As new technology is applied to the packing, shipping and selling of fresh produce, there are a number of complications that can arise in the cold chain. Seeing that cold chain management is the future of managing produce, BT9 was established to develop new technologies that would help businesses to achieve maximum efficiencies when bringing produce from the field to market.BT9 was founded earlier this year after it spun out of StePac, an organization which started by providing modified atmosphere packaging over 20 years ago. BT9 was founded with the goal of focusing exclusively on intelligent cold chain solutions. Just in its first year of operation, noted Sales Director Ariel Gordon, BT9 has made impressive gains.
“We started with cold chain management solutions for fresh produce, but now we're moving into other areas,” he said. “Really, we can work in any industry that can benefit from better cold chain management.” In addition to horizontal expansion, he mentioned that they're also expanding vertically by drilling down into every aspect of the fresh produce cold chain.
“We provide a sensor system, but at the end of the day we're really selling management information,” said Gordon. “There's the hardware component for monitoring, but what we excel at is gathering information, analyzing that data and selling insights.” The goal is to connect every agent in the process, from when the grower picks his crop to when a consumer buys that produce. Such a level of integration can be a valuable tool to make sure consumers are getting high-quality produce and growers, shippers and retailers are not losing money, he added.
“For one customer, we discovered a distribution center where the correct humidity levels weren't being maintained,” he said. “That resulted in shrinkage, which, because the price for produce there was determined by weight, resulted in a loss of four million dollars every year. So because of BT9's information, the customer upgraded systems to eliminate the loss.”
“We're giving our clients a much higher resolution of information,” he said. “We don't just show them the problem. Because of all of our expertise in cold chain management, we can help them also find the solutions. So at the end of the day, we don't just provide technology, but we provide knowledge and expertise.”
