Loveren van Zyl Boerdery, near Kakamas in the Northern Cape, is a longstanding customer of Paltrack. They have been using Paltrack solutions since the ‘90s.

The founder, Kobus van Zyl, started farming raisins in 1984. In 1990 the company exported their first table grapes and in 2010 started planting citrus. Loveren initiated the Sosa Rona Empowerment Project in 2012 with the aim to empower their staff. Some of the staff have been working for them for 25 years. Riaan van Zyl and his brother, Jaco, joined their father in the business in 2005. They each take care of their own section in the business, with their father overseeing the entire operation.

Loveren is using Paltrack’s PALPACK STD PLUS solution. PALPACK is a comprehensive software solution developed for the fresh produce packhouse environment. It provides clients with full management, visibility and traceability of product from bulk receiving at the packhouse throughout the packing process up to finished goods warehousing and shipping.

Riaan van Zyl commented as follows: “We started our relationship with Paltrack in the ’90s. There was a requirement for industry wide product traceability and we started using GTIN codes back then. Loveren and Paltrack has journeyed together from the original DOS version to what we are using now. We have received good service throughout this 20+ year relationship. We started the Citrus Packhouse, with PALPACK STD PLUS and the Print-On-Demand module to save on stickers costs and were able to streamline processes and reduce errors.

I feel about Paltrack the way I feel about my own company. A person cannot do everything yourself. One is only as strong as the people you work with. I always have a name of a person I can call on in Paltrack. For the past few years, it is Eddie Gain, product specialist at Paltrack. I can call him at any time and he will help me (whether he is on duty or not). The nice thing is that no matter how large my company gets, or how big Paltrack gets, we can still do business on a first-name basis. It is important to know there is always support when you need it.”

Riaan van Zyl highlighted the following benefits that the system provides for their business: “I know Paltrack is a first-class IT Solutions company. It allows me to focus on my farming business whilst they can focus on their solution. I have the confidence to know that they are always on the ball with the industry requirements like eCERT and TITAN2 that are being implemented now.

Paltrack might not be the cheapest in the market and one may not see an immediate return of investment in terms of saving on labels. However, it is important that your system is correct to ensure that you adhere to the stringent market requirements in terms of labelling the product correctly, something that can cause massive losses. It is pertinent that cartons are labelled with the correct information. The system needs to cater for this and be accurate because every single market has its own marking requirements, and it is a massive task to keep track of everything and do everything correctly.

The person who is physically adding the fruit specifications, needs to be accurate. But once everything is set up, it is an extremely user-friendly system. You can even take an unschooled person and let them use the system – especially with the new Print-On-Demand functionality.

There is an endless list of management reports that can be generated out of the system. Daily, weekly and end-ofharvest season reports gives one the exact breakdown per farm, cultivars, spread of sizes and much more. You can then use this information to determine what requirements and decisions you need to make for next season. We also use real-time monitoring for our productivity in the packhouse during harvest.”

“IF YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, SO ARE PALTRACK”, Riaan’s final comment.

For more information, please contact Jeanette Jenkins on 021 818 4200 or jeanette@paltrack.co.za.