The system of sensors was developed for plant engineers who need to instantly identify, measure and track how their perishable and fragile goods fare in the plant and during transport, company spokesperson Dallas Kelly told FoodProductionDaily.com.
"What we have done is to provide a real time link for companies wishing to monitor how their products are handled during transportation," Kelly said. " It is the final black hole that exists within supply chains where companieshave no way of telling where and when damage is occurring to their shipments."
Agent QC, a subsidiary of Canada-based Sensor Wireless, says its system can be used in the packaged food, beverage handling and perishablegoods industries, among others. The company's Agent QC system is currently used to monitor goods handling in plants.
"It is almost like being able to peel the roof off these trucks as they travel down the road, from your desk and peer inside to see what is going on," Kelly said.
The company's sensors travel inside a transport vehicle and continuously relay data back to the users' computer system. The sensors can provide information about vehicle location and the conditions inside the truck as they happen.The company can manufacture a replica container or box to disguise the sensor equipment. Agent QC can look like fresh food and vegetables, bottles cans, boxes or shipping cases.
"We simply manufacture a replica case or product out of a food grade acrylic mould, equip it with our impact, vibration, pressure and temperature sensors, hook the unit up to GPS and sit back and let the data stream comein," Kelly said. "For instance, if along the way temperature levels were outside acceptable ranges, that could lead to food safety concerns. Agent QC would first identify the temperature, then relay the information directly to home base."
The system of sensors and the relaying of information uses the same principle as radio frequency identification (RFID). Radio frequency transmission is used to communicate between the Agent QCsensor, the customers' computers and with GPS systems.
"This system is unlike anything else on the market, in that we supply a real time view of what is happening inside these vehicles," Kelly said. "The system is unlike data loggers, which only provide data after the fact, after consumer confidence has been lost and after food safety has been breached. No one else manufactures a replica container that provides an accurate representation of what atypical product or container would experience as it travels through the supply chain."
The in plant and in transit monitoring software and hardware are proprietary products. The GPS module is supplied by Agent QC's business partners.