Hy-Vee Grocery Cold Chain Monitoring Increases Product Shelf-Life
Grocery chain Hy-Vee implements RAIN RFID to automate cold chain monitoring from source to store, increasing product consistency and quality while reducing labor costs.
Hy-Vee tracks perishable products in transit for quality and safety
Hy-Vee strives to provide the highest quality products to its shoppers while handling perishable goods with different temperature sensitivities. By adding RAIN RFID tags that monitor temperature readings throughout the shipping and receiving process, Hy-Vee has achieved:
- 100% cold chain monitoring and management both inbound and outbound, from multiple suppliers, distribution centers (DCs), transport carriers, and store locations
- Confidence in perishable product shelf-life, quality, and safety
- Consistent product experience that ensures customer loyalty
- 22% reduction in supplier costs with a reusable RAIN RFID tag solution
- 97% decrease in data evaluation times which result in labor cost savings
Inbound and outbound cold-chain monitoring and management
Monitoring food products during transit allows Hy-Vee to be confident in perishable product shelf-life, quality, and safety, thus providing customers with a consistent product experience and ensuring customer loyalty. Before products arrive in stores, Hy-Vee's DCs handle items including dairy products, fresh meats, seafood, deli items, produce and frozen goods, all of which have different temperature needs and sensitivities. Using a solution from TempTrip and Impinj, Hy-Vee achieved 100% cold chain monitoring and management capabilities both inbound and outbound, from multiple suppliers, subsidiaries, distribution centers, transport carriers, and retail store locations:
- Hy-Vee requires suppliers to include TempTRIP RAIN RFID tags powered by Impinj Monza X-8K chips with every order.
- The TempTRIP tags record time and temperature readings on pre-set intervals throughout the shipping and receiving process.
- When items arrive at DCs, tags are passed by Impinj Speedway readers placed between dock doors.
- The readers collect and send data to TempTRIP's servers where algorithms are applied to the data on a per-product basis, allowing each product to be evaluated based on specific temperature guidelines.
- Hy-Vee uses this data to refuse product, investigate product, measure performance, provide feedback to drivers, carriers and suppliers, and determine if an item should be discounted based on a shorter expected shelf-life.
- Once data is collected, the tag is cleared and configured for reuse.
Hy-Vee won the 2014 RFID Journal Award for “Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service” for their cold-chain management solution.
Hy-Vee manages cold-chain, increases product consistency and quality, and reduces labor costs
Hy-Vee won the 2014 RFID Journal Award for “Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service” for their cold-chain management solution.
Hy-Vee has greatly benefitted due to the implementation of RAIN RFID monitoring with:
Confidence in perishable product shelf-life
Temperature readings at pre-set intervals allow each product to be evaluated based on specific temperature guidelines, giving Hy-Vee insight if for instance during a week-long transit, a malfunction causes an item to thaw and then refreeze.
Improved quality and safety
With accurate temperature data from the shipping and receiving process, Hy-Vee is able to determine the expected shelf-life of a product, control the quality of products it sells, and know when to refuse or investigate product for customer safety.
Consistent product experience
Source to store temperature tracking data ensures that Hy-Vee is able to provide customers with a consistent product experience, enhancing customer loyalty.
Reduced supplier costs
TempTRIP's tags can be re-configured and re-used, a unique feature within the temperature monitoring devices market. TempTRIP’s reusable RAIN RFID tags offer a 22% reduction in supplier costs in comparison to similar single-use devices.
Decreased cost of labor
Hy-Vee’s cost of labor was reduced due to data integration and the ability to upload data directly to their website. Costs were further reduced due to a 97% reduction in data evaluation times, from five minutes to just eight seconds.
100% cold chain monitoring and management capabilities
With the TempTRIP and Impinj solution, Hy-Vee is able to monitor its food products during transit, both inbound and outbound, from multiple suppliers, subsidiaries, distribution centers, transport carriers, and retail store locations.
- Article tagged as:
Thursday, June 12, 2014
ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
Hy-Vee
Founded in 1930 as a small general store, Hy-Vee has expanded to 235 locations across eight Midwestern states. With sales of more than $8 billion, Hy-Vee ranks among the top 25 supermarket chains in the United States. Hy-Vee takes pride in being an employee-owned grocery retailer and is one of the top 50 private companies in the United States.
ABOUT THE PARTNER
Sign Up for the latest news