Pallet weighing: new developments for the implementation of Greenco

Complex implementations are not new for team AGF. This year a number of new customers have gone live with the GreenCommerce software and the next are coming up. Soon it will be Greenco's turn; an international grower and packer of snack vegetables, known by the Tommies. Before they can go live, it was necessary to make a number of developments regarding the registration and recording of pallet weights. These developments have now been completed and tested. In this conversation with software developer Toni van Bergenhenegouwen and Project Coordinator René Koene, we talk about the process from idea to implementation and how they experienced this period.

Greenco indicated that it wanted to start with GreenCommerce at the end of 2021 to digitize their processes. Before GreenCommerce, they worked with a custom software package that had become obsolete over the years. Before they could start with GreenCommerce, it was essential to implement a number of developments in the field of pallet weighing in the system and the linked GreenCommerce WMS App. Greenco works with its own growers, but also purchases from external parties to meet the demand of their customers. In order to be able to pay all growers a fair price, the pallets with product are weighed in advance. This is done either at the cultivation location or at Greenco's location. The growers are paid on the basis of these weights.

René: “During the GreenCommerce demo, this challenge occurred almost immediately; Greenco registers on the basis of kilos and therefore not on the basis of batches, as most of our clients do. In order to be able to make a good sketch of the situation, we visited the location and we worked out use cases. These were then presented to Greenco to validate whether it matched expectations. After that, we could start preparing the developments.”

Toni adds: “We think it is important to look beyond the solution of the problem at hand. If we make something, can we ensure that other (future) clients also benefit from it?” The intended developments were presented internally to Jeroen (Product Owner) and Robin (Process Architect) who looked critically at the solution in order to make it more widely applicable.

“Within GreenCommerce we did have an option to link weight to a pallet and record it, but we didn't have a good solution for this in the GreenCommerce WMS App. That is why we went to the drawing board together to make sustainable development.” says René. Although Toni has been working at JEM-id for more than 6 years, this was his first GreenCommerce project: “Before the start of this project, I had completed a familiarization process to get to know the architecture and structure of the fresh produce software systems. My experience is mainly in web applications, which is why I focused on the developments in the GreenCommerce WMS App for this project.”

The client was involved in the progress during the process through stand-ups and demos of the developments. Toni: “We started the week before the sprint with a project kick-off in which we were told what the assignment was. Then we sat down with the team to further define the project. This is how we came to split the project into 2 parts; part GreenCommerce and part WMS App. The developments work together in an overarching manner, but can also be used separately from a technical point of view.” Toni has created a universal situation for the WMS App that can be filled in differently for every situation, so that the development can be interesting for several parties. “The working method at the AGF team is different from what I was used to, in which the customer contact aspect in particular is a positive addition to my work. It gave me great satisfaction to immediately see the reaction of the customer and get feedback on my work. There is a clear goal to work towards."

With the new additions to GreenCommerce and the WMS App, it is possible to assign a gross weight to a pallet and the system calculates a net product weight based on the trunk. “When a company works with kilograms instead of batches, it is crucial to have the stock weighed accurately. That can make a big difference on large volumes.” according to René. By weighing you can literally see how many kilos are still in stock and it is immediately clear how many kilos of product have ultimately left. For example, the payment of the growers can be accurately requested. “We hope that the solution will give Greenco a head start.” closes René.

Do you want to respond to this conversation? Contact us at:
info@greencommerce.nl
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