How is technology solving this?
Blockchain is seen as a critical requirement to support food safety initiatives. Many industry leaders are strategically planning to use blockchain now based on the learning from pilot initiatives. These initiatives have surfaced significant data quality issues and inconsistencies which need to be addressed. A recent Gartner study concluded that from 2020 through 2022, 80 percent of supply chain blockchain initiatives will remain at a pilot stage.

The researchers point to the fact that many supply chain use cases still rely on events that are stuck in the “analog world,” such as events and data occurring across physical products, packaging layers, and transportation assets.

AR for Process Digitization
While global standards and more stringent data governance are being established, we see using augmented reality (AR) based processes as a cost-effective way to address some of critical challenges around processes which are still paper-driven and in the “analog world”.

From a food safety perspective, participants across the supply chain (starting from the growers and all way upstream to the finished product) must have consistent processes to assess risk factors, auditing best practices, proper handling procedures and good traceback systems.
Using AR based process flows allows for consistent execution, real-time data capture, capturing a variety of data types and enabling data-driven decisions.

Process enablement using AR helps streamline existing disparate flows and eliminating redundant tasks. One can capture the operator point of view, be it in the form of images, video, audio, or text. Data captured can be further annotated and shared in real-time with other stakeholders. 

Buyers can quality check produce at its source. As part of the process, images can be captured and using machine learning compared against a baseline to classify product quality and score on relevant product attributes. Problems identified can help address sourcing issues. Upstream process engineers and auditors can be guided to consistently execute, record their tasks and findings by lot, batch, or bin. Data and insight gained is invaluable. Integrating such data with a track and trace system reduces the risk by having real-time access to genealogy data. Product at potential risk can be identified early on to take corrective action. Access to such data helps meet regulatory compliance in a timely manner.

How do you get started?  
Vieaura provides a SaaS based platform which allows users to jump start and leverage industry proven apps using existing flows or custom build using iX Studio, its app development framework. The framework delivers device and system agnostic APIs supporting customer interfaces.

Reach to our team today and to get started in enhancing your current track and trace initiatives.