Ensuring supply chain safety through time temperature integrators

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The technology of time temperature integrators (TTI) is used to ensure the safety and quality of temperature sensitive goods such as food and drugs along their entire lifespan. This work aims to provide a better understanding of potential benefits that can be expected from the use of TTIs in terms of supply chain improvement. Design/methodology/approach -Based on the different types of information provided by TTIs: information on products' freshness and information on products' remaining shelf lives, the paper identifies qualitatively the benefits that would stem from each type of information. Findings -A framework is built to evaluate the benefits, in terms of cost reduction and/or quality service improvement, that would stem from information provided by TTIs. Illustrative models are also developed in order to quantify some of these benefits.Research limitations/implications -The coexistence on products' packaging of a printed use by date and a TTI device can be misleading for consumers. Besides, the benefits that supply chain actors will achieve by using TTIs will vary by product category and are dependent upon the level at which the TTI device is used. Further research and case studies have to be developed in order to bring further answers to these issues. Practical implications -This paper is one of the first studies that helps companies in the food and the health care industry to better understand the benefits of using TTIs from an operations management point of view and to evaluate whether it can be advantageous to deploy this technology or not. Originality/value -This work differs from investigations in literature in that it identifies exhaustively and qualitatively the benefits of TTIs and to give perspectives for quantitative models that can be developed to assess these benefits.

Capturing food logistics: a literature review and research agenda

“…The literature therefore lacks research that takes the distribution perspective of the primary producers, and the little that has been studied from the perspective of primary producers has mainly focused on food quality and traceability issues (Hobbs and Young 2000;Phillips and Smyth 2004;Ottesen 2006). This lack is a problem, as several authors (Wilson 1996;Sahin et al 2007) point out the increasing need for more fresh food. Distribution is increasingly important, and food products have to pass more quickly from primary producers to retailers.…”

“…Finally, Chiappe and Herrero (1997) Six papers analyse industry issues from a distribution perspective. Two of them analyse how to improve distribution with the help of IT solutions, thus recommending how to use different methods to establish alerts in perishable food supply chains (Hafliðason et al 2012) and explaining the advantages of using time temperature integrators to track temperature and temperature variation (Sahin et al 2007). Four papers focus on distribution issues within different countries: Sohal and Perry (2006) and Henderson (1994) both investigate distribution structures in Australia, while Childs and Batista (1994) focus on food distribution systems in Japan, and Taylor (1994) looks at the food structure in former Soviet Union.…”

Food service research: An integrated approach

“…The breadth of potential projects can be demonstrated with studies on TTIs, a tool on supply chain management for perishable products (Sahin et al, 2007). The accuracy of these devices is tested by reproducing real-life temperature profiles in a laboratory setting.…”

“…Inventory management based on products' remaining shelf-lives Pricing based on products' remaining shelf-life Improvement of the quality of service for end consumers Compiled from Sahin et al (2007).…”

Process capability index Cpk for monitoring the thermal performance in the distribution of refrigerated products

“…A number of papers on refrigerated food transport address TTI -time-temperature evaluation along the cold chain (Gigiel et al, 1998;Giannakourou & Taoukis, 2003;Smolander et al, 2004;Giannakourou et al, 2005;Estrada-Flores & Eddy, 2006;Sahin et al, 2007;Pereira et al, 2010). For short and medium distance product delivery, as in the case of this work, it suffices to observe that the temperature of the product is maintained within pre-established limits.…”