To start a cycle, the ripen app will request a Target Date and Stage Goal.
Target Date (including date and time) should reflect your planned shipment day for the largest volume of fruit shipping from that zone.
Select a time of day that demonstrates when you expect fruit to be pulled from the room. That provides the models with the longest and best predicted understanding of available cycle length for the given target date. If you ship to order or in intervals over greater than a 6-hour time frame, talk to your Account Manager about which cycle time of day to target.
Stage Goal should reflect the **minimum color stage you are comfortable with at the time staff conduct their last QC check for ship out reporting.
This value may be lower than your final retail color goal and average facility ship out preference to account to account for fruit progression during distribution center staging, shipment process, and retail merchandising preparation if there is significant time elapsed across those activities.
The purpose of this stage goal is to set an expected fruit color at the point of cycle completion in order to evaluate ripening performance within the controlled environment context of the ripening rooms. Strella considers fruit +0.5 stages higher than your Stage Goal as within goal range.
Facilities with less frequent shipments, longer than average distribution distances, and/or lower average weekly shipments per store may consider a more conservative DC-level ship out goal if they have not done so already. Your Account Manager can help you calibrate on the best options for your specific scenario.
The ripening cycle targets a singular Target Date and Stage Goal per zone in order to narrow focus on a specific outcome for evaluation purposes.
The reality is that some rooms may ship fruit over multiple days. In that scenario, select the Target Date and Stage Goal based on the shipment day with the highest planned outbound volume.
Consider writing a short cycle note under the category, "fruit will ship over multiple days," to provide additional context around your shipment plan.
Preferably, the original target established prior to gassing remains the same throughout the full cycle, however last-minute demand and inventory shifts can happen outside your control.
The app supports changes to Target Dates and Stage Goals throughout the cycle if the original plans change materially and within reasonable ripening cycle parameters. The cycle length for the given stage goal and the available time remaining would need to be feasible.
Please update the Target Date directly in the app as soon you are aware to give the system as much time as possible to accommodate your change. This is the fastest way to instigate a course correction; however you may also reach out to your Account Manager to discuss it.
A change in shipping timing of ±12 hours would be considered material.
Carryover fruit occurs when fruit ships on the original Target Date, but there is still product remaining to ship on subsequent days. It is not necessary to update the Target Date for carryover fruit, because the model will continue to stabilize fruit past the Target Date once the fruit has reached in minimum stage goal.
Similarly, it is not necessary to update the Target Date for late shipments within 24 hours of the current target date as that fruit has already neared the end of its cycle. Keep in mind that fruit held one day longer than its original target date and/or greater than 7 days in the facility is likely to ripen beyond its original stage goal.
In all cases, the model will continue to hold late shipments and carryover fruit at lower temperatures until the fruit is officially shipped out in the app.