Technology is
playing an
increasingly
vital role in the
perishable sector with the
use of mobile devices on
the increase.
“Fruit packhouse
environments particularly
have been quick on the
uptake,” said Andries
Mouton, managing director
of Paltrack, a supplier of
software solutions, and
a subsidiary of Resolve
Solution Partners. “They
have specifically focused
on pre-sorter technology,
on-demand label printing
and accuracy of product
marking. In addition, we
have seen an increased
interest in enterprise
resource planning (ERP)
solutions at different
levels.”
ERP is a category
of businessmanagement
software
– typically
a suite of
integrated
applications
– that an
organisation
can use to
collect, store,
manage and
interpret
data from
many
business
activities,
including product
planning, purchases,
manufacturing and service
delivery.
Mouton said that
balancing technology
application, specifically
automation, within
the context of the high
unemployment rate in
South Africa would remain
a challenge. “Also, the
sourcing of
appropriate
ICT skills for
application
within the
South African
agri-industry
remains
difficult,”
he said.
“Technologywise,
however,
there
are some exciting new
trends, such as electronic
certification – export
certification, phytosanitary
certification – for example.”
He said that there was
an increased dependency
on information
exchange from inland
operations to port-ofloading
in support of
official documentation.
“We are seeing an increase
in the need for integration
with weighing equipment
on the back of the Safety
of Life at Sea (Solas)
requirements.”
Mouton said the
company was also looking
at wider application of
mobile devices, especially
in farm management
solutions.
“To this end we have
partnered with Farmforce,
and now supply this
mobile farm management
solution in southern
Africa,” he said. “We
have also partnered with
Acumatica, a cloud ERP
solution offered by Resolve,
to provide our customers
with a true cloud ERP
solution that integrates
with our existing software
suite. The adoption of
grading technology within
the abalone sector to
increase accuracy and
efficiency in a very
climatically abrasive
environment has also
been a trend.”
According to Mouton,
phytosanitary issues still
remain a risk and there
is significant effort going
into ensuring on-going
compliance.
“We have been working
with the citrus scientific
community to incorporate
Citrus Black Spot
prediction models as well
as a ‘good-to-spray’ model
on a web-based platform,
which will allow growers
easy access to weather
forecasts, as well as
regional CBS predictions”
he said. “These results
should be available within
the next couple of months.”
INSERT
There are some
exciting new trends,
such as electronic
certification.
– Andries Mouton
Fruit packhouses tune into benefits of mobile devices
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