With the use of 4500 “smart food bins,” Coles Group has implemented an IoT-powered track-and-trace system to reduce equipment losses in its poultry supply chain. These bins transport poultry between farms and its distribution centre.
Coles stated that it is attempting to strengthen the resilience of its Protein Cold Chain (sourcing and stocking chicken) as part of its digital transformation.
Its objectives are to decrease the number of food bins lost, better understand whether and where they are being damaged, increase stock turnaround, and improve equipment pooling for transit.
The system was won in a competitive tender by Loscam (which offers the track-and-trace solution along with the food bins it manufactures) and Thinxtra (which offers connectivity through its low-bandwidth 0G network).
The solution keeps track of the position of food bins, shock impact events, temperature, and bin status in real time.
Based on how the bins are used, Coles may also optimise delivery routes and equipment pooling. Supermarkets can get this data using the LoscamOnline tracking system.
The level of data that Coles had access to before the deployment was at the truck level.
The ability to track temperature and other aspects of asset performance contributes to waste reduction and poultry quality assurance.
Coles asserted that by tripling the amount of empty bins returned, waste and cost were reduced by 25% for the asset pool.
