Manufacturing
QR traceability for exported produce
The importer required lot-level traceability. Records were handwritten and reconstructing one lot took four days on average.
Reconstructing a lot record takes under 5 minutes
- Client
- Client asked not to be named
- Duration
- 5 months
- Engagement
- Fixed price
Context
The European importer required proof of which field a carton came from, when it was harvested and who packed it. The cooperative recorded all of this in notebooks.
On one occasion the importer queried a lot; the documents team took four days to reconstruct the record, and two links in the chain still could not be evidenced.
What was built
Capture happens in the field, on a phone, and works with no signal. That constraint drove the architecture: the growing area has no reliable network, so the app records locally and syncs later.
Each lot generates a QR code fixed to the carton. Scanning it returns the whole chain: field, harvest date, packing shift, transport vehicle.
Data capture runs on a phone, at the place the work happens. The real user of this screen is standing up, busy and has one hand free, so it carries only the fields that are actually required.
Outcome
Reconstructing a lot record fell from four days to under five minutes, with no missing links.
The cooperative used those records in its next round of negotiations. That outcome was outside the scope I took on, but it is the one they mention first.