Meeting the temperature-monitoring challenge

For a global seafood shipper, small but effective labels help track temperature during transport THE product that East Coast Seafood, Inc. ships ?live North American lobster (Homarus americanus) ?is incredibly expensive. Temperature abuse during shipping has a direct impact on mortality rates of this live product and thus a direct impact on bottom-line profits. As such, the utmost care is taken to ensure that lobsters are not temperature abused during transport. As a global distributor of top quality seafood products, East Coast Seafood has unparalleled standards of quality and traceability from 揵oat to plate" and is dedicated to embracing innovative technologies that have a direct impact on the quality of their products. The company had used a variety of temperature monitoring devices in the past to help provide visibility into their cold chain, including legacy strip recorders and electronic data recorders. But these devices were not performing to their expectations. They were expensive, not waterproof, and bulky. In fact, many were so big and cumbersome that they were unable to be placed inside boxes with lobster shipments. 揈ven if a device could be squeezed in,?recounts Tad Pawlowski, quality control manager at East Coast Seafood, 搃t was oftentimes very difficult and expensive to get it back at the end of distribution from our international customers so we could download the data.?Successful mail back of electronic temperature monitoring devices was proving to be nearly impossible. In 2006, Michael Tourkistas, president & CEO of East Coast Seafood, Inc. and its parent company American Holdco, Inc. Group and, discovered the PakSense temperature monitoring label and passed it on to Pawlowski and the rest of the quality assurance team for evaluation. The team was immediately impressed with the label's small size, low price, and that temperature could be downloaded into an Excel spreadsheet. For East Coast Seafood, Inc., this meant that information on temperature issues in their cold chain could be shared via an After the initial assessment, East Coast Seafood, Inc. ordered a small amount of labels and began placing them on shipments to their most valuable customers. PakSense Readers were provided to receiving customers as well, and East Coast Seafood, Inc. encouraged them to download temperature history upon arrival. If any issues were detected, information was immediately emailed to East Coast Seafood, Inc. for analysis. A survey of customers by East Coast Seafood, Inc. showed that the labels were considered a positive addition to their lobster shipments. A tool for reducing shipping costs In an additional test, East Coast Seafood utilized PakSense Labels on summertime shipments to a customer in Asia. Lobster mortalities were being reported on shipments from North America and East Coast Seafood, Inc. needed to pinpoint where the break in the cold chain was occurring. PakSense Labels allowed East Coast Seafood to determine that there had not been enough refrigeration in the boxes being shipped to Asia. According to Pawlowski, they cut back on the amount of product and added additional gel-ice. The problem was solved in just a few days and the customer has been happy ever since. 揑n the winter, the opposite will occur,?adds Pawlowski. “Whenever the temperature gets too low as shown by the PakSense Label, additional product can be added and less refrigerant is needed. The company now saves on shipping costs and has lower mortality of lobsters year round.? The future Currently, East Coast Seafood uses PakSense Labels on two to five shipments every week to 揷ritical?customers. They have also begun using labels on an as-needed basis to ensure that airlines follow cold chain protocol, or to make sure that a new flight connection is working. Labels are also used on an on-going basis to test whether East Coast Seafood is usAir Jordan IV 4 Retro Pinnacle Croc Pony Hair