How to use Producepak AI to reduce administration costs in fresh produce
Most of a produce office's week goes on retyping orders, building reports, setting up labels and answering the phone. Here is how Producepak customers hand that work to Pak-Bot, in the order that saves the most time.
Six steps to a lighter office
Find where the hours go
For one normal week, note time spent on order entry, reports, labels and documents, grower and customer queries, and finance hand-off. In our case studies the biggest items were order entry (8 hours a day at a wholesaler) and weekly reports (14 hours a week at a packer).
Stop retyping orders
Connect Pak-Bot to the order inbox. It checks the Gmail account and creates orders in Producepak; staff can also paste or drop an order into the chat. The office reviews and approves instead of keying.
Replace report building with questions
Managers ask "Total sales last month by customer" or "Sales by state last month" and get a table or chart in seconds. Regular reports are emailed from the chat.
Let supervisors answer their own stock questions
"Total yellow potato in stock" or "List the 10 oldest inventory items" on a phone means fewer calls to the office. Answers are filtered by each person's site and permissions.
Generate labels and documents from the spec
Give Pak-Bot a retailer's label specification and Producepak builds the label format. New invoice, BOL and shipping document formats are created the same way.
Answer growers before they call
"Pack-out summary for grower 12 this week", emailed from the chat. Invoices and purchase orders flow to Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB, SAGE, SaasAnt or Acumatica.
What the savings looked like
| Admin task | Before | After Pak-Bot | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order entry | 8 hrs/day | 2 hrs/day | Wholesaler |
| Weekly management reports | 14 hrs/week | 3 hrs/week | Multi-site packer |
| New retailer label set-up | 2 days | Under 1 hour | Multi-site packer |
| Grower pack-out queries (peak) | 15 hrs/week | 3 hrs/week | Exporter |
| Retailer audit preparation | About 40 hrs | About 8 hrs | Exporter |
At the wholesaler, one of the two order entry staff moved into customer service, following up late payers and new accounts.
Questions
Which admin task should we automate first?
Usually order entry, if orders arrive by email. It is repetitive, daily, and errors in it cause wrong deliveries and credits. Reports come next.
Do staff need training to use Pak-Bot?
Very little. Staff type or say questions the way they would text a colleague. Answers only show data each person is permitted to see.
Does Producepak replace our accounting software?
No. Producepak is not a finance app and does not calculate tax. It sends invoices and purchase orders to your finance app.
How quickly can we start?
Producepak implementation typically takes one to three weeks, carried out by a Producepak consultant.
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.