The risk of inadvertently releasing quarantined product to customers is even greater when parts of the business process are manually undertaken and inventory is not linked directly to the Quality Control process.

This was the situation at Stahmann Farms, a specialist grower of pecan nuts with operations in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, where quality control for the nut-based products it produces is everything. John Howard, finance and administration manager at Stahmann Farms, says that business growth, shortened customer supply time cycles and inventory management imperatives had increased the business’s risk relating to Quality Control - and had amplified the need for greater visibility of inventory.

These were key factors in the decision to implement the Greentree Quality solution. Management and staff all required a real-time system that enabled them to quickly ascertain the location and status of inventory at a glance.

After implementing Greentree's Quality Control module, Howard says Stahmann Farms have reaped 80 – 90% of the benefits of Greentree’s  upfront. Prior to the Greentree implementation, Howard says the low visibility of stock status  and slow enquiry times had become a frustrating process that increased the opportunity for error and predisposed the business to even greater risk.

Staff would often prefer to physically segregate, inspect and mark stock to determine its status, in association with email communication to determine what product was clear to despatch. Today, however, he says enquiry times have been dramatically reduced and management and staff now have real-time access to inventory status and availability. This has had a flow-on effect in terms of promoting better business practices.

Greentree’s reporting tools have also encouraged better access to information. Howard says Integrated Quality Control has enforced a disciplined approach to inventory management. “Now we can’t sell items that haven’t been cleared through our quality control system and this has ultimately reduced our business risk.” Since Greentree’s Quality Control module is an integral part of Inventory Management the business has achieved a significant milestone.

Better processeses
Before the Quality Control module was implemented, Stahmann Farms discussed its specific requirements around the quality control process with Greentree. Howard says the ideas that came out of that discussion  were implemented in the new quality module and have resulted in further improvements to the way Stahmann’s do things. The most notable changes have been the adoption of a more disciplined approach to Inventory Management with much quicker track & trace and identification of stock (using Greentree’s integrated lot tracking functionality), in association with the new Quality functionality.

“There is now no need to waste time actually physically inspecting stock to find out its status,” he says, “or to physically separate quarantined inventory. This has allowed warehouse space management practices to be improved, another core benefit of implementing the system.” Greentree’s Inventory Management module was also a more cost effective alternative to a full Laboratory Information Management System.

The existing MS Access data base system wasn’t integrated with inventory and didn’t have the same level of reporting and functionality as Greentree could provide. Howard says Stahmann’s now “have information at our fingertips” with an overall improvement in the business decision-making process across the business. Greentree’s advancement of Stahmann’s key internal control system has further enhanced the new disciplined approach to the way Stahmann’s does business.

Implementation issues dealt with quickly
John describes the implementation process as “sweet” and he says any potential “showstopper” issues were very quickly dealt with by the local Greentree partner. Post-implementation support has been consistent and reliable with very little follow up required. Staff training was quick and effective. Around two hours per person was required and staff have adopted the Greentree Quality module  quickly.

Howard describes the transition as very smooth given the importance to the business of having this system work effectively from day one. He says  the new Greentree functionality heralds in a new era of quality control and inventory management at Stahmann Farms, allowing the business to achieve its goal of greater visibility of inventory across multiple users. Quality Control, together with Lot Tracking is now embedded in the Inventory Management process forcing a disciplined approach to locating, selecting and releasing product for sale or despatch.

For more information

www.greentree.com/customers/profiles/stahmann_farms.cfm

Greentree
Graham Hill, Channel Manager
Email: graham.hill@greentree.com
Ph: 0800 313 313
Fax: 09 366 3889
Web: www.greentree.com

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