Australian supermarket chain Coles is using track-and-trace technology from packaging company Loscam on Thinxtra’s IoT network to monitor its smart food bins.

These bins move poultry from farms to distribution centres.

Coles wanted to reduce the risk of lost food bins, monitor when equipment was mishandled, improve pooling of assets for transit, and increase stock turnaround.

Loscam and Thinxtra partnered to provide IoT-powered track-and-trace technology, deploying 4500 smart and foldable food bins. The IoT devices communicate location and condition data to Coles using Thinxtra’s national public network, via LoscamOnline, a specialised tracking platform.

The combination has enabled Coles to optimise transport routes and equipment pooling based on usage patterns. This is said to reduce the cost of the asset pool required by 25 per cent, tripling the amount of empty bins returned, reducing cost and waste.

In 2021, Coles announced a major digital transformation strategy, which includes increasing the resilience of its critical supply chains, such as the protein cold chain responsible for sourcing and stocking poultry. The goal was to reduce the number of food bins it loses, understand whether and where these assets were being damaged, improve pooling of equipment for transit, and ultimately increase stock turnaround.

Coles deployed the IoT supply chain technology from Loscam and Thinxtra to track the location of and monitor shock events for 4500 smart food bins moving poultry between their supplier processing facility sites and its distribution centre.

“We partnered with Loscam to deploy a purpose-built device and portal system with Thinxtra connectivity, tailored to the specific needs of our protein cold chain department, giving us full visibility into our supply chain operations in real time,” said Larry Kavanagh, general manager for national meat processing at Coles. “This is a crucial step to retain our customer-focused, quality-driven service that’s reflected in our supermarkets.”

The combined IoT offering has enabled a connected and transparent supply chain with timely insights into geolocation, geofencing, shock impact events, temperature and bin status, and allows Coles to optimise transport routes and equipment pooling based on usage patterns.

“The smart food bins ensure that we can track the poultry from the moment they are loaded by our suppliers at their processing sites, right through to the time they reach our distribution centre, reinforcing our food safety standards, while saving time and minimising waste,” said Kavanagh.

Loscam and Thinxtra’s IoT offering provides data for each individual smart food bin, rather than just the trucks transporting them. Coles can therefore view the location of each individual assetin transit, and receives alerts when food bins aren’t where they should be and any time there is an impact, including when bins are mishandled. This reduces unnecessary damages and creates accountability for stock quality supported by real-time data.

“Historical location devices generally fell well short of market expectations and needs,” said Daniel Bunnett, executive vice president at Loscam. “With a complex large-scale organisation like Coles, IoT has introduced the capabilities of asset management beyond traditional RFID or GPS tracking, with sensors that can provide insights to optimise logistical operations. Powered by the national Thinxtra 0G network, our IoT devices give Coles a sustainable, more efficient way of transporting perishable poultry produce, and managing its returnable industrial packaging, all while reducing resource waste.”

In addition, the ability tomonitor asset performance, including temperature levels, creates assurance for the quality of food. This plays a role in eliminating waste, and helps Coles maintain safe conditions during transit with low energy consumption to support its environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.

“We support nearly 4000 customers across the region in operations that have historically had a cost-down focus,” said Bunnett. “As a key supplier, we have an obligation to create efficiencies to focus on return on investment instead. Working with Thinxtra, we have been able to bring these benefits to our customers, and move away from only conversations about losses, mismanagement and pricing, to focus on consolidation of volumes, timely data, tracking and notifications for timely changes.”

The combination of foldable food bins and IoT technology reduces the cost of the asset pool required by 25 per cent, tripling the amount of empty bins returned, reducing cost and waste.

The IoT technology is fast and simple to install and does not require up-front infrastructure setup investment. The devices are also battery powered, with a life of up to five years, giving them the ability to operate independently of any power source.

“Coles, as an iconic Australian brand, has been able to deploy internet of things technology to achieve economic viability and operational scalability through streamlining its critical supply chain operations,” said Nicholas Lambrou, Thinxtra CEO. “The IoT-powered smart food bins give full traceability of quality assurance and efficiency within the protein cold chain, all the while saving Coles business costs by avoiding unnecessary damages and better pooling equipment for transport.”