United's traceability demo center

Blogging from Nebraska, this slid across the inbox yesterday....


The United Fresh Produce Association announced today that a new Produce Traceability Demo Center will be added as a featured attraction on the United Fresh 2009 convention show floor, April 21-24, in Las Vegas.

This new destination center is designed to answer industry members’ questions about the industrywide Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), including details about how to get started, steps each company needs to take to meet the PTI’s milestones, and resources available to help individual companies incorporate whole-chain traceability standards.

The center will feature an 8,000 sq.ft. display area including exhibits, private meeting rooms, and a roundtable discussion area with 100% focus on produce traceability. The Traceability Center is where growers, packer-shippers, wholesalers, foodservice and retailers will go to meet professionals and get answers to their most pressing questions on traceability. From learning how to secure their company prefix to meeting PTI milestones ahead, attendees will find solutions to their traceability challenges in the Produce Traceability Demo Center:

Staff experts from GS1, the first step in GTIN traceability and case coding. Companies can even work with GS1 experts onsite to sign up for their company prefix.
Table-top displays featuring vendors with hardware and software traceability solutions.
Daily schedule of informal roundtable discussions with produce and retail companies sharing their experience with traceability.
Private meeting rooms to visit with potential vendors to talk about your unique business needs.

The center is hosted by the United Fresh Supply Chain Logistics and Technology Council as a service to industry members, and will be staffed by Dan Vaché, Vice President of Supply Chain Management, to help industry members throughout the show.

“With clear milestones and timelines established for total supply chain traceability by 2012, thousands of companies across the supply chain are now turning their attention to the real practical questions - where do I start and what are the next steps,” said Vache. “We’re excited to be working with so many sponsors and other companies to put together a real destination center on the trade show floor to answer these questions.”

The following companies are presently sponsoring displays in the Traceability Demo Center -- FoodLogiQ, Ramsay Highlander, RedLine, YottaMark, TraceGains, KPG Solutions, Inc., and GS1 US.

The following individuals are currently scheduled to share their experience with traceability during discussion roundtables -- Reggie Griffin, Corporate Vice President, Produce& Floral Merchandising and Procurement, The Kroger Co.; Larry Nottingham, Manager of Information Systems & Technology, Pandol Brothers; Jim Corby, Vice President Produce, Food Lion LLC; Steve Grinstead, President/CEO, PRO*ACT.

For more information about the Traceability Demo Center, or to have your company included in the center, please contact Dan Vaché at 425-629-6271