30.04.2012
Calavo Selects HarvestMark PTI for Whole Chain Traceability
Redwood City, Calif. – April 30, 2012 – YottaMark Inc., provider of the HarvestMark fresh food traceability and supply chain insights platform, today announced that Calavo Growers Inc. (NASDAQ-GS: CVGW), has selected the company’s HarvestMark PTI solution to achieve compliance with the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI). Calavo will deploy HarvestMark PTI across their packing facilities in the US and Mexico, including their high-speed automated packing facilities in the US.
Calavo, the largest avocado shipper in California, will deploy HarvestMark PTI first in its Santa Paula, CA packing facility. HarvestMark PTI will be installed on packing lines that produce as many as 3,100 boxes of avocados per hour. Using an industrial vision system and automated labeling, the HarvestMark system is able to automatically recognize boxes and box markings, without slowing down the packing line, and add traceability labels to each carton. The solution is integrated with the HarvestMark platform, capturing production data for later use in on-demand trace-back, trace-forward, and supply chain analytics.
“Each year we pack approximately 30 percent of the California avocado crop,” said Mike Browne, vice president of fresh operations at Calavo. “When we set out to select a traceability partner, we needed a solution that met our volume requirements, and a provider that could offer consistent, reliable support for our business. We chose HarvestMark because their solution has the flexibility to accommodate the varied packing styles across our operation, demonstrated a solid return on investment, and has earned a reputation for reliability.”
Calavo was founded in 1924 as the Grower’s Exchange, the first organization to create quality standards for avocadoes. Today is it a $523M public company comprised of its Fresh division, as well as Calavo Foods, and prides itself on regionally-produced products, made to order, and delivered just-in-time. Today approximately 1 in 4 avocados consumed in the US are supplied by Calavo.
"Calavo explored many options to achieve PTI compliance cost effectively and with a strong return on investment,” said J. Scott Carr, president and CEO of YottaMark. “HarvestMark PTI met their rigorous standards, and we look forward to being their trusted partner in traceability.”
The HarvestMark PTI solution, in use by hundreds of shippers from Canada to Argentina, makes compliance with the Produce Traceability Initiative easy to implement and manage. HarvestMark PTI includes all the hardware and software needed to produce PTI-compliant case, RPC, and pallet labels. Trace-back, trace-forward, and production data are securely hosted on the HarvestMark platform, delivering unique and valuable supply chain reporting. The solution enables on-demand traceability anywhere in the supply chain.
About HarvestMark Traceability Solutions
HarvestMark® is the industry-leading fresh food traceability platform from YottaMark, Inc. HarvestMark solutions deliver transparency and unparalleled insight into the fresh supply chain that drives sales and profit. Designed for a wide range of fresh products, the HarvestMark platform supports industry standard case- and pallet-level traceability. HarvestMark for Items extends the platform to individual sales units – driving loyalty by connecting farm to fork, speeding food safety communication, and reconnecting shoppers with the people who grow and sell their food. To date, more than 4 billion packages of fresh food have been enabled with HarvestMark traceability, from the produce aisle to the meat case. Visit HarvestMark.com, download the free HarvestMark Food Traceability App for iPhone and Android, or call us at call 1-866-76-TRUST (or +1.650.264.6200). For more information about YottaMark, Inc., visit www.YottaMark.com.
Press contact:
Kris Zillo
JS2 Communications
646.430.5649
kzillo@js2comm.com
