XSENSE System

ZESPRI® expands Xsense deployment for 2011 Southern Hemisphere kiwi season
April 2011

After a successful small scale trial during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere kiwi season, ZESPRI® has initiated a broader trial that includes use of Xsense during storage and shipment of kiwis from New Zealand to Asia and Europe.

As a result ZESPRI® will use 30,000 Xsense monitored pallets this year to monitor storage and shipment of both ZESPRI® GREEN and ZESPRI® GOLD to Asia and Europe. ZESPRI’s GM Quality and Innovation David Tanner says “the quantifiable benefits in understanding the temperature history of fruit in the supply chain are very exciting for the industry”. Dr Tanner said using the information gathered by the Xsense system allows ZESPRI to:

• Provide knowledge to support quality and supply chain management

• Improve best practices in all locations of the supply chain

• Implement an improved near real time inventory management system that is based on weighted exposure to temperatures in the supply chain

• Drive innovations in technologies throughout various components in the supply chain (e.g. cooling systems, transport system design, packaging design)

“Since beginning the Xsense trials last year, we have been impressed with the reliability of the system and the quality of the data it delivers. Our aim this season is to gather data from Xsense’s pallet level monitoring right along our supply chain and understand to what extent it can drive improvement,” Dr Tanner said.

Chin Boo Soon, Technical Projects Leader who is overseeing the implementation of the Xsense System at ZESPRI, is already seeing real benefits. “The need for low levels of human intervention is a major plus. As we roll out deployment, our partners in the supply chain will be able to gather critical information and use it to base quality decisions on,” he said.At the end of the season a thorough assessment report will be written highlighting the outcomes of using Xsense.

“ZESPRI is our largest project to date,” remarks Dr. Gary Ward, VP Development StePac. “We are confident that global scale up of the Xsense System can be accomplished smoothly and successfully. All cooperating parties in the supply chain will benefit from vital information that will help reduce waste and deliver the freshest products possible.”

How Xsense® works
Xsensers (active RF sensor tags) are activated and placed in a carton during pallet construction. They immediately begin measuring and recording temperature and relative humidity of the produce’s immediate environment. The data is transmitted by wireless communication to an Xsense Communication Unit (CU) installed at the packing facility which then transmits this data to the Xsense System via standard cellular and/or LAN networks. Temperature-time data of the pallet at the packing house can then be viewed on screen from the secure, Web-based user interface. Among other things this enables precooling processes to be monitored. If a portable CU is placed in the truck, data will be available in real time throughout the shipment. GPS tracking lets you view the geographic progress of the shipment as well. If the transport vessel does not have a CU onboard, Xsensers log data until the shipment reaches a CU equipped facility, where the information is immediately downloaded and viewable onscreen.

Xsensers will continue measuring and reporting data after arrival while pallets are in storage or waiting to move on to the next leg of their journey. Xsense sends real time alerts via SMS or email when preset temperature and humidity thresholds are breached. All participating parties can view data accumulated during the shipment, dependent on the level of transparency and information exchange agreed upon.