Fresh produce AI case study: multi-site packhouse cuts reporting time
A three-site vegetable packer cut weekly reporting time from about 14 hours to 3, and more than halved stock write-offs, within six months of switching on Pak-Bot.
At a glance
| Measure | Before Pak-Bot | After |
|---|---|---|
| Admin time on reports (hrs/week) | 14 | 3 |
| Packed stock written off (% of volume) | 3.5% | 1.6% |
| New retailer label set-up | 2 days | Under 1 hour |
| Answer to an ad hoc stock question | Next business day | Under 1 minute |
The client
The client packs potatoes, onions and carrots across three sites, with about 140 staff and a two-person admin office. It supplies two national supermarket chains and a range of food service customers, and already ran Producepak for inventory, packing and dispatch.
The challenge
- Reports were built by hand. Every Monday the admin team exported data and assembled sales, stock and yield reports: about 14 hours a week.
- Managers waited for answers. A stock question at the second site was usually answered the next day.
- Old stock was found too late. Ageing pallets sat behind newer ones; about 3.5% of packed volume was dumped or discounted.
- New labels were slow. Each retailer specification took up to two days in the label designer.
The solution
Pak-Bot inside Producepak works on live data with no exports or sync delay, and existing site permissions stay in place.
Plain-English reporting
Managers ask "Total sales last month by customer" and get a table or chart in seconds; regular reports are emailed from the chat.
Stock questions from the floor
Supervisors ask "List the 10 oldest inventory items" on a phone, without the office.
FIFO guardrail
A newer pallet scanned while an older one of the same product is in the cool room is flagged before shipping.
Predictive waste warnings
Stock age and packing speed show which lots are at risk while there is time to sell them.
Labels from a spec sheet
The admin team gives Pak-Bot a retailer spec and Producepak generates the label format.
Results
| Benefit | How it was estimated | Annual value |
|---|---|---|
| Less stock written off | Write-off fell from 3.5% to 1.6% of about AU$9.2M packed stock | AU$175,000 |
| Admin time saved on reports | 11 hrs/week × 52 weeks × AU$45/hr | AU$25,700 |
| Faster label set-up | About 10 new label formats a year, 2 days each down to under an hour | AU$7,000 |
| Total | AU$207,700 |
Catching old stock before it expired was worth far more than the admin hours saved. Supervisors now answer their own stock questions, and managers react the same day when a lot is at risk.
Why it worked
No new system to learn
Staff ask questions the way they would text a colleague.
Live data
A pallet scanned at the dock is in Pak-Bot's answers immediately.
Prevention, not reporting
FIFO checks and expiry warnings stop waste before it happens.
Put a question to Pak-Bot about your own packhouse
Book a session with a Producepak consultant. You will see Pak-Bot working on real produce data, and talk through your crops, sites, customers and documents.