demand for fresh foods, have expanded their fruit and vegetable offerings to provide a higher-quality product, with
a particular focus on organic and locally grown produce.
This market trend is supported by the recently released
Power of Produce 2019, sponsored by FMI. According
to Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI, “The
study suggests a need for a renewed focus on strategies
for continued growth, including organic, locally grown
produce; value-added produce for time-starved customers;
produce-based beverages; and pri-
vate-branded produce.”
But prioritizing quality in produce
extends beyond offering organic and
locally grown options. Food safety
and the ability to track and trace fresh
produce lots in the supply chain is
more critical than ever in maintaining
produce quality.
As expressed by Ed Treacy, vice president of supply chain and sustainabil-ity at Produce Marketing Association,
“I don’t care if you’re shipping to a
small convenience store, a one-store
grocery chain, or to Walmart, everybody growing and packaging fresh
produce should be doing it properly
from a food-safety perspective. Traceability is part of all
food-safety programs and practices.”
PRIORITIZING QUALITY ASSURANCE IN PRODUCE
INSPECTION
Providing this higher quality of produce within retail stores
is necessary to remain competitive in retail food markets,
but maintaining this requires prioritizing quality-assurance
inspections at the retailers’ receiving distribution centers.
Most produce inspections within distribution facilities
are still conducted with paper and spreadsheets, with
workers manually recording lot and case numbers, tem-
peratures, and product damage, and taking photographs
with cell phones. All of which is then manually entered
into a database and emailed, or otherwise transferred
between interested parties (suppliers, retail and foodservice
operators, and distributors). The process is labor intensive
and time consuming. Produce has, by its very nature, a
short shelf life. Anything that delays fresh fruits and veg-
etables from reaching retailers’ shelves quickly adds to the
“spoils.”
Produce suppliers and retailers are finding it neces-
sary to interact with new technology in the supply chain.
Compliance with food-safety regulations, an increasing
need to manage produce quality in the supply chain, and
demands for tracking product movements in real time are
driving them to seek new solutions. These include embracing real-time cloud-based visibility of the produce quality,
inventory, and movement, from producer to final delivery
at the retailer. Automating the inspection process, accordingly, affords a higher guarantee of produce quality.
REAL-TIME CLOUD-BASED PRODUCE INSPECTION
IS KEY
To meet these heightened requirements, retailers are
increasingly turning to third-party logistics service providers (3PLs) that offer temperature-controlled distribution
services. However, not all 3PLs have
the facility, experience, or operational agility to track the movement of
produce in the supply chain with
real-time cloud-based visibility. Of
those that do, even fewer have the
facilities to provide quality inspections of produce shipments in real
time, directly linking the visibility of
the product quality with the supplier
and retailer.
One 3PL that is uniquely equipped
to provide the latest technology in
real-time cloud-based produce
inspection is Burris Logistics. A
In brief, Burris focuses on highly customized services
for retailers and club stores. It is continually expanding its
suite of custom services to support its temperature-controlled offering to food-industry retailers. Supporting this
is Burris’ commitment to cloud access to its analytics at all
points within the ordering, fulfillment, and delivery functions. These “edge input” points integrate with the company’s ERP (enterprise resource planning system), WMS
(warehouse management systems), and shipping programs
to deliver an Industrial Internet of Things (IIo T) cloud-en-abled capability for its customers. This capability enables it
to access ordering, fulfillment, and shipping information
anytime, anywhere.
When integrated with produce inspections for its retail
customers, this highly connected capability permits a level
of flexibility and outcomes that exceed industry benchmarks for supply chain visibility and retailer control over
the inspection process. Providing clear product-quality
insights to both vendor and buyer in real time simplifies and
speeds up an already complex and time-consuming process.
Informed and documented business decisions on produce
quality, and its acceptance or rejection, can be made quickly
“From the supplier to
the buyer, and ultimately
to the recipient of the
produce at the retail
level, our customers are
able to see, track, and
trace the product by
case as it comes through
the supply chain.”
