Emerald Packaging Inc. Case studies. Traceability & Packaging Innovations 3/14/2013. Unit Level Traceable field pack bags

Transcription

1 Traceability & Packaging Innovations Todd Somers Emerald Packaging Union City, CA Emerald Packaging Inc. Largest producer of flexible packaging for the produce industry in the Western United States 90% of our business is in the produce industry Roughly a 0/0 mix of rollstock (form fill and seal uses) and finished bags (field pack) 2012 we produced 2.2 Billion units Family owned and operated Celebrating our 0 th year in business Case studies Unit level traceable field pack bags Bolthouse Farms Shakedown product More demanding sales & marketing requirements Unit Level Traceable field pack bags Task Have a unique QR and human readable code on each bag prior to being used in the field Create an efficient mechanism to identify the bags being packed, tie in a geo and date code to the identifier & have a backup identification method just in case Make this workable and easily scalable in a field pack environment Do this in a cost effective manner Number of farms growing/harvesting lettuce by state* Lettuce in California 3 unique farms Over 11 counties 228,000+ acres 1

2 Unit Level Traceability Why Once in your refrigerator can you tell where these items were grown, harvested, packed, etc. Nobody wants to see this on the news! We ll deal with it if it happens! Keany Produce spent more than 100 hours after Nov. 4 when the company learned of the recall contacting restaurants, hotels, assisted living facilities and other customers that together had purchased from Keany more than,000 heads that came from the same supplier as the tainted head In 2006 the E Coli spinach issue caused 100% of spinach to be pulled from the market Getting individual codes onto the bags Dates back years with lots of learning along the way Hand applied in field Too time consuming Increased bill of materials in the field was not practical Label applied in line on bag converting equipment Too costly Additional step of out of line printing reduced flexibility and reaction time IF YOU WAIT IT IS TOO LATE! Getting codes onto the bags Success! Found in printing in line using high speed ink jet printers Able to hold speeds upwards of 200 cycles per minute New inks dry faster Additional computing power allow numbers/codes to sequence faster Reduced material cost when compared with pre printed labels Flexibility and reaction time increased Getting codes onto the bags Codes include QR code readable by cell phones and other portable devices Human readable code can be manually entered on the packers web site White box is printed as part of the standard printing process with the code being inserted in the following step (bag converting) 2

3 Graphics Graphics are printed as shown to the right Circled area shows the location of the unique QR code & human readable code Secondary print step adding in the QR code is done in line during bag converting Unit Level Traceable field pack bags Putting information behind the codes Again, lots of false starts & hidden complexities Scanning each and every bag as it is packed in the field Overly time consuming Scanning equipment was sensitive to direct sunlight causing misfiring Field pack rigs had limited space and electricity to handle the increased load Potential for error or omission too great Scanning each wicket (300 bags per wicket pack) Overly time consuming (both in the field and at Emerald) Complexities of training and potential for error or omission was too great Identifying what is inside the box Success Labeling each case (3,000 bags in a case) with a scan able code identifying what number sequence is inside Scanning is left to the supervisor on the rig or the field foreman at the start of the day s packing Partial cases at the end of the day are handled by scanning the first and last bag on the remaining wicket(s) and doing so again at the start of the next day (likely in a different field) Scan able code placed on each individual box Efficiencies in a field pack environment Need to take into account The elements must be taken into account (rain, direct sunlight, mud, uneven surfaces, etc.) Most crews are paid partially on a per piece basis Speed is critical At full speed they are packing 2,000 cases or 48,000 heads of lettuce in an 8 hour period Large operations may have 14 crews operating at any given time (6,000 heads of lettuce in 8 hours) Training and buy in from the crews is important A typical lettuce crew has 2 people on a rig 3

4 Typical rig Harvest crew & Rig Making it scalable Harvest Crew & Rig How do we create a structure that can be easily handled by multiple packing locations (simultaneous) and movement from location to location California alone packs lettuce in 11 different counties How to handle national packing of the same label How to handle the volume Large packers are running 100MM+ heads of lettuce a year with as many as 14 crews per day each in a different location Is tech support an option? At Emerald we are running 26 bag lines x 24 Ease of use Cost effective Scan option as opposed to manual entry Single scan at the case level (3,000 count level) No additional materials required in the field Printing the QR code & human readable code on the bag is more cost effective than labels Speeds can be achieved to have a nominal impact on the bag converting process How is this going to be paid for? Marketing, marketing & marketing! End consumers sign on, register and divulge individual e mail addresses and other personal information In 2009 we ran a cross promotion for a packer that tied in with the online game Farmville. Unique contact information on over 100,000 end consumers was gained Online games, discounts, cross promotions and other give aways to help increase sales Potential to further automate the per piece pay rate for field pack personnel Insurance in the event of a recall 4

5 Bolthouse Farms Shakedowns Task 1) Create a flexible package to handle fresh baby peeled carrots on one side of a pouch (wet) and a dry spice/flavoring on the other 2) Create a frangible seal to allow the consumer to pull open the partition, shake and tear open the pouch to consume the product 3) Maintain shelf life of standard bagged baby carrots Development Identify resin and film structures that could handle the performance characteristics needed Outer seals needed to be destruct while the seal between carrots and spice needed to break open (both use the same film) Score line at the opening of the bag needs to allow for a clean tear while not opening prematurely when the frangible seal is broken Settled on a PET/PE lamination Snack pack size Eye catching graphics Pinch, pull & shake Three flavors Salsa Chili Lime Ranch

6 2013 Flexible Packaging Awards Sales, marketing & graphics trends Shakedowns product was awarded a Silver medal for Technical Achievement Increasing number of colors Increasing ink coverage on packages Higher line screen Photographic images More frequent graphics changes Old Wal Mart 8 lb. russet potato graphics 2 Colors Last used in 2009 Current Wal Mart 8 lb. russet graphics 8 color process print High definition printing plates Thank you from all of us at Emerald Packaging Inc Western Ave. Union City, CA 9483 Tel: Todd Somers Sales & Marketing Director tsomers@empack.com 6