Leverage Traceability Information to Improve Profits
Gibbs Patrick, Jr., President and CEO of Patrick Farms, Inc., said, “The recent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, and the publicity surrounding it has been distressing to the produce industry and especially to the many whose products were perfectly safe. While new industry initiatives will help to reduce the scope of an outbreak, it will not by itself prove to the market that my products are safe and can remain on my customers’ shelves. TraceGains’ solution will allow me to continuously monitor quality and prove that my products are not involved. Secondly, TraceGains’ ability to capture and aggregate information about farm, field and handling conditions will enable us to find new opportunities to further improve and ensure the consistent quality and performance that Patrick Farms takes great pride in. We believe that these capabilities will further strengthen the Patrick Farms’ brand reputation.”
TraceGains, Inc., a leader in Advanced Brand Protection and Promotion solutions for the food and beverage industry, today announced that Patrick Farms, Inc. will implement TraceGains’ Positively Assured Traceability system in order to manage continuous compliance and instantaneous traceability for its case- and RPC-packed produce lines.
The TraceGains solution will enable Omega, GA-based Patrick Farms to perform instantaneous trace-back and track-forward searches at the case level for its products, as well as provide continuous visibility into the supply chain, tying upstream attributes regarding farm/field conditions with downstream performance of its products. TraceGains powerful dashboards monitor for continuous compliance to conditions, allowing Patrick Farms to catch problems before they ship, and be able to continuously analyze data to improve quality and profit. Using TraceGains patented secure data sharing technology for collaboration amongst supply chain partners, Patrick Farms will also have the option to grant access of selected information to its business partners, such as transporters or retailers.
While TraceGains GS1-compliant solution will accommodate the requirements of the industry’s recent Produce Traceability Initiative for GS1-128 labeling, it also addresses the variety of customer specific requirements for labeling and documentation of farm/field and handling information. At Patrick Farms, industry- and customer-specific labels for cases, pallets, and RPCs are generated by the TraceGains system at the packing location, ensuring that any requirements to include real time information, such as pack/harvest date or field location data on the label is accommodated with no additional labor for the line. The system seamlessly integrates with the Patrick Farms’ existing Famous accounting systems, so cases or RPCs will be automatically associated with pallets shipped to customers and their bills-of-lading. There will be no change in the means in which accounting and shipping is currently handled.
“Our customers include direct retailers, manufactures, as well as other Grower-Packer-Shippers,” added Patrick. “Many of them require specific labeling and data criteria to accommodate their internal systems. The TraceGains system will allow us to accommodate these requirements automatically. In the produce business, the packing process is already rapid and highly labor intensive, so managing various customer labeling requirements with one process is a real plus.”
“We are excited that Patrick Farms has selected to partner with TraceGains in order to protect its brand and promote its reliability as a supplier to its customers. The objective behind our Advanced Brand Protection and Promotion solution is to catch problems before they reach customers, minimize the size and impact of a problem should it does reach a customer, and to mine for profits by combining a wide array of attributes that impact quality and safety. For produce that may include field attributes, cold chain management, and other handling conditions upstream and downstream in the value chain,” said Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains, Inc.
About Patrick Farms, Inc.
Patrick Farms, Inc. , operating since 1948 and located in Omega, GA, grows and markets an extensive year-round supply of field crop vegetables, including several varieties of greens, cucumber, pepper, squash, and sweet potato. Patrick Farms is still owned and operated by successive family generations, and is an industry leader for providing safe, fresh and delicious vegetables for retail and manufacture.
About TraceGains, Inc.
TraceGains (www.tracegains.com) offers advanced brand protection and promotion solutions for Consumer Goods and Food & Beverage companies. TraceGains helps companies catch problems before they are shipped to customers, minimize costs and brand damage from recalls, boost product quality and profitability, and prove and promote their brand claims. The company is headquartered in Longmont, CO, USA, with direct and partner offices throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The TraceGains Product Suite is SAP Certified for Integration Via Enterprise Services.
TraceGains Inc.
Marc Simony, Director of Marketing
(303)682-9898
About the Author:Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines
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