Checklist for a Successful Grain Harvest

A simple checklist to help you prepare for a successful grain harvest

A simple checklist for a successful grain harvest will set you up for success in the new year. As you reflect on this past year, first ask yourself, did you have a successful harvest last year? Secondly, can you think of any areas where your operation needs improvement?  By asking yourself these questions, you can turn the opportunities that arose last year into successes with this simple checklist. 

Successful grain harvest checklist:

  • Process tickets faster  
  • Improve safety  
  • Automate bin inventory  
  • Reduce overtime labor  
  • Receive grain without internet

How to Process Tickets faster for a successful grain harvest

Ask yourself, during last year’s Harvest…  

    • Was your truck line 4 miles long?  
    • Did your drivers wait longer than an hour in your line?  
    • Was your pit waiting on trucks to process at the scale?  

 

For the most part, consider striving for a 60-second or less interaction with each truck. That way, you can keep a constant truck flow. Ultimately, this allows you to utilize your elevator receiving equipment to its fullest receiving capacity.  

3 Ways to Process Tickets Faster

By implementing automation at your facility, you can process tickets faster. Here’s how:
RFID

• Start utilizing RFID

An RFID triggers a new ticket in your system and populates your customer’s details to the ticket. This allows your facility to start processing each ticket, as soon as the driver pulls up.  

 

Bottomline, the RFID automatically applies weights and grades to each ticket.  With this, your facility eliminates manual data entry errors.   

Grading Interface_Successful Grain Harvest

• Start using a Grading Interface

The grading interface automatically applies the results of the grading equipment to the scale ticket and load documentation. In essence, automating this process frees up your operator, allowing them to focus on greater grain accuracy. 

 

Operators manually enter values from the grading interface.  Automating this process, prevents shrinkage, discount penalties, and associated costs of incorrectly assigning bins.  

Message Board

• Start using a Message Board

Without a doubt, communicating to your drivers what to do next is imperative. The message board provides these details, along with customer, grade, and weight details.  

 

Naturally, miscommunication from intercoms is nonexistent, because drivers have clear instructions on their next move.

How to Improve Safety for a successful grain harvest

Ask yourself, during last year’s Harvest…   

    • How long did it take for drivers to get out of their trucks and walk to the office to get their tickets?  
    • Did you have an employee running tickets out to drivers?  

 

Not only do you have to worry about the safety of your employees but keeping drivers and customers safe is also important. By and large, when you keep drivers in their trucks and eliminate ticket runners, you will improve the overall safety at your facility. 

Improve Safety at your Facility

Safety is key for both your employees and customers. Here’s one quick way to improve safety:
Outdoor Printer_Successful Grain Harvest

• Start using an outdoor kiosk printer

An outdoor kiosk printer prints a copy of the ticket at the scale. Then, the driver retrieves the ticket by reaching out their truck window.  

Not only does the driver not get out of the truck, you no longer need an employee running tickets out to trucks. 

How to Automate bin Inventory for a successful grain harvest

Ask yourself, during last year’s Harvest…  

  • Did you manually update dry-erase bin boards to track your grain?  
  • How long did it take you to model blends and make blend predictions?  

 

When automating bin inventory, your business has peace of mind that all your inventory is accounted for. In addition, you can preserve the identity of your grain in each bin.  

Bin Management Software

• Start using a bin management system

Automatic Visual Binboards

As soon as you receive grain, your company-wide shared bin boards are automatically updated. Say goodbye to manual measure-ups, updating dry-erase boards, or manually inputting data into a spreadsheet. That’s because the data populates automatically! 

 

Quick Grain Bin Assignment

With two simple clicks, your team can assign grain to bins. In turn, you will have less overtime correcting mistakes of incorrect bin assignments. 

 

Model Blends & Blend Predictions

Most importantly, a bin management system provides up-to-the-minute grain quality and quantity inventory information. Ultimately helping you model blends and make blend predictions in minutes. And let’s be honest, typically that task alone would typically take you hours to complete. 

How to Reduce Overtime Labor

Ask yourself, during last year’s Harvest…  

  • Did you get to go home on time?  

  

On average, at the end of the day during harvest, how long did you have to stay at work until the last truck was processed? Ideally, your scale house runs in near-real-time with your accounting system, and you have full transparency of your entire grain inventory.  

Reduce Overtime Labor

Here’s one simple and easy adoption way for you to reduce overtime labor for both you and your employees:
Electronic Document Management

• Start using an electronic document capture at the scale

By using an electronic document capture and storage management solution, you create an electronic folio for each ticket. Then, the documentation syncs with ERP in near-real-time. 

  

This is important because you no longer need to leave your desk when looking for a bill of lading or other supporting documents for a ticket. In fact, all documents are attached directly to the ticket during the time of the transaction. Surprisingly, this easy-to-adopt solution gets you out of the office sooner each day, because you don’t have to file the mounds and mounds of documents that always seem to pile up.

How to receive grain without relying on the internet

Ask yourself, during last year’s Harvest…  

  • Did your facility have to stop receiving grain or use paper tickets because your internet went down?  

  

The bottom line, if your internet goes down, does it take your company with it? According to a study by Gartner, the average cost of internet downtime for a company ranges from $5,600-$140,000 per minute! In this digital age, it is time to stop relying on the internet to accept your grain.   

Do Not Rely On Internet_Successful Grain Harvest

• Start using a scale automation and operation system that doesn’t rely on the Internet

By using a scale automation and operation system that doesn’t rely on the internet, the customer names, contracts, load info, grain quality, and much more runs locally.  In addition, your shipping and receiving data syncs with near real-time integrations to your ERP system. This helps by maintaining a constant flow of updates. All in all, you can trust your local data is reliable and flows without interrupting users, even if the internet is down!  

What budget do I need for a successful grain harvest?

You might be surprised that the budget you need to complete the items off the checklist for a successful harvest is minimal. The important thing is, you can choose what is essential at your facility and only adopt those processes. You may think that you must purchase everything, plus the kitchen sink. The fact of the matter is you can determine what practical solutions will work at your facility. Then, only implement those solutions.

 

If your facility decides to add another solution down the road, it will seamlessly integrate with what you already have in place. Most importantly, all these solutions on the checklist integrate seamlessly with AGRIS and CINCH.

Let's talk!

If you’re interested in getting more information or pricing for the items on the checklist, let’s talk. Our team of experts is here to help you achieve your goals to succeed. We’re not here to sell you over-the-top solutions that won’t gain you anything.  

Take the next step towards a successful grain harvest

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