Home > Features and Commentary > Success stories > ABC Software sets its sights on Australian market
by Graeme Kennedy
Hawkes Bay IT company ABC Software is targeting Australia as a potentially major export market for a system it has been developing to track a wide variety of fruit through every step from tree to consumer.
ABC Software founder Sharon Chapman
Founder-director Sharon Chapman says the barcode-based tool already installed in New Zealand, Victoria and Western Australia traces and records all processes including picking, cool storage, packing and transport to help ensure produce is handled correctly and kept in best condition.
"People want to know where their fruit comes from and if it has been handled as it should," Ms Chapman said.
"Traceability is already becoming part of the supply chain – customers and supermarkets want more information as their standards and parameters for good quality fruit are becoming tighter to enhance the eating experience.
"Supermarkets are hearing of customer experiences which are not great when they buy fruit – it can be soft or with a disappointing taste due to not being cool stored or handled properly.
"With more information they can target the orchards they know will meet the parameters they want so competition increases and the whole industry lifts its game – it has been the same with meat with the industry getting better at supplying consistent quality product."
Ms Chapman said the tracking issue was highlighted several years ago when US supermarkets were swamped with diseased tomatoes.
"They were pulled of the shelves but no-one had traceability or could immediately say where they came from," she said.
"Traceability was there if they trawled through mountains of paperwork but it was not at their fingertips.
"Our system provides that instant information. Every carton of fruit has a unique barcode so if apples are in Hong Kong or Europe the block they were grown on, who handled them and how is all there."
A computer programmer and system designer for 25 years, Ms Chapman was asked eight years ago by New Zealand’s largest apple grower, packer and exporter Mr Apple to develop a pack-house software system to provide information on fruit type, grade, size, origin and packaging.
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6 July 2010
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