Paper-based system no longer drives co-op nuts

Bar codes, RFDC streamline receiving process, allow for real-time inventory visibility at Blue Diamond Growers

By Rick Gurin, Associate Editor

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion, but Blue Diamond Growers couldn't afford to take such a scattershot approach to managing its inventory. The company, which is cooperatively owned by nearly 4,000 almond growers, fully appreciates the benefits automated data capture can bring to its front-line workers. For the past 10 years, it has operated a bar code-based system at its processing plants, while the remote receiving stations--the company's first point of contact with inventory--relied on a paper-based system.
Workers eventually discovered this receiving system wasn't all it was cracked up to be. When Blue Diamond installed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in 1998, it realized the need for a real-time system that would instantly update inventory levels as growers delivered product to receiving stations located strategically throughout California's almond producing regions.
Jody Rushing, Blue Diamond's senior programmer/analyst in charge of the company's bar coding project, realized he had a fairly complex task ahead of him. Since the company's new ERP system didn't have a bar code data collection module at the time of installation, Rushing knew this piece had to be, well, home-grown. The ultimate goal of the receiving system is to link Blue Diamond's eight remote receiving locations with the almond processing plants located in Sacramento and Salida, CA.
Today, successful pilot installations are running at receiving sites in Northern and Southern California. Blue Diamond has accurate, up-to-date information on its inventory levels, and Rushing is beginning to plan even more projects to take advantage of these real-time data collection systems.

Out with the old, in with the new
Blue Diamond's original inventory system, which started gathering data at its processing plants, relied heavily on stationary PCs. Workers would capture bar-coded production data at dedicated workstations equipped with tethered Intermec Technologies bar code readers. Back-up PCs were available for system redundancy. Inventory transactions were posted on an hourly basis to the company's mainframe at the Sacramento headquarters. Using a token ring network, data was passed from the bar code readers to a controller and through a concentrator before reaching the mainframe. As a result, it would be anywhere from four to eight hours before accurate inventory information was available. Installing the Adage ERP system from SCT in 1998 helped Blue Diamond realize it needed a more up-to-date view of its inventory. Since the receiving station serves as a first point of contact for almonds entering the production cycle, replacing the paper-based receiving process seemed natural. Based on its previous data collection system experience, the company first considered creating a batched receiving system. However, Rushing says the company discovered a batch system wouldn't fit the ERP structure.
The solution: build a bar code interface that works smoothly with the enterprise backbone. With an "assist" from Advanced Service & Solutions in Software Technology (ASSIST), Rushing has overseen the development of a real-time system that passes data across new fiber-optic connections instead of the old token ring network. The bar code application resides on a Pentium server and uses Telnet in the messaging layer to transfer needed data to the Sacramento and Salida processing plants. Data travels up to 250 miles in less than a second. The collected information is then ported from the bar code server to the company's Adage ERP system, which includes a module that Blue Diamond uses for inventory management.
While ASSIST helped Blue Diamond with the software side, the company had to choose hardware best suited for the system. After researching several ADC hardware vendors, Blue Diamond chose to stick with Intermec equipment. "We'd been running Intermec hardware for 10 years, so we were hard-pressed to go anywhere else," Rushing says. At an Intermec conference, Rushing met with representatives from Circa Information Technologies, which eventually was contracted to supply the hardware. In addition to providing the needed equipment "on time or ahead of schedule," Rushing says, Circa also provided training and RF networking services.

System helps eliminate 'shell' games
Typically, growers send almonds to the remote receiving station by the truckload. Workers at these outposts scan a grower delivery ticket, which provides data including grower identification, weight expected, weight received and contract number. Blue Diamond is using Intermec Trakker Antares 2481 and 2486 fixed-mount RF terminals to capture the data. Information then traverses a wireless bridge using a Cisco Systems router to the bar code server located in Sacramento.
Rushing says the new system helps Blue Diamond keep better track of its prized possessions. "It allows us to be able to track haulers and to monitor shipment weight discrepancies if they occur." Bar codes are also used in the transfer of almonds to the processing plants. "We can tell what has been put into transit, who's carrying the product, and how much they're carrying," Rushing adds. "The system can also be used to prevent misrouted products."

Added bonuses
Originally, RF-based devices weren't in Blue Diamond's plans. Due to terminal manufacturing deadlines, the company chose to go with RF instead of the scheduled Ethernet connections. The flexibility of the RF devices is allowing the migration of terminals toward the point of receipt.
Rushing says, thus far, the results he's seeing from the system are better than expected. "The inventory visibility we have is a real advantage-more so than we anticipated," he says. "It's nice to know what we have coming." Because the system installation is still ongoing, Rushing hasn't performed a cost savings analysis, which would provide him with quantifiable figures such as work hours saved and reduced labor costs. "I do know that when we get those figures, it's going to be good," he adds. He has seen, however, that Blue Diamond needs less data entry personnel to handle the shipment information.

Process improvements
Rushing is finding there are always beneficial tweaks that can be made to the system. "We are discovering ways to continuously improve the system," he says. "As we began to use the system at the test sites, we found things that had to be corrected. These problems were not caused by programmer error; rather they were steps in the process that we had originally missed."

What's next
As the savings from receiving automation begin to multiply, Blue Diamond plans to keep cracking, technologically speaking. Rushing says that in addition to expanding the systems to all eight receiving stations, bar code systems will be added to the shipping dock for tracking raw material use. Other projects in the pipeline include creating a cycle counting system, automating usage transactions and setting up a specialized receiving system at the Salida plant, which takes in boxed shipments as well as those in bulk.
Whatever comes next, Rushing knows that teamwork will be involved. "We call on the expertise of our user community," he says. "These workers suggest the changes we should implement. They tell us how things work today, and how they should work in the future."
So technology begets process improvements, and process improvements beget more technology. For Rushing and Blue Diamond, that's it--in a nutshell.
FACTS AT A SCAN
User:
Blue Diamond Growers, Sacramento, CA
Applications:
Receiving, Inventory control
Technologies:
Bar codes, radio frequency data communications
Benefits:

From Frontline Solutions April 2000