If you need better efficiencies in a cold storage application - Read this!

A 300%+ increase in tonnage handled, stored, and shipped with no extra staff 

Orchard View Inc. is a 4th generation family owned and operated fresh cherry grower-shipper, based in The Dalles, Oregon. Walter Bailey and Mabel Bailey established Orchard View in 1923. 

Today Orchard View manages approximately 2500 acres of fresh cherries, using sustainable farming methods on growing sites around the Columbia River Gorge. They harvest blush and dark sweet cherries from mid-June to mid-August, packing up to 15,000 tons of cherries a year. 

In 2016 Orchard View updated their racking systems and added in a new rapid cool forced-air cooler. With the change, they needed a more effective way to manage the shipping and tracking of product within their cold storage facilities. They were operating an inventory management system, but what the system showed on stock did not always match the real inventory. The other challenge they had was when it came to physically locating and managing the movement of pallets within their facility, they had to rely on placards and manual systems, which were inaccurate and inefficient, and wasted time.

Orchard View had several objectives for their new system: 

• They wanted a digital system so they could dispense with manual product tracking
• They wanted this system to be intuitive
• They wanted their computer-based inventory to directly match their physical inventory in real-time
• They wanted a system to seamlessly integrate with their Famous software system
• The new system needed to work within their budget 

David Ortega the Director of Packing Operations at Orchard View said, “We needed better traceability of pallets, and visibility of their locations, for tracking, picking, and shipping.” 

The Orchard View team searched for alternative solutions that could address their needs. They initially found some suitable options, but these started at $200K, without deployment services. These systems also had too many functions that overcomplicated the operation, without adding direct benefits.

Orchard View selected RedLine Solutions Cooler™ system because it is written exclusively for grower-shippers operating cooler facilities, and included tight integration with their grower-accounting system from Famous Software. Mr Ortega explained, “RedLine Cooler™ fits our needs perfectly, as we just wanted the backend stuff like shipping, put away and pallet moves.” 

Orchard View installed RedLine Cooler™ in May 2016. Later that year due to weather and growing conditions, Orchard View saw a 300% plus increase in cherry tonnage versus the prior year. Even with this significant increase Orchard View managed the handling, storage, and shipping without the need for extra staff. 

Mr. Ortega stated, “It is great that we now have the ability to keep our inventory clean, so our sales team have real-time, accurate product information. We have also benefited from the automatic management of stock rotation, and the shipping validation process, that makes sure we have the correct product for each order, before we ship. I don’t know how we would have been able to ship this year without RedLine’s Cooler™ Software.” 

Mr. Ortega concluded “If you want to manage your pallets through cold storage, and ship more efficiently, then RedLine Cooler™ is the system to use. It is easy to use, and the guys in our shipping love it.”

If you want more information about this system please feel free to contact RedLine Solutions on +1408-562-1700 or sales@redlineforproduce.com. 



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