Ramon J. Land Watermelon Sales, Inc. has implemented TraceGains’ Positively Assured Traceability system at its watermelon packing and shipping operations. Land Watermelon Sales is now fully compliant with the industry’s Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI). In addition, the system enables Branford, Florida-based Land to perform instantaneous trace-back and track-forward searches for its products packed or shipped from any of its locations. As a result, Land can provide an even higher level of service to its retail customers by proactively monitoring and alerting to any suspect quality or safety issue before it reaches the consumer.
Land Watermelon sales operates at several owned and contracted grower locations in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Indiana, accommodating consumer demand for fresh watermelon throughout the year. As melons are packed, attributes that identify farm, field location, pick date, and an array of farming conditions are captured and recorded. PTI-compliant GS1-128 labels are generated in real time and applied to every bin shipped. Shipping load and destination records are automatically linked to each bin providing an immediate single source of consolidated information. Using TraceGains’ patented applications, Land can view the entire pedigree of any product from the farm field to the retailer in a matter of seconds, and prove what shipments may and may not be part of any issue. With TraceGains patented Web-based secure data sharing technology for collaboration amongst supply chain partners, Land will also have the option to grant access of selected information to its business partners, such as transporters or retailers.
“Raymon J. Land’s objective is to take a leadership role at addressing the PTI” said Laura Land, head of Quality and Safety for Raymon J. Watermelon Sales, Inc. “However, our goal as a business is to elevate our value-added service to our retailer customers. In turn our information services enhance their ability to assure its customers—the consumer—that they are buying a product that is safe and of the highest quality. While the industry initiative 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. If a quality problem ever occurs, our system will alert us to it and isolate the affected items, so that we can contact our retailers, and recall and replace it as fast as possible.”
Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains, adds: “We are very excited that Land Watermelon has implemented our Advanced Brand Protection solution. Our mission at TraceGains is to not only help customers meet industry initiatives like the PTI or specific retailer labeling or traceability requirements, but also to continuously deliver the most leading-edge solutions that keep businesses one step ahead of their competitors.”
While TraceGains GS1-certified solution accommodates the standard labeling and tracing requirements of PTI, it also addresses the variety of customer specific requirements for labeling and documentation of farm/field and handling information that are prevalent today.
“There have been several retailer and food service-driven initiatives in the past, and we want be prepared to adapt to any changes in PTI or the needs of current and future customers,” added Land. “The TraceGains system will allow us to accommodate evolving requirements over the long term – not just for the current trends.”
“An additional benefit of our implementation is that it is tailored it to also improve accountability and accuracy in inventory and shipping management. While we are adding more complex identification to our shipments, we are simplifying some of our current procedures and expect to reduce labor in the process.”
About Raymon J. Land Watermelon Sales, Inc.
Raymon J. Land Watermelon Sales, Inc., operating since 1962 and located in Branford FL, packs and ships watermelons for several regional growers throughout the U.S., including its own farms. It is still owned and operated by successive family generations, and is an industry leader for providing safe, fresh and delicious watermelon for retail and food service.
About TraceGains, Inc.
TraceGains 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 Advanced Brand Protection and Promotion product suite is SAP Certified for Integration Via Enterprise Services. For more information please visit www.tracegains.com.
TraceGains Inc.
Marc Simony, Director of Marketing
(303)682-9898
Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines
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