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“What we’re seeing a growing interest and use of is the active devices that give you a live location and
temperature — and in most cases, they have a light sensor, so they’ll tell you if the doors are opening.” — Ken Lund, Allen Lund Company
Ken Lund, vice president, Allen Lund Company, La Cañada, CA, sees this difference in need as well. He’s also seen wider use of inexpensive temperature recorders that aren’t as helpful with highly perishable commodi- ties, such as asparagus or strawberries. “The problem with those is that they’re passive,” says Lund. “You get the information on the other side.”
Although this information may help
determine what went wrong and who is at fault, they don’t help prevent problems. “What we’re seeing a growing interest and use of is the active devices that give you a live location and temperature — and in most cases, they have a light sensor, so they’ll tell you if the doors are opening.” These more sophisticated devices may cost more, but Lund sees this as insurance against claims that can run thousands of dollars, which is
why their use is increasing. “They’re finally seeing that they can prevent a $35,000 claim,” says Lund of the companies who use this technology. “To me, for 40 bucks I think it’s the best insurance, and the industry needs to look at it that way.”
Paul Kazan, president of Target Inte- grated Logistics, based in the Bronx, NY, says temperature records have been “hugely benefecial to us and all parties in the supply
n LOWERING RISK CRUCIAL TO SUCCESS
It’s not just spoiled produce that transport companies need to worry about. Theft, while not as common, is a factor, as well. “Produce loads are stolen more than people realize,” says Ken Lund, vice president, Allen Lund Company,LaCañada,CA.“Thepeoplestealing the trailer don’t know there’s a device in it. So we’ve actually helped recover loads.”
Amy Childress, vice president marketing and planning, Cargo Solutions, Emerson Commercial & Residential Solutions, Boise, ID, recently has seen this with an attempted robbery on their Chilean distributor of Emerson GO products, Saieg & Maggi. A delivery was stopped by armed assailants. Childress explains, “The truck was equipped with standard GPS tracking and a single Emerson GO Real-Time Lux Tracker. Due to the unscheduled nature of the stop, the GPS unit in the cab of the truck sent a warning out when the truck came to a halt.” The savvy thieves used a jammer to block the
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GPS signals from being sent, however, the tracking device continued to send location information for another 10 miles, at which point the police were able to stop the truck. “The two technologies coupled together provided the added security needed to prevent the truck being stolen and future thefts,” says Childress. “In addition to keeping the driver safe, the load valued at $240,000 was recovered, along with the truck.”
Natural disasters also can adversely affect loads. Like a robbery, they cannot be predicted, but technology can help miti- gate the damages. As Mark Petersen, vice president of temperature-controlled trans- portation for C.H. Robinson, Eden Prairie, MN, explains, “Technology is allowing us to start to understand and better predict both natural and man-made issues such as traffic, seasonal volume fluctuations and other factors. Once these potential issues have been predicted or suspected, alterna-
tive routes and sources can be factored into the logistics equation.”
C.H. Robinson and the contract carriers they work with as third-party logistics providers now can adjust to avoid poten- tial issues faster than they ever have in the past. “Being aware of how historical trends can limit or change capacity is one way to stay ahead of capacity challenges,” says Petersen. “After all, seasonal and regional factors will likely continue to overlap and impact capacity. Proactive planning is key to helping eliminate some of the uncertainties of a tight market, too.”
Controlling risk, both predictable and unforeseen, allows those on the shipping and receiving ends, as well as those in the middle, the ability to meet the demands of their consumers without sacrificing fresh- ness. This in turn increases profits, which is the collective goal of every player in the produce industry. pb