Session F7: Room S501-cd (McCormick Place - Chicago) | ||
Sunday PMFORUM: Value traceability systems provide multiple benefits | ||
| Moderator(s): | S. Clapp, CRC Press, Inc. | |
| Panelist(s): | D. W. Larson, Deere & Co. W. L. Jorgenson, SJH & Co. W. Pape, AgInfoLink Global Inc. | |
| Time: | 2:30 PM | |
| Implementing a system that tracks raw products and their attributes from the point of production through processing can increase efficiency, decrease costs, improve supplier and procurement management, and create niche end-product opportunities. Not to mention this SAME system has the ability to track products and their raw ingredients in the event of a food safety issue, to document humane animal treatment, and to comply with governmental regulations for organic or non-GMO certification. Respected food companies, including John Deere, eFarm and AgInfoLink, have developed and tested innovative software applications for the livestock, grain, and produce industries that track individual products from the soil to the shelf. These systems identify raw materials at appropriate sized units, collect product attributes, and move this information up and down the supply chain. At all points of production and processing, data is collected and recorded creating an electronic history of the product's life. Product managers create customized reports and use the information to make important, profit enhancing decisions. For example, processors select recipes that are appropriate to raw ingredient quality and make packaging and branding decisions based upon product traits. These technology solutions enable companies to inter-connect production, processing and packaging systems by correlating individual unit, batch, and lot numbers so that product identity is retained from production throughout processing. Systems are customizable so that individual producers and processors have systems that work in their unique environments. Most importantly these systems give companies the information to decrease costs, improve quality, and increase profitability. Value traceability systems add profit, sometimes-substantial profit, while providing regulatory compliance and recall preparedness nearly for free. | ||