Wool classers will soon receive immediate feedback when bales from a clip they have classed are either over or under weight at delivery.
The initiative is part of the industry's "No more than 204” campaign.
“This is an issue that can be addressed on farm, quickly,” AWEX executive officer Mark Grave said.
“The bale weight minimum and maximum standards have been set by industry to achieve optimum efficiency in handling and processing.”
The issue affects the efficiency and cost effectiveness of processing well beyond the farm gate.
“This is an issue that can be addressed on farm, quickly,” Mr Grave said.
“To support this campaign, we urge growers and contractors to ensure that the wool classer and wool presser have access to working, calibrated scales in the shearing shed.
“The bale weight minimum and maximum standards have been set by industry to achieve optimum efficiency in handling and processing.”
Mr Grave said it was easier to press a bale within the correct weight range on farm, rather than passing that further down the supply chain.
“AWEX is working closely with selling agents and warehouses to address this issue.”
Under the new campaign AWEX would contact wool classers to report the (overweight or underweight) receival weights of individual bales from clips they had recently classed.
The process would make the classer immediately aware that their performance directly impacted the next customer in the supply chain and could add significant costs to the handling of wool.
“When wool is received at the store, the selling agent/warehouse doesn’t know if or how many over/underweight bales might be in each load, each clip, or how many lines of wool will be effected,” Mr Grave said.
At receival, the identification of over or under weight bales results in the processing of that clip stopping.
Only after decisions were made about each bale and line would processing of the clip restart.
“Wool can miss the intended sale due to the additional time required to rehandle over/underweight
bales and additional costs are being incurred for handling,” Mr Grave said.
“The estimated cost of handling and then re-handling over/underweight bales is anywhere between $20 to $30 per bale and the cost to the industry is conservatively estimated to be between $600,000 to $900,000 per year."