Fresno, CA ??As Famous Software celebrates its 40 year anniversary the company is not only focused on its customers, products and technology it is focused on leadership. Through four decades Famous Software has been led by two presidents: Wayne Holm(1975?1998) and Kirk Parrish (1999?2015) and both have been committed to serving Agriculture and the Fresh Produce industry. The firms next President, Heather Hammack, also embodies the same commitment to Agriculture and the Fresh Produce industry.
Heather is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and received a degree in Agricultural Business with a Finance Concentration and a minor in Crop Science. Heather began her career at Famous Software in 1999 as a regional Sales Representative and assumed the role of Sales Manager in 2004. In 2012 Heather was promoted to the Director of Sales and Marketing and took a lead role in the Strategic Planning process at Famous Software preparing her for her next role as the President of Famous Software.
Heather serves and has served on various PMA and United Fresh committees focused on technology and the exhibitor advisory committee. Supporting the Foundation for Industry Talent as a mentor, Heather enjoys the opportunity to work with the next generation of leaders in the produce industry.
Kirk Parrish, Famous Software’s CEO is very excited about the promotion. “Heather is a talented leader that is able to manage the day to day challenges without losing sight of our strategic initiatives. In spite of her success Heather remains very humble as she is extremely focused on achieving results through those around her. Famous Software is in great hands as we enter the next decade.”
Famous Software Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary
Famous Software LLC is celebrating its 40th year of service to the fresh produce industry. If you eat fruits and vegetables, there is a very good chance they have been tracked and accounted for by some of the 25,000 Famous Software users employed by more than 1,400 growers, packers, shippers, wholesalers and distributors.
The company was founded as Holm Computer Solutions in 1975 by Wayne Holm, initially to provide custom minicomputer programming services to the produce industry. In 1981 John Dietz and Harvey Kuffner joined Wayne, and the company was renamed Holm?Dietz Computer Systems Inc. (HDCSI).
The firm began to develop a versatile fresh produce and agricultural focused product for industry?wide use at this time. This standardized product, called Famous, enabled HDCSI to better?support its customers by providing a true multi?user solution.
Kirk Parrish, (now the firm's managing partner) joined the company in 1986 in a sales and customer service role. At the time, Kirk was one of eight employees. In 1990 he participated in the development of a national marketing and sales strategy helping to grow and diversify the company into all geographic areas, profiles, and commodities of the fresh produce industry.
By 1995 HDCSI had completed a year 2000 compliant release of its flag ship product, Version 5, insuring that there would be no interruption of service for its large customer base. Not long after the Y2K conversion was completed research and development began for the next generation of software ? Version 6. Version 6 is a Windows?based solution running on Oracle’s high?end database platform. It was initially released in 1998 at Harris Farms in Fresno County.
Kirk Parrish was named the company’s president in 1999 in preparation for the retirement of the founders Wayne Holm and John Dietz. This transition also coincided with conversion of HDCSI to Famous Software LLC.
Between 2000 and 2004 customers such as Pacific International Marketing, Ocean Mist, California Giant, and Six L’s installed the company’s new Oracle?based product. Work also begins on a new electronic trading (EDI) solution now called the Famous Integration Service (FIS). Built on high end technology utilizing Oracle’s B2B platform FIS now processes over 2.5 million EDI transactions annually. More than 50 trading partners including all of the major retailers and food service providers are integrated with the FIS solution. Famous customers are not limited to trading with the retail and food service community they are also able to trade directly with other Famous customers via the Famous to Famous(F2F) fully integrated solution.
A leader in traceability technology even before it was common practice, Famous Software has supported pallet tag inventory solutions for over 30 years. By 2006 an RFID tag option was available for Wal?Mart compliance. Famous continued to be responsive to produce industry demands by creating a fully integrated PTI?compliant track and trace solution in 2010.
Version 6 has evolved into an extremely versatile tool for the fresh produce industry. It supportsFinancials and Banking, Cost Accounting, Purchasing and AP, Payroll, Order Management, Inventory and Warehouse Management, Processing, Shipping Management, Invoicing and AR, and many Grower Accounting methodologies. The enhancement of Version 6 is driven by customer requests, industry demands and government Regulations.
Version 6 has truly become a platform with the addition of the Famous Mobile solution and a Business Intelligence. The mobile product extends the use of the Famous V6 application to wireless devices in the field and in the warehouse these mobile applications have resulted in significant increases in efficiency. Mobile applications are available for Field Case Tagging, Receiving, and Warehouse Management with additional applications under development.
The Oracle Business Intelligence solution is also new in 2015 with multiple pilot sites now able to run against an operational data warehouse optimized for analysis. The tool delivers dashboards, user?definable ad?hoc queries and conditional alerts, all in near real time while taking analysis to a whole new level.
Located in Fresno, California the firm's now 80 employees continue the legacy of dedicated service to the produce industry. As a full service provider of industry specific software the firm, develops, markets, supports and implements its products throughout North America.
Source: Famous Software LLC
