As regulatory deadlines loom and costly contamination outbreaks threaten grower and retailer bottom lines, precision traceability is shifting from a compliance burden into a critical business shield.
Inteligistics, a provider of supply chain management and digital transformation technology, says it offers a solution designed to reshape cold chain risk management for growers and distributors alike. Its recently launched Inteligistics Enterprise suite integrates the company’s complete portfolio of visibility and quality management solutions into a single ecosystem.
The Salinas, Calif.-based company says its new offering, available for an annual subscription, directly addresses the industry’s need for a holistic, integrated data strategy that enhances produce quality and food safety from the field to the retail shelf. By unifying its solutions, Inteligistics says it empowers companies to break down information silos and leverage real-time data to drive efficiency, reduce waste and build more resilient supply chains, all while enhancing product quality and improving food safety.
Inteligistics Enterprise suite consolidates the company’s solutions into a seamless platform, including:
- InteliView: The central cloud and data hub that unifies all operational data for end-to-end visibility that provides one-click FSMA 204 compliance.
- InteliCool: A patented pre-cooling optimization solution that ensures uniform cooling to maximize the quality and extend the shelf-life of high-value produce, while increasing throughput and reducing costs.
- InteliTrack: Pallet-level full visibility and traceability enterprise-wide.
- InteliShip: A real-time, in-transit monitoring solution providing live location and temperature tracking to protect product integrity from the cooler to the distribution center and the third mile.
- InteliMonitor: A facility monitoring solution that safeguards inventory with continuous, automated temperature and humidity tracking throughout cold storage warehouses.
- InteliDock: An efficiency tool that streamlines dock operations by analyzing performance to reduce wait times, save energy, and improve labor management.
To learn more, The Packer recently connected with CEO Gary Fleming, who says the tech company’s latest technology simplifies everything from case-level tracking to single-click FSMA 204 compliance and the ability to perform “surgical recalls.”
Recent cyclospora outbreaks have had a significant negative impact across the produce aisle. You’ve noted that with the Inteligistics Enterprise suite, companies can execute “surgical recalls” down to the carton level rather than broad market withdrawals. How does Inteligistics Enterprise’s tracking tech isolate compromised product in real time, and how can this precision prevent the devastating economic damage growers face during an outbreak?
Fleming: Our solution delivers case-level tracking and traceability in full compliance with FSMA 204 requirements. If a case of product was implicated in a food recall, with just two pieces of information (the case # <GTIN> and the Lot/Batch #), they can instantly know where the product was grown, pre-cooled, packed, shipped, and received, all with a single click. Having the Lot/Batch # associated with the case number allows recalls to be done surgically, versus recalling all product across the supply chain.
With FSMA Rule 204 requirements demanding end-to-end traceability, many mid-sized growers and distributors are struggling with compliance costs and operational complexity. How does the InteliView hub simplify one-click FSMA 204 compliance, and how does the all-inclusive annual subscription model lower the barrier to entry?
To use our solution, all you need is the GTIN # and the Lot/Batch # shown on the case. We capture and track this information at each stage of the supply chain. We link those stages together, giving the user a full view of the product ‘s journey from start to finish. We ensure that all of the KDEs (Key Data Elements) required by FSMA 204 are captured and stitched together, giving users the ability to perform multiple queries beyond FSMA 204 requirements.
We also provide temperature information at each leg of the supply chain, ensuring that the cold chain was maintained, and identifying potential problems. This has an immediate impact on not only food safety, but quality and shelf-life. This information gives organizations the necessary details and visibility into their exposure at the company level and at each of their facilities. Providing this solution under one platform at a lower enterprise pricing model, provides companies an opportunity to address FSMA 204 and cold chain and quality management, all at a low cost.
You’ve said produce operations often rely on fragmented technology — a separate system for pre-cooling, another for Enterprise Resource Planning, and manual logs for temperature monitoring. What makes the open architecture of this ecosystem seamlessly integrate with third-party ERPs and Warehouse Management Systems without creating downtime or integration overhead for operators? And what specific blind spots does the Enterprise suite help the produce industry to avoid?
Our existing integrations with leading ERP and WMS providers automatically pull the required data from these systems, eliminating manual work and associated errors. This information is then used in our proprietary solutions, providing insights into bottlenecks and blind spots previously unseen.
Because we capture previously disconnected data, we can identify patterns and anomalies never before detected, giving our customers visibility into inefficiencies that ultimately cost them significant money.
One of our customers is saving over $300,000 per year on a blind spot they were not even aware of until we presented the data. Some examples include ETAs of product availability at harvest and at shipping, field truck arrival, unloading, and re-loading efficiencies, dock door management, carrier yard congestion, and replacing guesswork with data driven answers on cooling product.
While food safety and regulatory compliance drive headlines, maintaining produce quality directly impacts the bottom line. How do AI insights gathered from tools like InteliCool and InteliShip translate directly into extended shelf life and higher throughput for fresh produce?
The first few hours after harvest are among the most critical in the entire cold chain and can have a direct impact on the quality, shelf life and value of fresh produce.
Through several of our cold-chain solutions, Inteligistics captures extensive data at harvest, receiving, and pre-cooling. We use this data and IoT devices to drive ML (machine Learning) to optimize cooling performance, prevent both over- and under-cooling — each of which can negatively impact product quality and increase energy costs — and maximize the number of cooling cycles that can be completed each day.
By applying AI to this data, we can identify patterns and anomalies, generate predictive insights, and provide operations and management teams with greater visibility into their processes. Our solutions can also deliver real-time alerts and notifications when conditions indicate that something may not be operating as expected.
Moving away from standard per-user, per-report, or hidden licensing fees toward a predictable single subscription model is a noticeable shift for supply chain software. What feedback from the produce industry drove this pricing structure, and how does it help operations forecast ROI more effectively?
We have found that many of our mid-sized and smaller customers prefer a predictable monthly subscription rather than a significant upfront capital investment. This is better for budgeting and cash flow. Our subscription model addresses this preference while also providing greater financial flexibility and enabling customers to evaluate and measure their ROI on an ongoing, monthly basis rather than over the lifetime of the product.
Rising temperatures, extreme weather and longer transit times place growing demands on cold chain integrity. Looking ahead, how do you see continuous IoT data monitoring and AI analytics shaping the next 3 to 5 years of supply chain resilience in the fresh food sector?
There are simply too many variables within the cold-chain process for operations to consistently maintain peak efficiency and productivity while simultaneously protecting product quality and managing energy costs.
IoT-enabled data monitoring and AI-driven analytics provide actionable intelligence across the cold chain, giving operators and management the visibility they need to make faster, more informed, data-driven decisions.
More importantly, these technologies help organizations identify blind spots and emerging issues in real time, allowing them to take corrective action before those issues impact product quality, operational efficiency, or profitability.
What excites you most about Inteligistics Enterprise suite and what does it mean for the fresh produce industry?
Our Inteligistics Enterprise suite of solutions provides the fresh food industry with a comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges of cold-chain management, product quality and consistency, shelf-life optimization and FSMA 204 compliance.
We have been fortunate to work with customers who challenge us to look beyond conventional processes and examine the operational details that are often taken for granted. This experience has given us valuable insight into identifying inefficiencies, hidden costs and opportunities for improvement that many organizations may overlook.
What is particularly exciting for us is the ability to translate these insights into innovative, data-driven solutions that help our customers consistently deliver higher-quality products, extend shelf life, improve operational efficiency, reduce energy costs, and meet their FSMA 204 compliance requirements.
