TECHNOLOGY
Cold-Chain Management
Strengthening Links in the Cold Chain RE AL-TIME TR ACKING OF CONDITIONS BE YOND THE STORE IS ESSENTIAL TO PRESERVING FOOD SAFE T Y AND SHELF LIFE.
D By Jim Dudlicek
riving cold-chain efficiencies that combat food waste is on-brand for Wiliot’s intelligence platform continuously captures grocery retailers. data on environmental conditions in the supply chain. “We care deeply about feeding families, not landfills,” says Mike and assess operations in terms of cooling methods and Roberts, VP of produce operations effectiveness ... gives us a unique vantage point.” at Springdale, Ark.-based indepenThe ability of retailers to effectively manage their cold dent regional grocery chain Harps chain depends on a host of factors, Aronson explains: Food Stores. “Who’s responsible for trucking, how far are the trucks That’s why Harps and other moving, what time of year is it, how many distribution retailers are partnering with industry suppliers on solutions that centers are being managed, how many suppliers are reduce shrink, improve product consistency, streamline product they sourcing from.” fulfillment and maintain regulatory compliance. With higher prices at the grocery store and online With the continued expansion and household acceptance of fulfillment on the rise, consumer expectations are inonline grocery, the cold chain plays an increasingly critical role in creasing accordingly, Aronson maintaining food safety and shopper trust. “Finding ways to ensure consistency notes. “The demand for fresh, Innovations in temperature technology, senand freshness has never been more combined with third-party sors, packaging, back-of-house layouts and important, and relying on legacy shopping, makes consistenpredictive maintenance are all becoming cy increasingly important. key differentiators for grocery operators. systems may not be enough.” Delivering that consistency —Matthew Aronson, Verdant Technologies can be a challenge,” he says. All of the Variables “Finding ways to ensure consistency and freshness In a move toward enhancing its brand promise, Harps is moving has never been more important, and relying on legacy forward with its adoption of HarvestHold Fresh, a post-harvest systems may not be enough.” solution from Centennial, Colo.-based ag tech company Verdant Technologies. Fully embracing the solution follows a successful pilot with Castroville, Calif.-based grower partner Ocean Mist Farms Real-Time Visibility that delivered measurable gains in broccoli quality across the iceAccording to Giampaolo Marino, chief strategy and less broccoli supply chain. growth officer at San Jose, Calif.-based wireless power “We saw better-looking broccoli and higher sell-through in solution provider Energous, the biggest challenge is stores,” Roberts notes. “This is exactly the kind of innovation we visibility. look for.” “Grocery retailers are managing highly perishable Verdant is working with retailers and growers more often to products across complex environments, from distrishore up the cold chain. “We bution centers to store shelves to last-mile do a lot of education with delivery, but much of the cold chain is still growers and retailers to point monitored through point-in-time checks to the root cause of qualrather than continuous data,” Marino says. ity issues,” says Matthew “Teams are forced into reactive deciAronson, Verdant’s chief revsion-making instead of preventing issues in enue officer. “All of the work the moment.” we’ve done to gather data Marino calls Energous’ ambient IoT (Internet of Things) a “more continuous, TMX Transform uses proactive approach” to cold-chain monitorsimulation modeling to ing. “Our technology supports battery-free test scenarios for last-mile sensing that continuously monitors temdelivery and other cold-chain perature across critical points in the cold applications.
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