Traceability Starts in the Field
RedLine Field™ is a complete solution enabling grower shippers to meet their case traceability requirements for field-packed items. It lets you capture and manage your traceability information from the time you plan your daily harvest until you deliver packed product to the cooler. The system was designed to provide maximum flexibility for your commodities and harvest methods. As an added benefit, your traceability information provides critical insight into harvest operations and crew productivity.
PTI Compliance in the Field
PTI requires that every case you pack have a label with a lot number and GTIN (Global Trade Identification Number) in both barcode and human readable formats. You must be able to internally trace product back to a specific harvest event, including grower, field, and lot. This traceability information must be maintained electronically for immediate reporting to your customers or regulatory agencies upon request.
While putting a label on a box sounds simple, getting the right label on every box is much more difficult. PTI labels normally include commodity and pack style, and could include country of origin, harvest date, or other information. Combine this with multiple daily changes and the process of PTI compliance rapidly becomes overwhelming.
A Complete Solution for Traceability
PTI compliance is more than buying a barcode printer and some labels. Success requires capturing and managing traceability information from your harvest operations through customer shipment. A complete solution includes:
- Software that generates labels and maintains traceability information
- Barcode labels that work for all your packing and pre-cooling operations
- Barcode printers that work in the office or in the field
- Mobile computing devices that manage printing and capture traceability information during harvest
- Wireless connectivity that enables communication with office for rapid response to daily changes
Flexible PTI Compliance from Harvest to Cooler
It all starts with your daily estimate or harvest plan. PTI compliance, just like day-to-day harvesting, starts with your estimate or harvest plan. For each day, you decide which commodities to harvest in what locations in what pack styles. This daily harvest plan provides each crew the information they need to print PTI case labels.
Print labels when and where you need them. Every business is different, with unique harvest operations. RedLine Field lets you pre-print labels in the office, or print directly in the field, as needed. The system supports multiple case label formats for cartons and RPCs, allowing you to add information or respond to customer-specific demands. You can mix and match printing locations and methods as necessary, including changing them on the fly.
Apply labels the way that works for you. Different commodities have different harvest methods: ground harvest, table harvest, machine harvest. Just as harvest methods differ based on the commodity, so does the process of applying PTI case labels. RedLine has worked in the field with leading growers to determine how to best apply labels for different harvest approaches. We can work with your teams to determine the method that works best for your operations.
Traceability begins at the harvest. Putting the correct label on each case is just the beginning of traceability. As pallets are built, the harvest crew applies a unique pallet tag and captures the case traceability information with a mobile device. This process takes seconds and creates the electronic record used for traceability. This information can be used to automate the receiving process at the cooler—saving time and reducing data entry errors.
 | RedLine Field Traceability application successfully completes Motorola Solutions’ Enterprise Mobility Validated Solution Program. Read the full press release. |