Waste - The case of Seed Potato certification and the UNECE Seed Potato Certification Standard
Improved use of fruit and vegetables – Trade standards and a UNECE code of good practice
Food Loss Causes and Concerns and the Interplay with Quality Standards (UNECE)
Cosmetic specifications in the food waste issue: Supply chain considerations and practices concerning suboptimal food products
The economic and food security dimension
The overall economic result of food loss and waste is immense and even larger for the vulnerable populations as food becomes less available or prices are affected leading to food insecurity. Financial resources are used to produce huge quantities of food that are never consumed and would be enough to feed the population. Therefore, there is a strong business and food security case for addressing the food loss/waste challenge.
Resources
Taking stock of the food loss scenario - 2018
Agro-trade, economic productivity and value additions – the case of food loss
Inclusive and coordinated approaches for sustainable food value chains
The Case of French Beans and Avocadoes Lost in Kenya
Quantifying for the Prevention of food losses in Flanders- Belgium
Quality food, safe food for increased food security and market access
Global State of the Food Waste or Food Losses
The climate dimension
Climate change and food loss/waste are closely related. According to the latest estimates, 8% of the greenhouse gas emissions are caused by food that is lost and wasted. Food loss and waste impacts water and land resources and biodiversity.
Inventory management app for fresh produce reduces waste: Manage fruit vegetable inventory storage, stock-take, fresh produce inventory reporting; all from the farmsoft Fresh Produce App.
This concept paper summarizes key “hotspots” for waste generation along the food supply chain and identifies a range of existing solutions/measures that can help producers, retailers and consumers reduce the amount of food that is wasted. The majority of food waste of 71–92 kg/head/year in Western Europe was found to originate from private households (61%), followed by restaurants and canteens (17%) and then supermarkets (5%); 59%–65% (of this food waste (71–92 kg) can be avoided and 54% thereof are fruit and vegetables. Since ethylene accelerates fruit ripening and its accumulation can lead to fruit decay and waste and new portable instruments now enable continuous in-situ determination of ethylene along the food chain, there is a possible key to reducing food waste of perishable, fresh produce. Hence, suggested countermeasures at the field level are use of ethylene inhibitors (AVG as “Retain” or MCP as “Harvista”), the former prevents pre-mature fruit drop in pome fruit, incentives for processing fruit of industrial grade and whole crop purchase (“WCP”). Along the supply chain, applications of ethylene inhibitors (e.g., 1-MCP as “SmartFresh”) absorber strips (e.g., “It’s Fresh”, Sensitech), bags (e.g., “Peakfresh”) as well as simply cooling and venting, and shading to avoid sun exposure. Countermeasures also include superstores no longer promoting multi-packs, e.g., “two strawberry punnets for the price of one”, abandon the “Display until” or “Sell by” date, conservative consumer shopping behavior, and sale of class II produce (“Wunderlinge” in Billa or “Kleine Äpfel” in REWE, “Ünique” in Coop), collection (rather than wasting) of perishable food by volunteers (“Die Tafel”), or “Food Sharing” of private household left-over perishable on social media, or any combination of the above to aid reducing fresh produce waste. View Full-Text
On the surface, fresh food inventory management might seem simple—you need to know what you have and what you’re running low on so that you can replenish stock as necessary. But when you take into account the challenges that fresh produce businesses like yours face, including varying product freshness ranges, traceability demands and sustainability initiatives, the matter becomes a whole lot more complicated.
Add it all up, and it’s more than an individual staff member, or even a team, can handle on their own. Keeping tabs on the supply levels of one or more large production facilities is a job best left to technologies dedicated to the purpose, like the fresh food inventory management features of specialized enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.
Here, we’ll go into greater depth on three reasons why inventory management is so crucial to fresh produce companies, as well as three tools of advanced ERP systems that, being built on industry best practices, can improve your approach and drive better results.
Why Is Inventory Management So Important for Fresh Produce Businesses?
At its heart, inventory management is about having full visibility into reliably accurate stock level figures. In practice, though, it’s about much more than mere numbers—your efforts in this area also have the potential to make a positive impact on several other aspects of your organization.
1. Traceability and Food Safety
Both regulatory bodies and consumers alike are demanding total traceability from food and beverage businesses. It’s vital that you have bi-directional visibility from one end of your supply chain to the other, and a critical portion of that journey occurs within your own facilities as materials are moved into inventory and then picked for processing and packaging.
Capturing and updating relevant product data at every tracking point is necessary to keep your records complete, so it’s to your advantage to automate the process of collecting and logging with the functionalities of a fresh-specific ERP solution. Keep in mind that even the smallest, most granular details could be relevant down the line—in the case of fresh produce, country of origin and variety can be especially pertinent—so ensure that the interface can accommodate as many fields and labels as the situation calls for.
This also plays a big role in food safety, as you’ll need to be able to dig down to the lot level or further in order to find the source of a contamination and identify what goods might have been affected. With the right ERP and inventory management features at your fingertips, you can feel confident and act quickly in the case of an audit or recall.
2. Minimizing Waste and Becoming More Sustainable
The perishable nature of fresh produce makes recording the freshness ranges of your products and utilizing them accordingly of utmost importance. After all, if you don’t move time-sensitive goods to market fast enough, you waste not only the items themselves but also the money, time and energy you invested in harvesting or purchasing them from suppliers and storing them on-site.
The inventory management capabilities of ERP built for the fresh produce industry were designed with this reality in mind, and maintain all important dates in the system while also helping implement a first-expiry, first-out (FEFO) picking method. That way, whatever is closest to the end of its window of viability is prioritized first to make sure it does not spoil before it can be sold and enjoyed.
Cutting down on the losses you incur as a result of your produce going bad can have a big impact on both your profit margins and brand reputation for sustainability. In this way, you can accomplish two objectives at once by making better use of what you have and becoming a leaner operation with the right platform in place.
3. Customer Satisfaction
Fresh foods continue to be one of the most in-demand categories for individual customers and retailers alike. According to FMI, 80% of grocery shoppers say that high-quality fruits and vegetables are among the most important attributes when it comes to choosing what store to visit.
With the market healthy, you need to be able to capitalize on the opportunity, and that means delivering the right products in optimal quantities to your clients. The fresh food inventory management features of a purpose-built ERP solution can help you avoid stock-outs at inopportune times by making your figures highly visible. The system also syncs up with your sales outlets so that replenishment orders are always received and processed in a timely fashion, and that specific customer requirements on quality are fulfilled.
You want to be known by the stores and restaurants that sell your products, as well as the end consumers, as a company that delivers delicious fresh food reliably. Therefore, it pays to have a robust, dependable technological foundation to make sure you’re in the position to satisfy those expectations with supply perfectly aligned with demand.
What Inventory Management Tools of ERP Platforms Drive Improvement?
Within the inventory management modules of sophisticated industry-specific ERP systems like Aptean Food & Beverage ERP, purpose-built functionality can greatly simplify your operations and streamline your processes. These three tools will allow you to consistently have the fresh produce products that you need, when you need them.
1. Advanced Demand Forecasting
Through the analysis of past sales data, market trends and seasonality information, fresh produce ERP solutions can forecast demand for certain fresh food products months in advance so that your sourcing is appropriate to the situation. You’ll then be able to leverage these estimations to make sure you grow or purchase the right amounts to channel to your outlets.
When you have a good idea ahead of time about how much of a certain crop will be necessary, you won’t be caught in the awkward spot of having undershot your needs or not having enough options for suppliers, nor will you end up with excess unsellable goods that go to waste. Striking that perfect balance is much easier with the right technology on your side.
2. Automatic Replenishment
While you no doubt have professionals who are at least in part responsible for keeping tabs on what stocks need to be replenished, it’s important to have a backup in place should something slip through the cracks. Through the inventory management interface, ERP solutions built for fresh produce businesses like yours allow you to set the threshold at which you would like automatic reorders issued, heading off potential shortages that could occur at critical periods.
You’ll also have complete control over which supplier receives the request and just how much additional supply will be delivered, and all necessary records will be created in the system, just like a manually issued purchase order. You’ll be able to rest easy knowing that you’ll always have enough of your various materials to carry on with operations without interruption.
3. Integrations with Connected Devices
As mentioned above, a large part of fresh food inventory management is the collection and maintenance of data, but it’s best to automate and streamline that process as much as possible—for both efficiency and accuracy. Jotting notes down by hand and entering them in a terminal later is error-prone and time-consuming, so fresh produce ERP systems take the matter off the plate of your employees by connecting directly with the devices that are analyzing the characteristics and reading the labels of your goods.
For measurements, ERP platforms can integrate with smart sensors and scales to automatically pipe readings of temperature, ripeness and more into your database in real time. And for barcodes, QR codes and other kinds of data-rich labels, the solution can sync with handheld and fixed scanners to immediately create and update records for an airtight approach.
Achieving Excellence in Inventory Management with an ERP System
Whether your fresh produce business has many lines or few, a supply chain that’s sprawling or simple, good inventory management will play a considerable role in your success down the road. We’ve looked at a few of the reasons ERP solutions are the technology to turn to for superior performance on this front, but consider also just how transformational the implementation of a truly cross-functional platform could be for your organization.
You’ll have all of your departments connected and integrated, from finance and sales to the folks on the warehouse floor. You can operate on all cylinders and plan well into the future knowing that you’ll always have sufficient stock to meet market demand but also won’t be held back by waste that hurts your bottom line.
At Aptean, we have in-depth fresh food industry knowledge through decades of work with a variety of clients in the sector. There are unique challenges to confront when it comes to consistently providing excellent fresh produce offerings, so we’ve built tools expressly for those purposes to improve the processes—and profitability—of our customers.
Inventory management app for fresh produce reduces waste: Manage fruit vegetable inventory storage, stock-take, fresh produce inventory reporting; all from the farmsoft Fresh Produce App.
How to Facilitate Fresh Food Inventory Management with Advanced ERP Solutions
By David Thompson Oct 21, 2021 07:22 PM EDT
How to Facilitate Fresh Food Inventory Management with Advanced ERP Solutions
(Photo : Image by Jerzy Górecki from Pixabay )
Fresh food inventory management appears to be simple from a distance. After all, you just need to restock your products when you are running low. However, fresh food poses various challenges like varying freshness ranges, traceability demands and sustainability initiatives. These challenges make the matter more complicated. These challenges along with a dynamic and uncertain market become too much for an individual staff to handle.
The job of maintaining and keeping tabs on all levels in the supply chain is left to a specialized produce ERP software, created to ease your fresh food inventory management
Here we will delve into three reasons why effective inventory management is critical for fresh food and three advanced ERP tools that can improve your approach to better manage the fresh produce, to achieve better results.
Importance of Inventory Management for Fresh Produce:
At its core, inventory management is about having reliably accurate stock level figures and restocking as the need arises. However, in actual practice, it is more than mere numbers. Efforts on inventory management have a positive impact on other aspects of the organization as well.
Effective inventory management is important for the following reasons:
● Food Traceability and Safety
Regulatory bodies such as the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) as well as the consumers are demanding total traceability of foods and beverages. Therefore, you need to maintain a visible supply chain that shows the journey of your product from start to end.
Updating vital product data at every point of the supply chain is important to keep your records complete. Automating this process with the help of an ERP tool would ensure capturing of every detail along the supply chains.
Traceability also plays a role in promoting food safety. You can trace the journey of the food to ensure that it is safe from any contamination. In case of any discrepancy, traceability gives you the relevant knowledge to act quickly to resolve the problems.
● Minimizing Waste
Fresh food is perishable. By managing fresh food inventory efficiently, you will get your produce to the market before they can go bad. Doing this will save you money and your efforts won't go to waste. Cutting down on losses from bad produce will increase the profit margins and the reputability of the company.
How ERP Platforms Improve Businesses?
The inventory management modules of advanced ERP software can greatly simplify and streamline your operations. The following tools allow you to always ensure the top quality of your fresh products:
● Advanced Demand Forecasting
By analyzing the past sales data, seasonal information and general market trends, ERP software can predict the demand for certain fresh food products. This will allow your business to take the necessary measures to meet the demands of the market.
● Automatic Replenishment
With advanced software, you can input a threshold at which you want automatic reorders issued. So, when your stock gets below the threshold level, the software would know to issue a reorder with a suitable supplier.
● Integrating Devices
For accuracy and efficiency, automating and streamlining the process of data collection and maintenance is integral. An automated process cuts down on the time taken as well as the costs incurred on the process. Real time packaging inventory analysis
We can meet your needs and the demands of your packaging operations. We handle all inventory of all packaging types for fresh produce. From waxed boxes, clamshells, trays, to accessories.
Our operations team is available to evaluate your current staffing and equipment and make recommendations for improved efficiencies and throughput.
Availability
We provide the freshest produce ⎯ right when you need it.
When your inventory for high-demand products runs short, you can count on our supply chain management expertise and our relationships with supply partners to fill the gap.
With just-in-time delivery, your orders are fulfilled and delivered within 24-hours of the time you place the order.
We deliver fresh, quality produce immediately and at the best available prices.
WHAT SETS US APART?
An immediately available inventory of fresh produce
Expertise in inventory management
A 100,000 SF totally climate-controlled warehouse to assure freshness
Just-in-time delivery
Delivery
We deliver your produce orders in our fleet of climate-controlled, refrigerated trucks – assuring you the freshest, highest quality product.
We make daily runs to Pittsburgh neighborhoods throughout the tri-state region (PA, OH, WV) and as far as Maryland, New York and Virginia. In every run, the cold chain is maintained right to your door, so your products are fresh and long lasting.
Phone orders are immediately assigned to a team member to hand select your order and prepare it for loading. Dispatchers review the orders and assign them to trucks that will get the produce there in the most direct manner. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver when others can't!
Whether your business has a few supply lines or a network of complex supply chains, a good inventory management system will play a significant role in the success of your business.
Inventory management app for fresh produce reduces waste: Manage fruit vegetable inventory storage, stock-take, fresh produce inventory reporting; all from the farmsoft Fresh Produce App.
Optimized against the complex dynamics of every fresh item in every store, every day of the year without maintaining perpetual inventory.
Sophisticated technology
Designed to handle messy, imperfect data with minimal IT investment and generate order recommendations with unparalleled accuracy.
Tools teams love
Modern, user-centered tools that utilize familiar workflows, streamline daily tasks, and can be used by managers of all experience levels.
Perfect orders are possible
REDUCE SHRINK & INCREASE SALES
Afresh generates AI-powered recommendations in a digital order guide that makes sure shelves stay full and food doesn’t go to waste. Optimized for omnichannel operations, you'll be ready for any order that comes through in-store or online.
Make your teams shine
ENGAGED, EFFICIENT TEAMS
Supercharge your stores with tools that make ordering and inventory easy and effective—no matter who does it. Afresh is designed for ease of use and leverages real-time store insights in our AI to improve results.
“We’ve seen great results from Afresh. Our store teams love using it, and the return on investment makes it worth it. It’s low maintenance, easy to use, and delivers on its promises.”
Tom Heinen, Co-CEO of Heinen’s
Read Case Study
Give shoppers more shelf life
CREATE IDEAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
Better ordering means fresher food for your customers (and bigger baskets for you). They’ll know they can count on you for the best quality and service, and will love seeing their berries last longer at home.
Run the departments of your dreams
CHAINWIDE VISIBILITY
With Afresh, you can track item-level sales, shrink, and merchandising data for your entire chain. You’ll know what needs the most attention and can make better, data-driven decisions.
What's included
Afresh offers a unified solution to cover everything you need to transform your department.
Core AI Engine
Data Validation Module
Demand Forecasting
Order Recommendations
Store Team iPad App
Digital Order Guide
Display Management
Period End Inventory
Reporting
Store-level scorecards
Corporate reporting
System
Ongoing model updates
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