Understanding Bulk Receiving
Commodities that may want to consider Bulk Receiving:
- Potatoes - most common bulk receiving scenario
- Onions - usually received in bulk and then binned
- Citrus sometimes
- Cherries sometimes
Characteristics of Bulk Receiving:
- Produce is in a bulk truck, not in a container and must be unloaded with conveyor belts/flumes instead of a forklift
- Can arrive and be stored at a packing facility or at a storage facility
- Because bulk product can be stored, there is a short but busy period of time when the receiving is done. There can be lots of trucks received in a short amount of time. This means that the entry must be streamlined so that the operator can get each truckload entered into the system quickly.
- Truck loads can vary between:
- Smaller 6 or 8 wheel farm trucks traveling short distances (less than 20 or 30 miles)
- Semis with bulk trailers capable of hauling 80,000 lbs and hauling hundreds of miles
- Data Captured:
- Grower/Supplier
- Receive Date
- Truck
- Product, usually Commodity and Variety
- Storage Location. Usually a “bin” which is a large open bay in an enclosed building that can hold several truckloads of product.
- Weight. This can be associated with a “Scale Ticket”. Arithmetic is done using the Tare weight of the truck.
- Tare weight can be default from a Vehicle Maintenance record, or it is calculated using the actual in/out scale weights.
- Field Ticket Number (sometimes sent along with the truck.)
Inventory quantity/weight can be handled in different ways:
- One item is created per truck load; quantity is expressed in weight either pounds or CWT
- One Item is created per truck load (Quantity of one); weight is the actual net weight.
- Because the product is received and stored in bulk, there are no bin tags to print.
- Sampling is often a component of bulk receiving. Payment to the growers/suppliers can be dependent on the sampling results
- Sampling information is usually tied to a specific truckload
- In Envio Sampling, information is tied to a Supplier Receipt (not an item).
- Reporting. There is usually a report back to the Supplier, either daily or for multiple days that shows: (A default report is included, however if you want different information on the report, you must request and purchase it.)
- Ticket Number
- Date/Time Received
- Truck
- Variety
- Storage Location
- Weight received
- When sampling is complete, the report can break out the sampling by grade results.