Instead of ABCpacker
Stop renting ABCpacker. Own the record behind every bin.
We shape your version around how your shed tips, packs and pays growers, bring your ABCpacker records across, and look after it through every harvest.
ABC Software publishes no price for ABCpacker: it sends a tailored proposal based on your modules, packhouse size and complexity, plus an annual service agreement.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
How ABCpacker is sold
A proposal, a module list and a service agreement, for records you could hold yourself
ABC Software has served growers and packers since 1996 and knows the work. The way it sells is the traditional one: talk to a specialist, get a proposal, add modules as you grow. Underneath sit the same few kinds of record every shed keeps: growers, bins, grader batches, cartons, pallets, customers and payments.
A price you only learn after a review
There is no price on the website. Cost depends on packhouse size, complexity and the modules you need, and you find out in a tailored proposal after ABC has looked at your workflow.
Modules and add-ons on top of the core
ABCpacker is modular. Grower payments are described as optional, and unique bins, carton labelling, pallet scanning, traceability and pack-out profiling are listed as optional add-ons.
An annual service agreement every year
Alongside implementation and configuration fees there is an annual Service Level Agreement, and after-hours support charges are set out in that agreement.
Your servers, your security, their software
ABCpacker is an on-premise desktop application. It runs on your own computers or servers, and keeping those servers, the network and the devices secure is your job.
A queue before harvest
ABC takes on a limited number of customers at a time and suggests engaging early to secure a slot before harvest. Go-live follows discovery, configuration and training.
Reports someone else builds
Some reports come out of the box, like batch planning and pack-out reports. ABC can also build custom reports to your requirements.
What your packhouse runs on instead
The same season, held in records you can ask anything
Bins in
Every load checked against its spray record on arrival
A delivery is logged against its grower and block with the spray history attached, so the paperwork problems surface at the weighbridge, not in the auditor's visit.
- check Fruit picked before its spray withholding period ends is put on hold, with the date it clears written next to it
- check Grading waits until the spray diary is on record, so the missing diary is chased the same day
- check Held fruit is released only with the reason recorded: a residue result, a market it is cleared for, or disposal
- check Bins still ungraded after three days come up on the morning list without anyone running a report
Pallets out
Bin to customer, answered in one question
Grading builds the pallets, the coolstore holds them and each consignment knows what went on the truck, so a recall question is answered while the customer is still on the phone.
- check Ask about a pallet number and see the grading run, the delivery, the block, the pick date and the spray record together
- check The consignment manifest lists where everything on the truck came from, ready before it leaves the dock
- check Coolroom readings are logged per room, and a reading outside its band is flagged with how many pallets are in the room
- check Fruit from a block with a lapsed GAP certificate is kept off export consignments automatically
Grower payments
Pooled returns in the free version, not an optional extra
Trays are packed into pools by crop and variety, sales are recorded against the pool, and each grower's share after packing charges and levies is worked out at today's numbers whenever you ask.
- check See each grower's gross share, charges, levies and net per tray while the pool is still trading
- check A pool cannot close while dispatched trays still have no sale recorded, so nobody is underpaid by accident
- check Return statements in your own branding are drafted per grower per pool, for a person to check before payment
- check A packout statement is drafted the moment a load is graded, with the class one share growers ring about
Yours to change
Change it by asking, not by commissioning
A new field, a renamed stage or a different charge is a sentence, and the change lands in your own records.
- check Ask a question no standard report covers, such as which grower's packout has slipped three runs in a row, and get the answer
- check Add a rule or a field in plain words, with no custom report or add-on to order
- check Runs on a laptop for a test, or on your own system for the whole shed, with Claude Code and similar tools
- check Open source under the MIT licence, with your records in a database you can back up and read with anything
Make it yours
Design your own ABCpacker replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from ABCpacker. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your ABCpacker data across and run it for you.
Switching
How to switch from ABCpacker
A move involves exporting your packhouse records, matching ABCpacker's columns to Packhouse, checking the imported data, then running both systems side by side before you stop using ABCpacker.
- 1
Export your records
Ask ABC Software for spreadsheet exports of your growers, blocks, bin receivals, pallets and grower payments. ABCpacker's export options are not specified here, so check with ABC Software about what your account allows. If it does not offer spreadsheet exports directly, ask whether you can export the records in a format such as CSV or Excel.
- 2
Load a test run
Load the exports into Packhouse using its import process, and start with a test run before saving anything. The free version expects a different packhouse system's export layout by default, so ABCpacker's columns need to be matched first. In plain language, tell the import how the columns in your spreadsheets correspond to Packhouse's records.
- 3
Check flagged records
Review what the import flags before relying on the new records. The import is an audit as well as a transfer: it can flag an expired GAP certificate on a block or a delivery missing its spray diary. Check those items against ABCpacker and your own records, and correct or resolve discrepancies before you treat Packhouse as your working record.
- 4
Run both side by side
For a short period, keep ABCpacker in use while you also record current work in Packhouse. Compare the records you enter in both systems, including receivals, grading, pallets, consignments and grower returns where they apply to your operation. Use the overlap to check that the imported history and your day to day entries make sense before you rely on Packhouse alone.
- 5
Switch off ABCpacker
When the checks are complete and you are confident that the records you need are in Packhouse, make it your working system and stop entering new work in ABCpacker. Keep the exported records you chose to bring across available for reference. Confirm that the people who need to use the new system know where its records sit and how to ask for the information they need.
Where the real effort goes
The main work is usually matching ABCpacker's columns to the records Packhouse expects, adapting your own fields and operating rules, and deciding how much history to bring across. That choice affects the amount of data to check, especially where records need attention. When Enterprise DNA builds your version, mapping the exports and checking every imported record are part of the job.
Not ready for a call?
Get your ABCpacker switch plan by email
We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off ABCpacker, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.
Sent. Check your inbox.
Your ABCpacker switch plan is on its way.
Rather talk it through? Book a call arrow_forwardTwo ways to switch
Try the free version yourself, or have Enterprise DNA build and look after yours
Open source
Run it yourself
Free
- 1 Clone the packhouse-for-claude-code repo from GitHub
- 2 Run npm run demo, then open the folder in Claude Code
- 3 Type /attention to see what needs a decision in the demo season
- 4 Ask ABC Software for exports of your growers, blocks and bin receivals, then ask Claude Code to map the columns and do a test import
Omni by Enterprise DNA
Have Enterprise DNA build and run it
One setup fee, then a monthly retainer
- check We bring your growers, blocks, bin receivals, pallets and payment history across from ABCpacker and check each record as it lands
- check We set up your pools, advances, interim payments, charges and grower statements to match how you pay now
- check We add what your floor depends on: carton and pallet labels, scanning, a grader or tipper feed, a simple screen for line staff
- check It runs inside Omni, our managed Command Center, beside the rest of your business
Questions
Instead of ABCpacker, answered
ABCpacker already runs on our own servers. Is that not owning it? expand_more
You own the hardware, but the software is licensed and renewed through an annual service agreement, and custom reports are built by the vendor. Here the software is open source and the records sit in a plain database, so anyone you choose can read them, change them or build on them.
How do we get our records out of ABCpacker? expand_more
Ask ABC Software for spreadsheet exports of your growers, blocks, bin receivals, pallets and grower payments. The free version reads a different packhouse system's export layout by default, so ABCpacker's columns need matching up first. When Enterprise DNA builds your version, that mapping and checking every record is part of the job. If you run it yourself, ask Claude Code to map the columns and do a test run before anything is saved.
ABCpacker prints our carton and pallet labels and talks to the grader. Does this? expand_more
Not in the free version today. It records grading results, pallets and consignments, but it does not print carton or SSCC pallet labels or read a live feed from a grader, tipper or palletiser. Enterprise DNA builds those connections into your version when your shed relies on them.
We pay growers with advances, interim payments and RCTIs. Can it handle that? expand_more
The free version handles pooled returns: trays into pools, sales into pools, and each grower's net after packing charges and levies. Advances, interim payments and recipient-created tax invoices are set up for your arrangements when Enterprise DNA builds your version, as rules you can read rather than a module you buy.
Does it still send invoices to Xero? expand_more
The free version keeps sales and grower returns in plain records but does not post invoices to Xero on its own. Connecting it to Xero is an addition Enterprise DNA can set up when it builds and runs your version.
Find out what your packhouse records are really worth owning
Book 30 minutes with Sam. Bring your last ABCpacker proposal or service agreement invoice and the list of modules you use, and we will walk through what your shed actually records and what your own version would look like. If it is a fit, we build it and run it. If not, the free version is yours to keep.
Packhouse for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.
Done paying for ABCpacker?
Get your version built