Another year for the fresh produce industry brings more inevitable financial woes, during which many companies will no doubt face the difficulties of varying prices, tight margins, non-payment of invoices and poor global weather affecting supply.

I’ve heard the same complaints for the last 25 years while I have worked within the industry installing computer systems, and it’s unlikely to change so maybe it’s time to accept that this is just the way the market is these days.

What does need to change within the produce industry is for business owners to take the first step in understanding their own businesses and their strengths and weaknesses and then invest and change its direction appropriately.

Over my many years of working with in excess of 150 fresh produce importers, packers, wholesalers and catering-supply businesses, I have noticed that the ones that have become most successful are the ones that have managed to work on their business from a distance rather than from directly inside.

That same rule applies to many business sectors but the produce industry is famously slow to embrace change, whether it be investing in new staff or new technology to improve efficiency. Both can enable business owners to take a step back from their daily activities and get a chance to monitor in detail what makes their business prosper.

Recently we have seen many wholesale salesmen take up new technology, specifically with our own clients using iPads to enter sales tickets which traditionally have been dissected into a system later on by additional staff. The initial savings were thought to be just reducing staffing levels and cost saving on printed tickets, but once the technology was in place, there were less errors, better stock control, improved cashier visibility and the absolute golden egg of the produce business – improved margins! This is just one example of making a technological change which can positively improve your business.

I was initially in the FPJ aged just 20 promoting handheld computers for the wholesale trade, but it’s taken me until my mid forties to see the industry widely embrace the technology available and finally to see the advantages moving forward.

It’s a brave business owner who takes someone on to do the job that they have done for so long and to put in place technology that replaces the traditional way of doing things, but that same brave owner can then take a back seat to review their business and properly analyse the areas that need improving.

Over the next 10 months we will list the top 10 technological changes that our own clients have made, and how working practices have changed for the better. —