TempTRIP has announced the European launch of its eponymous time and temperature management system, following a successful rollout in North America.
The system provides data monitoring throughout the supply chain for perishable foods and sensitive pharma products.
The company – a joint venture between packaging manufacturer Sealed Air Corporation and product tracking and RFID specialist Results Oriented Inc – has partnered with several representatives throughout Europe who will be servicing the continent via TempTRIP’s logistics centre in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The system targets a broad range of perishable foods (meat, dairy, juices, produce, ready-to eat meals, and other fresh or processed foods) as well as pharmaceutical and medical applications (medications, plasma, devices).
“Although temperature monitoring has been around for a while,” says Phaedra Culjak, TempTRIP chief operations officer, “up until now, there wasn’t a system that allowed data to be collected, and easily correlated to other logistical data, throughout multiple chain segments – even when there is a change in ‘ownership’, such as when a shipment moves from the processor’s control to the distributor.”
In addition to recording time/temperature data points at desired intervals, the TempTRIP system graphically displays the food’s journey online. Cold chain participants can look at a map and tell at a glance when and where a load has been subjected to off-spec temperatures.
TempTRIP also provides easy methods of connecting other data such as pallet ID or shipping manifest numbers to the temperature records for more valuable reporting and analysis.
The company says that its systems approach: “Goes beyond the basic hardware/software offering for temperature monitoring products by offering customers monitoring and comprehensive cold chain logistics with minimal infrastructure.”
The process typically begins at the pallet staging step, follows the load through its transit, continues monitoring at the distribution centre and warehouse until it arrives at the individual retail store.
An RFID smart card is placed on the pallet (or other designated location such as an individual case or in certain locations within a trailer load, depending on the level of detail desired).
To start the time and temperature monitoring process, the reader scans the pallet’s bar code (or other data) and writes it to the smart card’s memory. Temperature is recorded continuously, at a company’s specified time interval.
When the TempTRIP-tagged pallets arrive at the distribution centre they are “read” to determine if temperature alarms have occurred. Results are sent, via USB or Wi-Fi transmission, to the TempTRIP system, with optional email and text alerts sent to the chain partners. Users also have the option of mailing the smart card back to TempTRIP, with results available online within 48 hours.
The tags can be read and restarted at any time to record new segments with new starting and ending times. Tags can even receive new ‘ownership’ and new time and temperature parameters as they move from grower/processor to distributor to retailer.
“This is powerful information that can be used to fine tune everything, ranging from which coolers, trucks or transportation partners perform better to which products should be rotated out of the warehouse first,” says Culjak.
TempTRIP’s capabilities have been put to the test over the past year by early adopters in North America. Companies ranging from food producers and processors to pharmaceutical and healthcare distributors have already harnessed its data capture capabilities to make more precise cold chain decisions.
TempTRIP time/temperature management system
