It has been a case of double success for Worldwide Fruit when it comes to radio frequency (RFID) tagging lately.

Shortly before taking the innovation title at this year’s Re:fresh Awards, the company was awarded Gold supplier status by Marks & Spencer.

All of this success is down to the company’s implementation of RFID technology and the development of its own software system.

Initially the company was asked by M&S to move down the tagging route, and accepted it as a necessary cost of maintaining the business.

However, it recognised the off-the-peg software for the system carried no benefits for its own business.

Rather than sit back and accept this, WWF went back to the drawing board and created its own software solution, PAV (pick accuracy verification).

The new system’s implementation saw immediate benefits, with the company’s accuracy on orders for M&S increasing significantly.

Neal Collishaw, logistics manager with WWF, said the systems accuracy is now so good, the retailer has rewarded them with Gold status.

“What it means is that we can start to work towards being put into a ‘green lane’, which means the produce will come straight off the vehicle into the depot without being physically checked.”

Effectively M&S will be accepting what its supplier claims is in the order, without any double checking.

Collishaw said the move is down to the superb accuracy the PAV system delivers: “We’re now at 99.96 per cent fulfilment and the remaining 0.04 per cent is from our partners coming on board with their own projects. Once they’re up and running we’ll have 100 per cent accuracy.”

The system has proved so useful for the WWF, its suppliers are now getting on board. “There’s a real business case for them to invest in the system, whatever the scale of their operations. It’s giving them a cost saving and a return on their investment,” he said.

The improvement in accuracy will make a significant difference to the business he added: “We’ll effectively be able to invoice at the point of produce leaving our own gates. Normally you’d have to wait a week for the order to be processed, so to be able to do that straight away is very unique.

“The fact the invoice is accurate makes that possible. If you’re sending out invoices that are inaccurate, then that again means further hold-ups in payment.”

He said the ability to invoice quickly will help free up cash quickly. “Profitability is one thing, but generation of cash quickly is key.”

Winning the title of Chilean Fresh Fruit Association’s Innovation of the Year at this year’s Re:fresh awards has also given the company a boost. “It was absolutely fantastic to be recognised in front of the industry. The awards are the Oscars of the fruit trade and it meant a great deal to us.”

As well as winning awards and improving its standing with its customers, Worldwide Fruit is also shouting about its findings on the global stage.

Collishaw said: “We’re talking at a lot of EU and world-wide technology seminars. A lot of people want to hear our story and it’s great news for WWF. It certainly raised our profile both within the industry and outside of it as well.

“What’s also great is that this software system has come from a fresh produce company, when most people would expect it to come from the likes of Unilever or Wal-Mart.” While PAV was developed in response to a M&S initiative specifically aimed at RFID, Collishaw says WWF is not neglecting its other customers.

“We’re currently developing a software system that will look to improve service levels with other customers. It’s initially bar code based, but can be upgraded to deal with RFID technology when those customers need that.”

He said the combination of the award win and flag-waving has got its work on to customers’ radars. “We’re getting customers looking to get involved at an early stage in development, and that’s all down to our raised profile.”

HEALTHY EMAIL LAUNCH

Health and safety bosses are going high tech in a bid to tackle issues for farmers and producers.

The Health & Safety Executive has launched an agricultural email bulletin to update the sector on the latest issues.

The free electronic newsletter will be sent to farmers, farm managers, land owners, trade associations and unions every three months, giving brief information on topical issues and will contain links to more detailed information on the HSE website.

Chris Molde, from the HSE’s agriculture and food sector, said: “More and more farmers are accessing the internet.

“We have launched the Agriculture E-bulletin as it is an effective means of communicating information quickly.

“As well as informing those in agriculture about the current health and safety issues, we’ll also use the E-bulletin to remind farmers about seasonal safety issues, such as precautions to take when crop spraying or harvesting.”

The first email has now gone out and included information on new regulations on working at height, tree climbing research to prevent accidents, information on the use of dust masks and recent prosecutions in the agriculture sector.

So far the HSE said it has more than 500 subscribers, although it believes the numbers seeing the email are far greater, and feedback so far has been very positive.

SPREADSHEET DEPENDENCY

In my travels around companies involved in the fresh produce industry, it never ceases to amaze me how dependent the industry has become on the humble spreadsheet.

From a system that became crucial in wresting control from the mainframe boys in the 1980s, it has grown to become a vital management-reporting tool in many organisations.

In this article, I would like to highlight some of the issues that this can bring from a security and financial control viewpoint. The messages in the article may not be all that welcome. However, we at Anglia believe that senior management is not always aware of the risks to the business of over reliance on spreadsheets.

The spreadsheet has become one of the most pervasive tools in use within business. Virtually everyone who uses a PC has access to a copy.

From being used as a simple calculator to checking “what if” scenarios in budgeting, the software performs a myriad of very useful tasks.

In response to the variety of applications required to be tackled by the software, authors have incorporated some extremely sophisticated functionality within the system. The enhanced functionality has encouraged users to create highly tailored solutions that now run mission critical operations within the business. Therein lies the problem.

The reality is that spreadsheets are ripe ground for errors and fraud by their very nature. How often have you come across a set of figures that did not look right only to trace the origin back to an error in a spreadsheet?

Imagine that your pricing assumptions were contained within a complex matrix set up in a spreadsheet. The impact to the business could be substantial if an error occurred and was not picked up.

Suppose that all of your inventory records were stored within such a spreadsheet. With a few keystrokes, it is easy to amend such records that then become the new truth. Furthermore, as older versions of spreadsheets had no audit trails, it is virtually impossible to find out who changed the record.

By their very nature, spreadsheets have no built in controls. Entry errors and copy/paste errors are common as there are no controls to prevent such occurrences. There can also be hidden references or external links within a spreadsheet.

These may be obvious to the author of the spreadsheet but not to new users who may inadvertently copy or delete the hidden files. Furthermore, in normal use there is very little security with a spreadsheet. IT departments normally view spreadsheets as being in the business users’ arena and tend not to get involved. The normal quality assurance practices that apply to other software deployments are generally not applied to spreadsheets.

It is easy to see how the spreadsheet culture has grown within the fresh produce industry. The consolidation within the sector has rapidly created much larger business.

Many such businesses operated some of the older technology solutions, which had good operational functionality but very poor financial reporting. I wish I had a pound for every time I was told recently “I can get the data in, but extracting useful financial information in a timely manner is a nightmare”.

The spreadsheet is an attempt to fill that gap. However, it does lead to the “islands of data” syndrome referred to in a previous article. In addition, it could, as outlined, pose a risk to the business. Imagine what could happen if the creator of your most complex spreadsheets decided to leave the business.

A number of organisations I talk to have now recognised these risks and, in many cases, it provides one of the business drivers in the move towards new system deployments.

These modern integrated solutions combine powerful fresh produce operational functionality with sophisticated financial reporting. This enables the senior management to access one version of the truth that includes all of the security checks and balances necessary to run a dynamic and fast-moving business operation.

This relegates the spreadsheet to the role for which it is ideally suited.

The risks associated with spreadsheet errors have been recognised for some time within the IT industry. In 1999, a group called Eusprig was formed to focus on the issues. To learn more about best practice on the use of spreadsheets as well of examples of their misuse visit www.eusprig.org

As they say in Crimewatch, such incidents are probably rare so sleep well.

BELIEVE THE HYPE - LOW COST TAGGING

Multispectral Solutions (MSSI) has been awarded a patent for ultra wideband radio frequency tags (RFID), a technology that promises a far greater accuracy when it comes to the tracking of products and the possibility of much cheaper tags going forward.

The patent permits the rapid acquisition of RFID tag transmissions, enabling the monitoring and precise localisation of large numbers of tags, even in severe multipath environments, such as a supermarket or depot.

This newly patented technology has been incorporated into MSSI’s ultra wideband (UWB) Precision Asset Location System products, including the company’s latest “Sapphire” line of RFID tracking and tracing solutions.

“This latest patent issued to MSSI further validates our technology vision and innovation,” said Dr. Robert J. Fontana, MSSI President and CEO.

“MSSI will continue to address the challenges of providing affordable, high accuracy, high reliability, RFID and precision tracking solutions to our customers.”

RFID technology, which hooks miniature antennae up to tiny computer chips, some of which can be smaller than a grain of sand, to track items at a distance, is being seen as the best means of ensuring traceability of goods throughout the entire supply chain.

But affordability has become a key concern for manufacturing companies which would otherwise be eager to benefit from it.

Many suppliers, obliged to install RFID technology because of regulatory pressure and retail mandates, are worried that the cost of the technology is still prohibitive.

Indeed, at a recent Softworld Supply Chain event, experts argued that worries over cost implications are continuing to hinder the adoption of RFID technology amongst many organisations in the chain.

According to the panel, press hype, combined with a number of very high profile RFID implementation projects in recent years, has resulted in businesses dismissing the technology due to preconceptions, even when there could be a legitimate business case.

MSSI’s developments in ultra wideband RFID might go some way to convincing manufacturers that cheaper tags are indeed on the way, enabling them to get the full benefit of the technology.

Prices are reducing, and all technical standards published by AIM Global, the trade association recognised as the worldwide authority on automatic identification and mobility, undergo a rigorous review process by experts around the world.

In any case, RFID would appear to be here to stay. New mandatory requirements within the EU require the complete traceability of the food chain from processing to transport, storage and distribution.

A guidance document lays down the detailed implementation rules for operators in the sector.

Information on the name, address of producer, nature of products and date of transaction must be systematically registered within each operator’s traceability system.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted the patent, entitled “Object Location System and Method”, to MSSI for its unique technology advancements in UWB-based precision localisation.

The patent, filed in October 2001, is based upon low power, transmit-only UWB tag technology and complements previous MSSI patents for precision localisation utilising dual function transmit/receive tags.