Tampa, Florida: IFCO North America today announced the company has completed installation of IFCO SYSTEMS’ proprietary SmartGuardian monitoring technology in all six of its U.S. Reusable Plastic Container (RPC) service centers. SmartGuardian is innovative new software that monitors and controls IFCO’s RPC cleaning and sanitation process to ensure it meets strict company and industry standards.
“IFCO RPCs have developed a well-deserved reputation for safety, efficiency and sustainability,” said Daniel Walsh, President of IFCO North America. “As the market leader in reusable fresh food packaging, we constantly strive to improve our products and services and SmartGuardian is the latest example of our commitment to that core principle.”
SmartGuardian has been installed at all six of IFCO’s U.S. RPC processing facilities:
• McDonough, Georgia (August 2015)
• San Antonio, Texas (December 2015)
• Bolingbrook, Illinois (January 2016)
• Rancho Cucamonga, California (January 2016)
• Portland, Oregon (January 2016)
• Fresno, California (February 2016)
Combined, the six processing facilities employ nearly 1,000 full time workers who are directly tasked with the cleaning, washing and sanitation of RPCs.
SmartGuardian technology helps ensure IFCO RPCs are processed according to company and industry food safety standards. Water pressure and temperature, detergent and disinfectant concentrations and contact time are continually monitored via sensors to ensure each RPC is processed correctly. If any parameter is not in line with the specified value, the system automatically sends an alert or may stop the wash machine.
Each pallet of clean RPCs is then identified with a quality label identifying the wash location, wash machine, and the date and time the RPCs were washed. Lastly, as the pallets are loaded into trucks for distribution, the system tracks which customers are scheduled to receive the RPCs.
“Forward-thinking North American growers and retailers utlize IFCO RPCs to get their products to market, and SmartGuardian is the latest in a long list of factors that make IFCO RPCs a wise choice for the packaging, transportation, storage and display of all categories of fresh food,” concluded Mr. Walsh.
For further information, please contact:
Hillary Femal
VP – Global Marketing
T: + 1813 463 4124 | F: + 1 813 286 2070 | M: + 1 813 992 1470
Hillary.Femal@ifco.com
Sean McBride
DSM Strategic Communications
202.309.3050
smcbride@dsmstrategic.com
Additional Information
IFCO is the leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions, operating a pool of over 225 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) in 38 countries. IFCO RPCs are used primarily to transport fresh products from producers to leading grocery retailers worldwide. IFCO's solutions help retailers and producers reduce costs and increase sales by maximizing efficiency, product protection, sustainability, and safety throughout their supply chains. IFCO is a member of the Brambles family of companies. For more information, visit www.ifco.com.
About Brambles
Brambles Limited (ASX:BXB) is a supply-chain logistics company operating in more than 60 countries, primarily through the CHEP and IFCO brands. The group is specialized in the pooling of unit-load equipment and related services and concentrates on the outsourced management of pallets, crates and containers. Brambles primarily serves the supply chains for consumer goods, dry and fresh food, food retail trade and general manufacturing industries. The Group is also active in specialized sectors and supports the automotive, aerospace and oil and gas industries. Brambles employs more than 14,000 people and owns more than 500 million pallets, crates and containers through a network of approximately 850 service centers. For further information, please visit www.brambles.com.
Source: Brambles Limited
