Custom app for bulb batch administration
Appfront builds apps that help bulb growers and traders track every batch from the plot to the buyer: cultivar, origin, quantities per size, location in the cell, treatments, disinfections, inspections and certificates. So that the question of how many of which size are in stock and where a batch comes from always has an answer that matches the cell.
What is an app for bulb batch administration?
A batch administration app gives every batch of bulbs its own record: cultivar, origin and field, lifting date, quantities per grading size, location in the cell, the treatments and disinfections the batch has received, the inspections with their outcomes, and the certificates attached to it. On dispatch, the app records which batch goes to which customer, so the origin of every delivery and the destination of every batch are known.
Without an app, the batch is recorded on a card on the crate, in a spreadsheet per cell, and in the inspection service's records. When a customer asks where a delivery came from, an inspector asks about a batch's disinfection, or the planner asks how many of a size are in the cell, someone has to piece the three together. And after a season of buying from several growers, nobody is quite sure which batch is in which crate.
We build custom solutions because every business handles batches differently. A grower follows its own batches from the field to sale, an exporter buys from dozens of growers and supplies compiled orders per customer, and a forcer tracks batches right through to the glasshouse. Which characteristics you record, how you split and merge batches, and what the inspection service requires of you: that determines the app, and it should fit your way of working.
Batch record
Cultivar, origin, field, quantities per size, cell and crate, treatments, disinfections, inspections and certificates, all under one batch number.
Stock per size and cell
How much of which size is where, kept up to date by every treatment and every dispatch, rather than by a count at the end of the week.
Traceable in both directions
From delivery to batch, field and grower, and from batch to every customer that has received it.
How we build your bulb batch administration app
We start with the batch as it is currently tracked, from the card on the crate to the inspection service's records. That shows what the app needs to record for each batch, and at which moments.
Which characteristics you record, how you split and merge batches, and what the inspection service requires. We follow a batch from lifting through to dispatch.
Creation at lifting or purchase, quantities per size, location in cell and crate, with a scan on the crate that identifies the batch anywhere.
Every treatment and disinfection on the batch, inspections with outcomes and certificates, and dispatch per customer with the batches it contains.
Integration with your shed planning, cultivation records, inspection service and your sales or export administration. After that, we take over maintenance of the app.
What a bulb batch administration app actually does
The components below come up at almost every bulb business. Which ones you need depends on whether you grow, trade or force.
Creating and splitting batches
A batch with its characteristics at lifting or purchase, and splitting and merging batches while keeping their origin.
Quantities per grading size
Quantities per size for each batch, updated by sorting, counting and dispatch, with losses recorded per treatment.
Cell and crate
Where each batch is, per cell and per crate, with a scan on the crate and a floor plan of the cell.
Treatments and disinfections
Every treatment and every disinfection with agent, dosage and date recorded against the batch, ready for cultivation records.
Inspections and certificates
Inspections with date, outcome and any remarks, and the certificates the batch needs for export.
Dispatch and traceability
Which batches have been delivered to each customer, and which customers have received each batch. Searchable in both directions.
Who we build a bulb batch administration app for
The app is intended for businesses that track many batches at once and need to show, per customer and per inspection, what they have done.
Bulb growers
Your own batches by cultivar and field, across multiple seasons, with planting stock that becomes a new batch the following year.
Exporters and trading companies
Lots from dozens of growers, combined into orders per buyer, with certificates and origin for each delivery.
Forcers
Lots that go into the glasshouse, with the lot's history explaining what happens to it in the glasshouse.
Businesses with many inspections
Inspections and certificates per lot that must be on time and complete for export.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
With OneDayBuild, we turn your idea into something tangible in one day for €1,150, so you can see whether further development is worth the investment. Decide to go ahead with the full build? Then we credit the full cost.
Explore OneDayBuild →Technology and integrations
The app runs on scanners in the shed and on phones and browsers in the office, integrated with your cultivation records and sales administration. For directing work in the shed, we have a separate page on the app for work orders. For ornamental horticulture more broadly, there's the ornamental horticulture app, and you can read about how we work on building an app.
For sales, allocation and margin per lot in the office, there is our software for bulb lot sales and stock.
Why Appfront for your bulb lot management app?
A lot management system is only accurate if every action on a lot is recorded at the moment it happens. We build on that, with a scan on the crate as the entry point.
The crate is the entry point
Every crate a scan, every action on the lot at the moment it happens. No labels that come loose and no count at the end of the week.
Splitting and merging with origin preserved
A lot that is split or merged keeps its origin. That is what traceability means in the bulb trade, and what a spreadsheet cannot do.
Ready for inspection and export
Inspections, disinfections and certificates are attached to the lot at the moment the inspector or the buyer asks for them.
Security and privacy for a bulb lot management app
Lot management holds data on growers, buyers and prices that is commercially sensitive. Access is governed by role: the barn sees lots and locations, sales sees buyers and orders, administration sees purchasing. A grower looking in through a portal sees only their own lots.
Entries against a lot are immutable once recorded. A correction sits alongside the original entry with name, time and reason. When an inspection service or a buyer asks about a lot, the full history can be read back.
Frequently asked questions about a bulb lot management app
Questions bulb businesses ask before getting started.
It gives each lot a record with cultivar, origin, field, quantities per size, location in the bed, treatments, disinfections, inspections and certificates, and records at dispatch which lot goes to which buyer. Stock by size and bed is therefore accurate at all times, and the origin of every delivery is known.
A split lot receives a new number carrying the origin of the original lot; a merged lot retains the origin of all its parts. Traceability in both directions therefore remains possible, even across multiple seasons and treatments.
Yes. Every crate gets a label with a code, and every action starts with a scan. That is how the records stay accurate: the action is logged against the lot at the moment it happens, in the barn, not later in the office.
Inspections and their results are recorded against the batch, and the certificates issued by the inspection service are linked to the batch. Where the inspection service supplies or receives data digitally, we build the integration; otherwise you enter the result along with the document.
Yes. A disinfection is an operation on a batch involving a product, dosage and date, and that data belongs in the cultivation register. The app records it there, so you don't have to enter it twice.
Yes, with the grower as the origin per batch and the order per buyer as the composition of batches. If you have a question about a delivery, you can see straight away which growers the batches came from, and if you have a question about a grower, you can see which buyers their batches went to.
No. An inventory system counts quantities per item. A batch administration tracks each batch separately, with origin, operations, inspections and destination. For bulbs, the batch is the unit, because two batches of the same cultivar and size have a different origin and a different history.
Are your batches accurately tracked from field to buyer?
Tell us how you currently track batches and where things go wrong during the peak season. We'll follow a batch from lifting to dispatch and show you what an app would concretely deliver in your situation.