The arrival of a horde of pickers brings with it a chaos of Excel files, hand written notes and accounts at many asparagus or soft fruit companies. Not any more, with the GrowPro harvest and labour registration system developed by the company Soft Solutions. The system makes it possible to consult the labour achievements, harvest volumes and other reports at any time on multiple devices - PC iPhone or Android. "It's an ideal instrument for us. Even if you're outside of the company, you can maintain an overview," according to Mery Douven of blueberry cultivation company B-Berry from Melderslo.
B-Berry has used GrowPro since April 2015 and has purchased two scales and two scanners as well as the programme. The company doesn't just have the harvest registration module, but also has the GrowPro crop protection module. The registration of harvest amounts and labour hours is done with the aid of mobile barcode scanners and scales on the field during harvest. Mobile label printers can also offer support for track & trace or quality control. But it is also possible to register the hours worked centrally, for instance in a warehouse using an hour registration tablet. This is also possible using a centralised weighing system, or scaleless with a mobile barcode scanner.
"Thanks to the system we have a good insight into the volumes harvested and harvest achievements per employee. There are various reports available per labourer," says Mery. This doesn't mean she was enthusiastic from the start. "I was very critical in the beginning. The system has to be faultless. Pickers are focused on kilos and if this isn't properly registered, the trust is gone. To start with I wasn't satisfied and found certain functions too cumbersome. After we brought a list of improvements forward, they took them seriously and worked on them. The necessary adjustments were made during the season and with the last update there was a huge improvement. The season is now over, but with the improvements made, I will be saving a lot of time next year!"
"All in all I love how Soft Solutions listened to our wishes and acted on them. I find it a comforting thought that they can always log into our system from the background. Our entire employee registration is in the programme of volumes (kg, pieces or metres), labour hours, performance reports (per plant type, per activity, per plot, per employee, per period), performance reports and the reward export of the billing system. We also always have all employees details at hand, from labour contracts, places of residence, insurance, bills and the digital file. We are looking forward to working with it next year."
For more information:
Mery Douven
Douven Blauwe Bessen BV
Herenbosweg 30B
5962 NX Melderslo
T: 0031 (0) 6 12635427
[email protected]
W: www.b-berry.nl
Soft Solutions
Eric Gerbers
Bevelantstraat 24
6088 PB Roggel
Tel: 0031 (0) 475-497913
[email protected]
www.growpro.nl