Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery in Frostproof, FL is now using a wireless inventory control system from BizSpeed.  Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery is the largest citrus nursery in Florida. The owner of the nursery, Phillip Rucks, needed a way to track thousands of citrus trees that are growing at any given time.  Phillip found the solution he needed during the summer of 2008 when he deployed BizSpeed’s “goRoam Mobile Inventory” system to manage greenhouse inventory.  The system uses Symbol-Motorola MC9090 handheld computers that have wireless and barcode capability, along with a Motorola wireless network.  These mobile computers have the rugged ability to withstand a greenhouse environment.

The challenge Phillip Rucks faced was there were thousands of tree varieties, ages, and grades growing at the same time, located over several acres.  Phillip Rucks has to track each tree’s growth and status as Work In Process (WIP) inventory for delivery on specific dates to customers.  The head grower, Cliff Gaddis, was keeping track of inventory and locations with paper & clipboard, spending many hours per week determining inventory counts, status, inventory location and production forecasts.  If a tree was moved, it was extremely difficult to track down its location and status.

Working with Eric Claiborne of BizSpeed, Phil configured BizSpeed’s goRoam mobile and server software for his greenhouse inventory.  Configured for the Greenhouse, the goRoam software allows an inventory clerk to barcode scan and update inventory data anywhere in the greenhouse.  Updates are real-time with a direct wireless connection to a central server, and inventory is updated as soon any activity occurs.

Rucks’ citrus trees are grown on 3200 movable benches, with each bench holding up to 311 trees.  For a given table, the clerk uses the mobile computer to enter tree variety (liners or budded trees), grade of the trees,  quantity on bench, associated customer, root date, bud/graft date, estimated finish date, notes, and the bench location.  The shipping screens support scanning benches as they are placed into a truck, which automatically records products shipped to the customer by barcode and prints a Shipping Ticket.  Each bench has a unique barcode label and each row in the Greenhouse has a unique barcode label that identifies the range and row for that bench.  At any time, reports can be run that will show inventory locations, varieties, grades, customers, quantities, etc.

All reports are stored on a local server and can be run from the goRoam.Mobilehub site which runs in a web-browser.  Because the software runs from a web-browser, all work and reports can be done from any PC either inside the building or outside the building if the server is made available to the Internet.  Items, customers and reports can be updated in goRoam at any time.

As a result of the goRoam system, Rucks has the ability to accurately “see a picture” of inventory at any time, from anywhere.  This makes it is easier to immediately book new sales, complete inventory valuation reports and manage inventory.  And, the head grower can now focus on growing trees and managing his crew without being concerned about inventories.

Mobile Greenhouse Menu – Click to Enlarge:	Mobile Edit Bench Screen – Click to Enlarge:
Browser Inventory Location Screen Click to Enlarge:	Browser Inventory Transaction Screen Click to Enlarge:
Browser Inventory Edit Screen  Click to Enlarge:

To find out more about BizSpeed and goRoam, please visit www.bizspeed.com

About BizSpeed:

BizSpeed is an enterprise software and services company focused on extending business applications to mobile, wireless and web users.  BizSpeed solutions provide and collect information at the point of need, which helps clients achieve a “faster business”.  BizSpeed provides complete mobile solutions for pickup and delivery, inventory tracking, field sales, field service, asset management and inspections.  BizSpeed mobile solutions support barcode and RFID, and are certified on Symbol, Motorola and Intermec hardware.

sales @ bizspeed.com

About Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery, Inc.:

Phillip Rucks Citrus Nursery is the largest citrus nursery in Florida. Rucks has a state-of-the-art 5 acre greenhouse that was one of the first to conform to current state agriculture guidelines See Article -TheLedger.com , including full decontamination entrance/exit, stock tracking, rolling/pneumatic benches and wireless inventory.  Rucks provides containerized trees, budwood, liners and seed.  For more information, contact Phillip Rucks at 863-635-1948.

PR Contact:
Doug Hollowell
dhollowell @ bizspeed.com

866.270.0541