Huntapac, a supplier of vegetables to UK supermarkets has witnessed a 50 per cent reduction in time spent on label checks since implementing Greenlight Quality Control from Muddy Boots.
The firm grows, packages and distributes a variety of vegetables and salads including a range of organic produce.
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It needed a more efficient quality control process to maintain its position with major supermarkets.
Muddy Boots is a software firm that specialises in systems for sustainable food and farming operations.
“Traditionally we were using pen and paper to collect all data in the pack-house. We had two members of staff that would manage the label checks, one of which was working on this full-time,” said Stephen Shields, technical manager at Huntapac.
On an average week, Huntapac completes 1,800 label checks, which would have taken approximately 60 hours to complete, using pen and paper. It would then have taken 40 hours for quality control checks to validate the label information and a further 20 hours for the print room manager to verify the validation.
Using the Greenlight quality control system, and scanning labels with a Panasonic CF-U1 handheld device with integrated camera, the amount of time spent on label checks has been reduced to 1 minute per check; a time saving of 50 per cent.
Shields said: “In addition to this significant time saving, we are now given greater transparency of quality control processes throughout the business, resulting in improved management efficiency.
“Traditionally, if produce was rejected, a full report would have to be generated and members of the management team would be individually contacted. This process would take time; there would be a delay in sharing the data and on busy days we were always playing catch-up. Therefore, complete visibility of the current business status was a real challenge.
“We can now instantly generate an inspection report, take pictures on the hand-held device of the produce in question and send the report straight to the management team and supplier. This instant alert has improved the communication both internally and with our suppliers and has allowed us to identify which areas of the business are working well and which areas need improving.”
