Worldwide Fruit receives award

Lincs-based Worldwide Fruit has received a Food Manufacture Excellence award in the Ambient and General Groceries section.

The judges were particularly impressed with the way the company acknowledged its failings and overcame them. "They’ve identified particular issues and they’ve been dealt with," said judge Jonathan Bayne.

A major change at the firm has been the introduction of radio frequency identification (RFID) into the workplace. The company invested £40,000 in RFID hardware and designed Pick Accuracy Verification (PAV) software so that production errors with use-by dates and label information could be identified. The technology has removed all despatch inaccuracies and recovered downstream losses.

Installing RFID also meant that the firm could work with and supply Marks & Spencer, which was implementing RFID technology.

"Poor availability is poor customer service," said Marks & Spencer fruit category manager Nicola Carter. "Worldwide Fruit has raised the bar in providing superior availability, improving our customer service."

Worldwide Fruit has also introduced RFID and PAV to its grower/packers, which removed costly fines for use-by date and picking errors.

The company has now been visited by hordes of manufacturers, including Dairy Crest and RF Brookes, all keen to gain a greater understanding of PAV. The firm says: "At Worldwide Fruit we take great pride in standing alongside these powerful companies. Our aim is to give our colleagues in the produce industry confidence to invest in state of the art technology."

The judges commended the company’s willingness to share best practice. "The company is making a significant difference," said judge Paul Wilkinson.