CLIENT: POLLYBELL ORGANIC FARM
Pollybell Farm are one of the largest growers of organic vegetables and cereals in the UK. They produce and supply a wide variety of, high quality, organic brassicas, roots and alliums to high street retailers. The farm is one of the Loveden Estate farms and is owned and run by the Brown family, who have been involved in East Midlands farming for over 120 years.
THE CHALLENGE
Pollybell operated on a paper-based system. Although this system worked, it was very time-consuming and created an abundance of paper. The management team identified that there was a need to find a better solution of accessing and inputting data, which would aid streamlining costs within their production environment.
Their brief to Consus Fresh Solutions was to increase visibility throughout the supply chain, from the booking-in process to dispatch. Specific importance was placed on traceability and cost management to expedite the time it took to track pallet information with increased accuracy, and to focus on waste management.
THE SOLUTION
Fresh produce is unique in the way it works and, from our 35 years of on-the-ground experience, we know that you cannot just install a MRP system that is designed as a generic solution for any industry. This is why we have worked to develop and build Consus Fresh Solutions as a unique system for the fresh produce industry’s specific requirements.
Fresh produce entered into the Consus system is captured efficiently, in great detail. Barcodes are used throughout the site and each movement of stock, from receipt to dispatch, is captured using hand-held rugged mobile computers. Quality Assurance and Positive Release data is captured on the move and is linked to the pick and dispatch process, ensuring only the produce that meets the highest standards and retailer requirements are dispatched.
Company owner James Brown commented:
“It is a simple fact that fresh produce suppliers and packers are having to meet the ever-increasing demands of their customers. Add to this that the need to comply with the updated versions of the BRC Fresh Produce Standards and Assured Produce Standards, means that you are now under more pressure than ever to verify your traceability records and pass inspections from customers or government bodies.
“Prior to Consus, our BRC accreditations and audits made use of a manual paper based system, but using Consus has significantly improved the speed with which we can undertake these audits, and totally eliminates the need for paper.”
Consus was trialled by Pollybell and ran in parallel with their existing paper systems. Consus went live during a business working day in early November without any disruption to Pollybell’s daily activities.”
THE CONSUS BENEFIT
Pollybell now have real-time information at their fingertips for Stock, Production, QA, Traceability, Positive Release and much more. Having instant access to this data means that they can remove the labour intensive paper trail and spreadsheets from their systems, and let the dynamics of Consus Fresh Solutions provide the tools to help run their business more efficiently.