Local deciduous fruit exporter Goede Hoop Vrugte is thriving through the otherwise erratic fruit export season with the help of a custom-designed fruit palette tracking system from PQ Africa`s Agriculture division.
Goede Hoop Vrugte markets and exports fruit to various overseas markets and supplies fruit and vegetables to local fresh product markets and supermarket chains. "Since market deregulation in 1997 and the subsequent confusion in the fruit export industry, the only real edge you can have in this market is service to your producers, and that means knowing where their product is going and how well it sells," says Goede Hoop Vrugte`s administrative manager Herman Fourie. "The goods on offer from the industry are generally on par quality-wise, so we have to look to these other areas to differentiate ourselves."
The company has been associated with PQ Africa since 1990, when it implemented Sage`s (formerly Tetra) CS/3 financial suite, supplied by PQ Africa`s PQ Tetra division.
"It was a natural progression for us to find and implement the PQ Fruit Exporter System given our long-standing relationship with PQ Tetra, and the close ties between the divisions of PQ Africa," says Fourie. "We consequently discovered there was no other system on the market that was designed with the South African exporter in mind."
Logistically, the system allows Goede Hoop to track containers, monitor product location (from the grower to the packing plant, in cold storage, in transit) and what prices have been realised on the market (locally and abroad), all tasks which had to be done manually in the past. "We hope to be able to use the system to link up all of our farmers and processing facilities in the near future," says Fourie, "which will greatly increase productivity and make our task of marketing and exporting fresh produce significantly easier."
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PQ Agriculture is the agriculture software and system automation division of PQ Africa. The division develops fruit export and packhouse management software for the South African market, and is the largest supplier of fruit export software in the country.
PQ Agriculture`s PQ Fruit Exporter System was designed with industry partners in the Western Cape, the largest fruit growing and export region in the country, and co-developed with sister division PQ Software Factory. The PQ Fruit Exporter System is installed at eight major exporter sites in the Western Cape
PQ Africa
PQ Africa was formed as a result of the merger of Persetel Holdings and Q Data. Comparex Holdings Limited has a 50% minus one share interest in PQ Africa. The black empowerment group NITAC (the National IT Acquisition Consortium), led by Real Africa Holdings Limited, holds a controlling interest of 50% plus one share in PQ Africa.
PQ Africa is SA`s leading provider of competitive, innovative and flexible business solutions based on information and communications technology. These comprehensive business solutions include systems integration, consulting, package implementation, software development, outsourcing, hardware, software, peripherals, voice, video and data communication systems, customer relationship management solutions and networking equipment and services. Internet solutions include the development and deployment of electronic commerce and electronic data interchange-based solutions and digital authentication.
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