New member at large on the CCA board

The Board is happy to inform you about the appointment of Mr. Edwin Kalischnig, CEO of Xtreme Technologies B.V. as Member at Large. 

Edwin Kalischnig has been a friend and follower of the CCA since 2004 and became a member in 2006 in his position as RFID Business Development Director at Oracle Corporation. In 2009 he joined Xtreme Technologies and is still an active member of the Cool Chain Association. 

At the upcoming AGM2011 the Board intends to nominate Edwin Kalischnig for the position as full member of the board.

CCA workshop2010 at Hotel vineyards, Cape Town, South Africa

By Kerstin Belgardt, Secretary

The CCA is proud to report that the workshop2010 “from field to fork” was concluded after two days intensive working in groups and high quality discussions of the audience. The industry relevant companies of the South African cool supply chain gathered to listen to the decision maker of CCG Cool Chain Group, Capespan, Maersk, NYKCool and many others.

“We had a lot of business knowledge present so that the "think tank" CCA could sample their input and knowledge. Only with this thinking and sampling process the CCA can reach its goal, being harmonizing the cool chain” said Secretary General of the CCA Christian Helms.

The workshop was hosted by PPECB whose CEO Luvuyo Mabombo made a key-note welcome speech, informing about the background of the PPECB, challenges of the cool supply chain and proposals how to improve the performance on the market.

The working groups on day one, being “Improving the cool supply chain” and “Cooling Facilities Concept” discussed the means and further steps for each group with the mutual consent to focus on three key issues to reach the goal:

1. Improving the information flow and logistics throughout the Cool Chain 
2. Maintaining the temperature throughout the Cool Chain (from A to Z) 
3. Reduce delays and eliminating lack-of-information in case of unforeseen delays

The second day was dedicated to presentations of Industry Relevant companies and their view and solutions for the cool supply chain harmonization. First presenter Christian DeBlasio, Purfresh Inc., started with the case studies with Ozone, which came to good results in regards of long term transportation and the remaining quality of the product.

Improving the cool chain means less waste and an extended shelf life. By bringing all parts of the cool chain together to detect possible improvements and to make them achievable on a global scale, the CCA wants to contribute to making the world a better place. “Our Industry faces 30% waste from harvest to the consumer.” Christian Helms, also in his position as CEO of forwarder CCG Cool Chain Group and trading company RUNGIS express stated. Bad quality does not start with the logistics company, but with the pre-cooling at farm level.

“To improve the entire chain, we have to improve one link after the next – beginning at the farm.” Why post harvest cooling? Christian Helms offers argumentation: A weak product will never make it through the supply chain. Any postharvest cooling delayed over 2 hours leads to significant losses.

Prof. Linus Opara, University Stellenbosch added that there are 30-50% food postharvest losses and wastage in many less developed countries. Additional there are 2-3% food wastage in developed countries. Less than 1% of packed food goes to waste, compared with 10-20% of unpacked food. Sensitivity analysis of model predictions came to the conclusion that changes in vent size (area) did not significantly affect model predictions in the near-inlet regions, but had noticeable influence in the package centre and near-outlet regions.

Keith Roxburgh, Capespan gave a detailed presentation about the practical perspective on South African cold supply chains. On the basis of temperature measurement graphs he explained how the fruit quality is being ensured with adhering to guidelines, thermocouples and protocols.

Dr. Malcolm Dodd, Post Harvest Innovation Programme complained that in too many cases the desired cold chain was not achieved due to poor management of change over from one transport medium to the next, particularly in the port where the link up to power takes too long. Temperatures during the shipping mode were often way above set point due to improper pre-cooling or because of the lack of integration of the packaging materials. It is very clear that to get a better understanding of the cold chain temperature data must be recorded from as early in the life of a pallet of fruit as possible and taken up to the supermarket or point of sale (Beginning to end).

“Beginning to end monitoring of temperatures and relative humidity is essential to improve the management of the value chain and therefore the quality and returns. M4 (Man must measure to manage).” Dr. Dodd stated at the end.

Maersk, represented by Henrik Lindhardt informed about the present and the future of reefer container, whereas Trevor Law, NYKCool, presented insights in global specialized reefer shipping. Reefers presently are in principle designed and built to transport cargo already pre-cooled to the right carrying temperature. During transport the reefer is to maintain temperature, provide fresh air ventilation or de-humidification, where required. Besides temperature, fresh air ventilation and humidity control there is an increasing trend to offer special services. What is the future? Reefers will not only be a cold store but will provide the ability to have individual cargo carrying conditions. But what is unlikely to happen in future: A reefer will not replace a proper pre-cooling process for sensitive products.

One of the key matters discussed at the conference was the South African process in the cool chain. As a matter of fact the result from this discussion is that there are still different opinions on the cooperation and interaction along the cool chain. Some South African participants believed enough is exchanged between the several parties along the cool chain, hence that the parties are communicating and interacting with each other in a sufficient way. Other shared the CCA opinion that more openness and divulgation of own processes is required.

For CCA the South African supply chain is perfectly suited for the harmonization model of the CCA as the processes already are sophisticated. With the Cool Chain Quality Indicator master tables the whole process can be improved with little efforts and expenses, but great effect.

The future of the supply chain in each and every country depends on the further willingness of companies to have a closer and self- critical look into their own process, willingness to disclose these processes to other participants of the cool supply chain and optimize if necessary. South Africa companies have the advantage that PPECB is very much welcoming the implementation of the CCQI Standard.

The CCQI standard is now free available at http://www.gl-group.com/pdf/CCQI-Standard_Rev.2.2.pdf

All presentations of the 29th October 2010 can be downloaded from the CCA website

By Edwin W. Kalischnig - CEO of Xtreme Technologies BV

“Trust is a statement about what is otherwise unknown - for example, because it is far away, cannot be verified, or is in the future”.

Every day millions of people around the globe eat food or take their drugs, trusting on the purity and quality of the product and the Brands behind them. Any negative outcome due to mishandling of the product throughout the chain can be damaging to the Brand name and the bottom line, so trust in the Brands of the logistics providers is crucial.

Brand Trust just might be the biggest differentiator, the most sustainable competitive advantage that companies can now secure, a key success factor that can not be copied. Studies show that when people trust a brand they Buy more, Try more and Pay more.

So if Brand Trust is the key, how do you establish and grow it?

The key drivers for trust are: 

• Transparency
• Reliability
• Usability
• Stability
• Timeliness

Tell the truth, show what you’re doing, deliver on your promise, bring value beyond your product or service, do it consistently and communicate in a timely manner. These are the key business drivers to establish Brand Trust. Supply Chain Transparency is key in establishing trust and therefore becoming a primary objective for businesses today.

Securing the Cool Chain requires innovation, collaboration and communication, ensuring that each of the critical links in the chain understands product storage and handling requirements. Advanced technologies, to include sensors, RFID and networks are all potential components of an innovative model that will ensure an ongoing ‘portable record’ of each product throughout its lifecycle. Information related to the ‘state’ of the product is critical as remedy and control are required to ensure that product is not compromised.

New technologies can help organisations to strengthen the drivers for trust in their brand. Traceability can help to assure the quality and safety of the Cool Chain, providing rapid, precise recalls and pinpointing underlying causes of contamination. A freshness guarantee for food is possible when temperature and humidity are recorded, from harvest to final sale. For pharmaceuticals this is even more important as variations in temperature and humidity can transform modern medical miracles into useless materials.

Once traceability is in place, companies have precise, detailed historical data about timing, handling, condition and flow of goods. This can be analysed to identify weaknesses (e.g. excess dwell times, incorrect storage) to improve processes and reduce spoilage.

Xtreme Technologies leads the way with advanced technology solutions and is looking forward to discuss how we can help to make your customers buy more, try more and pay more. To learn more, feel free to contact me: ek@xtreme-technologies.com

Emirates SkyCargo, the cargo division of Emirates airline, and DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight forwarder of Deutsche Post DHL, will partner to drive the e-freight agenda across their networks, to become the industry leaders in implementation. Both companies recognise the strategic value of e-freight; working in an electronic environment will bring enhanced operational efficiency and improvement to the supply chain.

E-freight is an industry-led project involving carriers, freight forwarders, ground handlers, shippers and customs authorities. It aims to take the paper out of the air cargo supply chain, streamline processes, improve speed and reduce costs. A number of factors contribute to these positive results: reduced cycle times of 24 hours on average, greater reliability and accuracy due to one-time data entry at the point of origin, and much better visibility in the online track on account of electronic documentation.

“Emirates is a huge advocate of e-freight and is already one of the leaders in the industry in actual numbers of shipment carried on the e-freight lanes,” said Ram Menen, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo. “The benefits it has brought our business are enormous, which is why we are encouraging others to embrace it. E-freight is the future of our industry. By reducing paper and carriage of paper on aircraft, e-freight will help to reduce errors and increase accuracy. We believe by collectively engaging we can achieve better and coordinated results.”

In 2010 alone, Emirates SkyCargo has carried nearly 30,000 international e-freight shipments – more than any other carrier. “DHL Global Forwarding already handles more than a third of all international forwarder-issued e-freight shipments today,” Michael Schaecher, Head of Global Airfreight, DHL Global Forwarding pointed out. “We will work with Emirates SkyCargo to ensure that driving e-freight volumes stays a key strategic programme for us.”

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) up to US $4.9 billion of annually industry savings could be generated by e-freight processes. The environment will also benefit from the elimination of 7,800 tons of paper documents worldwide – the equivalent of 80 Boeing 747 freighter aircraft per year.

www.skycargo.com