You know it’s fall in South Georgia when the pecans begin to drop.

The season brings cooler temperatures and the promise of holidays ahead. But at Sunnyland Farms, a pecan distributor in Albany, it also means an exponential rise in orders and shipments.

Every year, Sunnyland CEO Alex Willson watched as orders rolled in and boxes filled with candied pecans and specialty baked goods stacked up for delivery. The small, family-owned company prided itself on customer service and free shipping — but Willson had concerns.

“We really didn’t have a detailed view of exactly where boxes were going and how much it was costing us,” said Willson, a third-generation leader of the business. “We wanted a more granular view of that, and it’s challenging for a business our size because we have people that are stretched fairly thin.”

Looking for solutions, Willson turned to Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing (Georgia AIM). Through Georgia AIM’s Rural Supply Chain initiative, Sunnyland was paired with guidance from Georgia Institute of Technology faculty and a summer intern who could explore AI-based solutions.

“To survive, you have to be creative. To survive, you have to be resilient. And to survive, you have to persevere. And if you tap into that and show how AI enables you to compete quicker — to grow and maintain the business that you have with less investment — it really can work out quite well,” said Chuck Easley, a professor in Georgia Tech’s Supply Chain and Logistics Institute.

Sunnyland’s strong focus on customer service includes free shipping on every order. But as shipping carriers and pricing structures evolved, Willson and Leshonda Jones, Sunnyland’s vice president of operations, realized they needed a better understanding of their customers, order patterns, and shipping rates.

“The area where I spend most of my time during our busiest part of the year — which is the season — is with the shipping. And with that being a seven-figure line item, as an expense, it’s something that you look at if not every day, you definitely look at every quarter,” she said. “What we noticed was that cost was constantly going up.”

To find a solution, Easley introduced low-cost generative AI tools. Georgia AIM funded a summer intern — Georgia Tech undergraduate Arpita Gupte — to work with Sunnyland for three months. During that time, she organized the company’s shipping data, which led to a renegotiated contract with their preferred shipping partner.

Gupte used ChatGPT to develop a series of prompts that helped her analyze spreadsheets of shipping data, uncovering insights about zones, package sizes, and box weights. The data helped Sunnyland compare rates and come to the negotiating table with confidence.

Being open to new technology, Gupte said, makes all the difference.

“There have been other places I’ve worked, and there have been third- or fourth-generation (owners), and they don’t really want to change — and it can be really difficult,” said Gupte. “But I think Alex was the type of person who realizes that change is necessary. And that’s why he was so willing to accept it and keep on going with it.”

This simple, low-cost AI solution ended up saving the company thousands of dollars in shipping charges. The savings were reinvested back into the business. New solar panels now help reduce energy costs during the busy pecan-roasting season, and automated bagging equipment allows employees to focus on more advanced tasks.

“And, of course, allowing our customers to get products faster has made a better customer experience,” added Willson.

In the end, the new technology allows Sunnyland to deepen its connection to the values established by Willson’s grandparents more than 70 years ago.

“I love Sunnyland, and I hope we can continue to meet and unite with people like Georgia AIM so we can continue to grow,” said Jones, who has worked at Sunnyland for 25 years. Today, she sees Willson’s children around the business and thinks about the future. AI and smart technologies are part of that vision.

“I would love to see those little boys running around running the company one day. That’s my goal.”