Perishable Inventory Management using ‘Predictive Shelf Life’ Process
Eric Kithinji • October 22, 2015
Approach –
The shelf life of perishable foods can be maximized by maintaining required cold chain conditions and appropriate handling within the distribution chain. Inteligistics, in conjunction with the preeminent food quality thought leaders, formulated a scientific process called ‘Predictive Shelf Life’. This process extends and analytically confirms shelf life of food products at any point during the active distribution chain.
This approach combines kinetic data of changes in quality attributes with accurate measurement of environmental conditions (time, temperature, humidity) and handling methods. The kinetic data of quality change provides the necessary mathematical coefficients for developing a predictive model.
Harnessing AI and advanced analytics to deliver smarter, faster, and more efficient cold chain operations.
The FDA’s delay in enforcing FSMA 204 gives produce companies more time, but not a free pass. Now is the moment to build reliable traceability systems that ensure 24-hour response times when the rule takes effect. Inteligistics’ InteliView platform, sensor-based tracking, and 1-Click reporting provide the tools to simplify compliance while strengthening supply chain visibility and recall readiness. Read More Here
Inteligistics, which has been developing digital technology solutions to streamline and transform the fresh food industry supply chain for over a decade, has announced the appointment of Gary Fleming as its new Chief Executive Officer. Click here to read more
“Our partnership with ThroughPut.AI will empower members of the agricultural industry to leverage data for timely, intelligent decision-making resulting from unparalleled visibility at each leg of the supply chain and accompanying analytics required to make better decisions,” remarked Rao Mandava, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Inteligistics. “We are in a new era that can provide never-seen-before capabilities to address problems of the past and fortify ourselves from problems in the future. With our combined capabilities, our customers will immediately see the benefits of how we can usher them into this new era.” Click Here To Read More
- Nearly four decades of supply chain technical expertise is being added to Inteligistics’ ranks. Stepping in as Director of Sales, Retail Supply Chain, Joe Garcia will harness his experience in a vital new role. Click here to read more
Inteligistics was recently granted Patent No. 11,810,041 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patented process, used independently or in conjunction with Inteligistics’ InteliCool product, combines environmental and product data with real-time temperature probe data in cooling, cold storage, transport and other stages of perishables supply chain, according to the release. Inteligistics says the result is optimization of cooling cycles in tunnels, tubes, mac coolers and other cooling assets to provide maximum efficiency. This extends shelf life, increases throughput, results in significant savings in labor and energy use, an improvement in sustainability, and a reduction in food waste. Click here to read more
At Inteligistics, we believe in forging pathways to a future where compliance meets efficiency head-on, and innovation reigns supreme. It is with great excitement and pride that we unveil our latest triumph. One-click FSMA 204 reporting, a milestone in the evolution of food safety compliance. With a mere click of a button, our InteliView platform empowers you to effortlessly generate fully compliant FSMA 204 traceability reports. Gone are the days of laborious data collection and manual processing. With InteliView, navigating the intricate web of FSMA regulatory requirements becomes a seamless and instantaneous endeavor. Read more at https://www.supermarketperimeter.com/articles/11191-inteligistics-debuts-one-click-fsma-204-reporting
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The importance of digitally transforming the supply chain cannot be overstated. Supply chains are often the most complex part of the company’s operation, which involves multiple parties that handle the product and the data. A large supply chain will have numerous bottlenecks and challenges, it is where digital transformation might be toughest to implement but it is also where most value can be gained by digitization. In the perishable supply chains, it is even more important because inefficiencies in the supply chain can directly affect the product and create waste or unsatisfied consumers. Digitized data can serve to identify and avoid cold chain issues and inefficiency in real time from beginning to end of the supply chain. The all-digital Inteligistics solutions are tailored to the perishable supply chains and provide a comprehensive end-to-end visibility and traceability of the product. The central aspect of the visibility is the Inteligistics’ cloud based InteliView platform. This is where all the digital data related to the product is gathered and analyzed providing the end user actionable data to make better decisions faster thus increasing efficiency, reducing, or eliminating quality issues and improving standards. When workers can make better decisions easier, it increases the value of their time as they are able to do more, and it makes their overall job better which is essential for worker satisfaction and retention. Digital transformation with Inteligistics provides overall increases in efficiency and product quality, reduces waste, increases consumer satisfaction, improves brand awareness, all of which have a substantial impact on the bottom line. Read More
Executive Summary The project focuses on quality condition monitoring of perishable produce and food being transported from distribution centers to the retail stores. A major multi-national RETAILER was seeking a solution to provide near real time monitoring through sensor tags at the box/pallet level and containers for transported perishable goods across their Eastern Canada supply chain. (For competitive reasons, RETAIER chooses to remain anonymous at this time). The requested solution includes monitoring temperature over time to ensure quality and optimum shelf life of food goods. RETAILER wants to adopt this type of solution to implement short interval control or early countermeasures to ensure quality and supply chain reliability, reduce shrink and waste, and optimize sales by creating a proof-of-concept for using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict remaining shelf life for each product in the local retail store warehouses. For this test, the RETAILER turned to Inteligistics’ agnostic sensor-based fresh produce solutions which provide an end-to-end supply chain visibility and quality condition monitoring solution for both continental and inter-continental supply chain customers. Inteligistics undertook this project for the RETAILER over a 60-day period and monitored 57 trailer loads of food transported from a distribution center (DC) in Toronto to a dozen different food stores in their supply chain located in Eastern Canada. They successfully monitored the product temperatures, quality and remaining shelf life in the supply chain including the receiving warehouse in each store. Some select boxes were monitored for quality and shelf life through the point of sale by retaining the pallet tag in the selected box. RETAILER was able to control or take early countermeasures to ensure quality and supply chain reliability during these steps in their supply chain and demonstrated the applicability of supply chain temperature monitoring towards developing AI and machine learning (ML) models to predict shelf life, reduce waste and optimize sales. Read More
Executive Summary A multi-national RETAILER was seeking a solution to provide near real time monitoring of temperature and quality of fresh produce at box/pallet and container level for transported perishable goods across the United States. The purpose of the RETAILER’s Cold Chain Compliance Project was to provide full visibility of the product status from the grower/supplier to RETAILER Distribution Centers. The remaining pallet level shelf-life of the fresh produce at every major node including Grower’s shipping point and upon arrival at the RETAILER DC is also a deliverable. The visibility was to be accomplished via a comprehensive data platform (“Ecosystem”) that would serve as the data repository and messaging system of information required by RETAILER from origin (Grower’s field) to destination (RETAILER’s Distribution Center). Inteligistics undertook this major project and successfully completed the project to meet RETAILER’s requirements. (For competitive reasons, RETAILER chooses to remain anonymous at this time). The project was focused on condition monitoring of fresh strawberries in the entire supply chain between the field of harvest in Central California and several RETAILER’s distribution centers (DC) located in various parts of the US. Inteligistics provided appropriate cold chain management to protect the quality and freshness of the product through transport from field to processing facility, precooling, cold storage, shipping and transporting to RETAILER DCs across the nation. The requested solution includes monitoring time and temperature to ensure quality and optimum shelf life of fresh produce. RETAILER wanted to implement short interval control or early countermeasures to ensure quality and supply chain reliability. For this test, the RETAILER turned to Inteligistics’ agnostic sensor-based fresh produce solutions which provide an end-to- end supply chain visibility, quality condition monitoring, and remaining shelf-life predictability solution for both continental and inter-continental supply chain customers. Inteligistics undertook this project for the RETAILER over a 60-day period and monitored 72 trailer loads of strawberries distributed from field to four different distribution centers (DC) in different regions of the United States. Product temperatures, quality, and the remaining shelf life at several Nodes in the supply chain including the receiving docks at each DC were successfully monitored. RETAILER and Grower were able to control and take early countermeasures to ensure quality and supply chain reliability during these steps in their supply chain and demonstrated the applicability of supply chain temperature monitoring towards developing AI and machine learning (ML) models to predict shelf life. This information enables RETAILER to Use “First Expire, First Out” Models that reduce waste and optimize sales. Read More