“It’s made things heaps easier in the office,” says Sally. “A life saver is how it’s been described.”

With the previous manual system, time sheets were inputted manually and pay rates calculated laboriously, a two-person process that is no longer necessary. Instead, payroll information is sent to head office or to contractors at the click of a button.

“We now have time to crunch the numbers and do some analytical scrutiny. It’s made us far more efficient in what we do. We can filter out information every possible way now. ABC understood exactly what we needed to do.”

Smart Berries also utilises ABCgrower for its non-picking activities – capex, opex, general management, for the driving, pruning, planting, and spray teams’ activities.

Sim uses the digital tool to check on picker and thinner performance, identifying those that need more training or supervision to lift their output. As his workers can view their ongoing tallies, it’s also a motivator for them to lift their game.

“They can see their tallies when they scan their buckets and challenge themselves to pick up the pace.”

It also makes it easy to show staff an audit of activities recorded should there be any dispute over tallies, saving time and cost. “It’s a relief to avoid those niggly arguments.”

ABCgrower also allows Sim and his managers to check daily reports to see the financial implications of each day’s activities and adjust as needed.

Sim acknowledges that he’s not particularly computer savvy but says ABCgrower is very easy to use in and out of the field, which means he’s “spending less time sitting in the office”. He’s also planning on using more of the management functions to improve his productivity performance as time goes on.

“It’s been absolutely worth the investment,” says Sim who was the first in the region to adopt the technology but whose enthusiasm has seen a growing number of his neighbouring orchardists using it too.

The horticulture software specialist is currently beta testing a digital orchard spray diary module to add to ABCgrower. It expects to release this late November 2019 and Sim says he will be looking closely at using it.

ABCpacker is another specialist programme that provides tailor-fit solutions for all aspects of packing, marketing and trading. As with ABCgrower, it replaces paperwork and manual entries to improve efficiency and management reporting.

Koala Cherries has 220ha of fruit across its various farms in Victoria, with two more substantial farms under development.  This year, 3000 tonnes of cherries were processed through its Yarck packhouse, with 100 tonne each day.  Chris says that ABCpacker “happily ticks along” dealing with the myriad of packhouse data elements – handling units including packaging, pallets, cartons, stock control – plus admin and sales all happening at the same time.

Rodger Brown, T&G Ettrick Site Manager – Pipfruit says it makes the whole process completely visible with clear traceability on dispatch.  The integration with his charging system is another bonus.  Rodger believes productivity is improved due to connectivity.  “It’s easy for the operators, they can do everything from their seat anywhere in the coolstore.  There’s no delays like in the past. We can locate what’s needed straight away. I’d say things have improved 10-fold.”

A third aspect of this connectivity is with the orchards sending into T&G. Remarkables Orchard is a case in point. Manager Mark Sim utilises ABCgrower, which integrates seamlessly into ABCpacker.  He uses the software on his 70ha mixed orchard to check on picker and thinner performance, identifying those that need training or supervision to lift their output. It also allows him to check daily reports to see the financial implications of each day’s activities and adjust as needed.

Produce leaving his property is scanned into the system and then scanned by T&G into the store.  All easily recorded and traceable.  All three parties are enthusiastic about the flexibility and willingness the team at ABC Software has to adapt, amend and enhance their software to meet specific individual needs.

Leandro Massariolo, Dispatch Coordinator at the CAJ packhouse is responsible for ensuring the software performs as required.  He says the system worked well in the first season, but ABC Software was keen to make it better. The second season was even more efficient, he says.