Dairy and milk collection

The daily problem

Milk comes in twice a day, farmer by farmer. Every delivery needs litres, fat and SNF written down, a rate worked out and a slip handed over, while a queue waits. Later the same figures have to turn into farmer bills, advances to recover, and a truck’s load that never quite matches what the plant receives. On the selling side, shops phone in their crates in the morning and evening, and you must remember who still owes you before you say yes.

What you can do

• Record each farmer’s milk with litres, fat and SNF, morning and evening.
• Use your own rate chart. The amount is worked out for you.
• Print a slip for the farmer and keep a register of tests and rejected milk.
• Make farmer bills, give advances and recover them from later milk.
• Send milk from centres to the plant on a truck trip and see the loss on the way.
• Take morning and evening crate orders from shops, with a cut-off time and a credit check.
• Let farmers and shops see their own statement with their phone number.
• See a credit suggestion for a shop or a farmer with each reason shown. You decide.

How a day goes

1. The centre records milk as farmers bring it, on the web or the phone app.
2. The truck picks up from each centre and the plant records what arrived.
3. Orders from shops close at the cut-off time and the van is loaded by crates.
4. At the end of the period, farmer bills are made and paid.

What is still in beta

• The Android app is in final testing on real phones.
• SMS and WhatsApp messages are tested with test providers only.
• Reading scales and milk analysers directly is tested with simulated machines only. Check your machine model with us.
• Milk Collection, Dairy Distribution, the portal and Credit Profile are built and tested, but no dairy has confirmed them in daily use yet.
• The Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi screens are drafts being checked by native speakers.

Questions

Can I use my own rate chart? Yes. You enter your own fat and SNF rates. No chart comes with the app. Until you add one, the app pays a flat ₹30 a litre, so add your chart before the first collection. A chart made on the web works from fixed steps (₹0.50 for each 0.1 of fat and ₹0.20 for each 0.1 of SNF) and never pays below ₹10 a litre.

Does it work without internet at the centre? Not yet. Recording milk on the phone needs a connection, because the rate and the slip number come from the server. Working offline at a centre is planned.

Can farmers see what I owe them? Yes. A farmer signs in with their phone number and sees their own statement. This part is in beta.