Partner farmers of DeliverE practices just in time harvesting to ensure quality produce
Fulfilling the platform’s promise of providing fresh and quality fruits and vegetables through the JIT model
If there’s anything that DeliverE wants buyers and end consumers to learn, it is the platform’s promise of providing fresh and affordable fresh produce by utilizing its improved supply chain.
To do so, the platform has been practicing a method known in the supply chain industry as the JIT model, which means Just In Time. To properly implement this, it requires us to see the demand accurately to ensure that once fresh fruits and vegetables have been harvested, it would not be stored for a long time in the warehouse facility—and instead would be delivered to residential and commercial locations just a few hours after its arrival in Metro Manila.
Proper implementation of JIT harvesting is not an easy process. Optimal schedules are created which will then be aligned to our partner farmer’s harvesting time. Proper coordination between registered farmers and buyers are also observed to ensure that volume of supply is communicated and will meet the buyer’s demands. But following this process ensures that DeliverE can carry out its goal and promise to its registered buyers.
Once retail orders of various online marketplaces associated with DeliverE are finalized, orders get consolidated at a specified cut-off date and a purchase order will then be sent to the farmer-supplier.
After the purchase order has been received, farmers would start harvesting late in the afternoon and ship them by evening on the same day. Trucks would arrive in the consolidation and processing facility early in the morning, and each harvest would go through repackaging and any necessary trimming required by the retail orders.
All of the above-mentioned processes are completed within 1am to 6pm, allowing the last mile dispatch to take place at 7 to 8am. This ensures deliveries arrive to its respective location before noon.
With DeliverE bringing each vital touchpoint closely linked to each other, this allows the elimination of long-winding layers of middlemen, which typically is the origin of damaged produce. Through the JIT harvesting method, the platform is able to retain the quality of fresh produce providing the value expected by both commercial and residential buyers.
DeliverE, as part of its effort in addressing food security issues, also hopes to further lessen food wastage through the JIT model. This is also advocated to each of our partner farmers, which gives way for deliveries to FTI to arrive only as needed. Because of this, the platform has been successful in reducing post harvest loss from the common industry figure of 20-30% to just 5-10%.