New Zealand fresh produce software company sees global growth after new partnership

A leading supplier of fresh produce software in New Zealand is already planning to expand its operations globally, having entered into its latest partnership with a large Australian potato and onion company.

This week, it was announced that Radford Software will provide operations specific platforms to transform the current manual systems and processes of South Australia-based Mitolo Family Farms across the company. CEO Adam Cuming said that includes everything from farm management and product traceability to sales and marketing, business reporting and planning.

“They realized their need to fully digitize their business and realized their need to perpetuate the legacy they have built, into the future,” he said. “They embarked on a competitive bidding process to select the best possible supplier to help them on their journey. What we suggested in our proposal was to do a detailed scoping session up front to give them the plan. complete and what that meant from start to finish for their business, which they agreed to towards the end of March and from there there were negotiations to bring the whole solution together ; which not only involves Radfords as the primary supplier, but we also brought in our partner Microsoft, Intergen and Empired, to do general ledger and balance sheet finance. “

Mitolo Family Farms is a fully integrated business encompassing the development, agriculture, processing, packaging and distribution of seeds. It produces several lines over 40,000 hectares in three states for the domestic and export markets. Radfords will be involved in its end-to-end onion and potato operations as well as its on-farm vineyards.

“For Mitolo, choosing Radfords as the primary implementation partner for our new ERP system became evident throughout the selection process,” said Sue Edwards, Commercial Director of Mitolo Family Farms. “The product will provide fresh produce that is relatively ready to use. solution for our fairly complex application requirements, from seed cultivation to shipping. In addition to the solution, what set Radfords apart was their practical and local knowledge of fresh produce and a genuine willingness to help us make our project a success. To date, as we move forward with the detailed design it has not abated and we have a high level of confidence in the Radfords team. “

Mr. Cuming notes that Mitolo has been very engaged and enthusiastic in the process of integrating this new software, and is confident that they will be able to reap the benefits of uniting the company’s departments under the same system. daily operating. The first phase is expected to be commissioned in May.

“In terms of profit, there’s this whole relationship between the sales team, the production team and the guys on the farm,” he said. “To put it all together, we’ll use our planning tool, where they’ll see demand from retailers or supermarkets and match that up with production capacity, in terms of what’s going to be harvested on the ground. This process is supported by our business intelligence tool set, called FreshInsights. This can also bring in data from other hardware and machines such as the grader and Microsoft’s financial module. Everything is hosted in a single information store, this which is important for a company the size of Mitolo. “

Radfords is already well involved in the fresh produce industry in New Zealand and Australia, and Cuming says expansion plans involve targeting the North American market.

“We cover a wide range of the New Zealand market, being our heritage market,” Mr. Cuming said. “So Zespri for example, 100% of their kiwifruit supply goes through independent packing factories who all use our software. We are also present in a large part of the apple, cherry, avocado, citrus and tomato verticals. In Australia we have some big names like Pinata Farms, Red Rich Fruits, Seeka Australia, Raffa Fields and other major players. In order to build on this success, we are looking to expand further into the Australian market and enter more fully into the North American market. Over the past year, we have become a Preferred Client of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) – a government growth agency. We’ve worked with NZTE, and they help with business intelligence in new markets and help with co-financing. We have worked with them over the past year to develop our entry into North America; we have three clients there and are ready to start marketing massively. “

Radford Software Solution Provides ‘Floor to Supermarket’ Platforms
According to Cuming, Radford’s goal is to deliver systems that help streamline day-to-day operations on farms and orchards, ensuring that input and resource data is captured and kept in a central location. There are four modules that interact to achieve this goal; FreshGrow, FreshPack, FreshQuality and FreshInsights.

“We have a solution that really helps them manage their farms on tablets and using a web-based solution,” he explained. “It’s FreshGrow, which helps them manage the cycle of their plantings, their harvests, the management of their staff and their stocks of machinery and chemicals. When you manage the (large) scale of crops, you have to manage the inputs and outputs. It also involves setting up an agenda of events that easily broadcasts what their actions are for the day and planning for the months to come. “

From there, once something is harvested and being put into the supply chain, Mr. Cuming says the FreshPack system can create inventory and manage warehouse logistics, as well as supply to retailers.

“There is an electronic relationship between retailers and suppliers, in this case Mitolo,” Cuming said. “We manage this interaction electronically; so they would get the inbound order and say we have the FreshPack system inventory image and select the pallets that are going to be consumed for that order, and also communicate with the customer what is on their in terms of pallets. and codes – and so does the bill. “

Another important element is quality management, according to Cuming, who says the FreshQuality platform covers everything from what goes on in the field to the packaging process.

“We have a tablet-based tool that allows users to assess the quality of the inventory in the field and what happens to products throughout the supply chain,” he said. “From our perspective, I think that as fresh produce specialists we really understand the industry. So when people come to talk to us, it’s not like they’re talking to a computer consultant, where you have to educate them on the intricacies of the industry. We really understand what people mean and get it quickly. Therefore, when clients invest in a large digital transformation, we believe Radfords reduces the risk of that investment because we understand the industry context.

For more information
Adam cuming
Radford software
Telephone: +64 7 579 1106
info@radfords.co.nz
www.radfords.global