Paarl-based fruit exporter The Grape Company has implemented PQ Africa`s Fruit Exporter System in a bid to improve stock control and information management in the competitive grape export market. The decision was taken after extensive market research and a recommendation from Colors Trading, the company that co-developed and implemented the software in 1998 with PQ Africa`s Agriculture and Software Factory divisions.
The Grape Company acts as an agent for local grape producers, so one of its primary challenges is to be able to take the right produce to the right market at the best possible price.
"The grape market is in an oversupply situation, as we face competition from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Australia," notes The Grape Company spokesperson Hanno Scholtz.
"The more accurate and timely the information we have, the better we can target the best places to sell our goods. With the PQ Fruit Exporter System we have better access to, and control of, this information. Stock control is similarly central to our business - we need to know what has been picked, what has been shipped and at what prices produce has been sold, and we can`t do that without an accurate information tracking system."
The PQ Fruit Exporter System was designed for the local fruit exporter as a complete order tracking and export logistics system that simplifies the data capture and transfer process from the fruit packer to the export agent, handles costing and creates producer payments.
A less obvious benefit of the software, says Scholtz, is the PQ Fruit Exporter System user group. Through the group, chaired monthly by PQ Agriculture, the software`s users have a forum for fine-tuning and expanding the system, "working together to produce a solution that fulfils all of our needs while creating an industry-standard application".
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