The TempTRIP system provides a cold chain record of a product throughout the lifecycle of the pallet load, regardless of how many distributors, wholesalers or retailers have handled it.
‘We can now graph your product’s journey on a map and be able to tell when it has been subjected to off-spec temperatures,’ said Phaedra Culjak, chief operations officer, TempTRIP, based in Broomfield, Colorado.
There are three basic components to the system – RFID smart cards, RFID reader with optional integrated barcode scanner, and the Internet.
The first step helps users to set up an on-line profile, which includes shipping, storage and receiving point data plus temperature configurations, and which parties get to see the results.
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 and writes it, wirelessly, to the smart card’s memory. Temperature is recorded continuously, at whatever time intervals the company has specified.
When the TempTRIP-tagged pallets arrive at distribution centre they are read to determine what temperature fluctuations have occurred. Results are sent, via USB or mobile phone, to a dedicated page on the Internet, with optional email and text alerts sent to the chain partners.
The tags can be read and restarted at any time to record new segments with new starting and ending times. For example, as pallets are received, tags continue to record time and temperature in the truck, on the dock and in the warehouse. Tags can receive new ‘ownership’ and time and temperature parameters as they move through the supply chain. They can also be cleared and reused for the next product cycle.
‘The TempTRIP approach enables the data to be shared transparently with all of the channel partners. This is powerful information that can be used to fine tune everything from which coolers, trucks or transportation partners perform better to which products should be rotated out of the warehouse first,’ said Culjak.
