Driscoll Strawberry Associates Keeps its Supply Chain Fresh

Driscoll Strawberry Associates' mission is to grow and supply the best berries in the world. Quality and customer satisfaction are directly related to freshness. Keeping goods moving quickly, while satisfying complex traceability requirements, is a constant challenge for the company.


Making Improvements

Driscoll became known in the agricultural industry for using handheld computers and mobile printers to streamline receiving for the berries it gets from contract growers, because every minute of daylight counts during the busy harvest system. Driscoll came to rely on the efficiency it gained through bar code labels to associate berries with specific farms.

However, the company wanted to do more to ensure complete visibility and accuracy for all its products from receipt through shipment, and to reduce labor in product handling operations.

 "We've gained complete visibility on the inbound side, now we're doing the same thing for outbound," says Rodney Bonds, director of distribution, Driscoll.


The System in Action

When growers deliver berries, a Driscoll loading worker equipped with a Motorola handheld computer and a Zebra Technologies QL 320 mobile printer meets the truck at the receiving area. Information is captured and sent over a wireless LAN to immediately update Driscoll's warehouse management and ERP systems.

Pallets are then routed for inspection and cleaning, and at this point the berries are often still warm from ripening under the sun. Because a rapid transition to cold can ruin the berries, Driscoll places them into a pre-cool room to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible.

The cooling process is great for berries, but creates a challenge for identifying them. Temperature changes and condensation can make labels unreadable, but Zebra Premier Partner Redline Solutions quickly recommended a label material and adhesive that would remain affixed in cool and damp conditions, while remaining readable throughout supply chain processes.

"The reliability of the Zebra equipment and the label material has been fine. That's important, because reliability is of primary importance for this system," says Bonds. "We deal with a perishable product, so we can't afford for the system to go down, and we can't have our people spending much time loading label media or troubleshooting the printers."


Enhancing Visibility

Mobile computing, printing and bar code scanning have already boosted Driscoll's productivity in the facilities where the system has been installed.

"Our labor needs would increase 25 percent, minimum, if we didn't have the automation system," says Bonds. "Our product handling and loading would also be cumbersome, with a lot of accuracy issues."

The accurate, real-time data the system provides prevents losses from unsaleable products by ensuring the right berries are shipped at the right time. Having labeling and scanning systems operational at all times is also key to Driscoll's distribution and inventory efficiency.

"Everything we're doing is geared toward increasing productivity or increasing visibility," says Bonds.