Fieldclock
If you’ve ever stood by a bin in an orchard recording buckets from cherry pickers with a clip board and pen as a storm approaches, you’ve probably asked yourself, is there a better way?
Well, there is. FieldClock.
“Our aim at FieldClock is to get the pen and paper out of the orchard,” says Alex Garcia, Director of Sales for the Wenatchee-based company. “Two of our partners have 1,000 acres of cherries and apples between them, so they know exactly what the problems are.”
Fieldclock is a labour management system. The bucket checker simply scans the picker’s id tag to record the bucket placed in the bin and that information is automatically up-loaded to be accessed by payroll. It’s simple, it’s fair and it’s accurate.
“We were concerned about picker acceptance of a scanning system,” says Garcia. “But it is a very simple system that protects both the employee and the employer.”
The app is compatible with both piece rate and hourly systems and works on both Android and iPhones. Pruning, thinning, spraying, picking and the worker, the time and the exact job location can all be tracked. You can also view that data to assess costs of production.
“We have over 100 clients in six US states right now,” says Garcia. “The majority of our customers are tree fruit operations, but we have asparagus, hops and grapes as well.”
The one time set-up fee including training is $2,950 US with a monthly subscription based on usage of $7 per employee. “If you have five helpers to prune it’s $35 for that month,” says Garcia. “Ten pickers would cost you $70 that month.”