The Challenges

The food and beverage industry faces a myriad of challenges when it comes to global supply chain transparency. The top four obstacles it must overcome include:

Engage Consumers, From Farm to Table

More than ever, the modern food consumer believes that product knowledge is power. This has led to the rise of a consumer who demands complete transparency around the food he or she consumes, and who will purchase food items from others if this need is not met. By meticulously tracking ingredients from the field, to the factory, to the store, growers and operators can provide the ingredient-level transparency the informed customer has come to expect.

Evolve with Changing Consumer Preferences

You know the saying “you are what you eat.” In today’s environmentally and health-conscious world, consumers take this to heart, expecting not only to know what is in the food they are eating, but also the corresponding supply chain practices beginning in the field. For growers and operators, this manifests in a need to legitimize claims, such as grass-fed, locally-grown, organic, and cage-free, with highly-detailed, accurate data records that can be accessed with confidence by multiple stakeholders, including the end consumer.

Document Allergens & Dietary Restrictions

For many customers, product labels that fail to disclose certain ingredients
or attributes of the supply chain are not simply a matter of frustration,
but a question of life and death. From dietary restrictions, such as gluten-free and lactose-free, to allergies to tree nuts and shellfish, many consumers need to know exactly what is and isn’t in the food they eat. For the manufacturer, that translates to a need to guarantee that all products contain the appropriate warnings and disclosures, with no possibility of allergen exposure at any point in the supply chain.

Uphold Compliance & Maintain Consumer Trust

Inherent to earning consumer trust is maintaining government standards in terms of growing, producing, storing, and distributing food products. If brands fail to ensure accountability and a product recall goes into effect, the very bedrock of consumer trust is at risk. It is only through the use of detailed, complete, and timely records that allow regulatory bodies to work efficiently and effectively—or better still, records that notify growers and producers when compromises occur in real time so they can isolate and remove items before they ever reach the market—that consumer trust can be preserved.

The Solution

For nearly a century, Ashton Potter has served compliance-driven businesses around the world. Today, we own the entire food and beverage supply chain security process—ranging from the tamper-proof label, to the product security technology, to the data management system—and leverage partnerships with our Gold Integration Partners to cost-effectively augment and extend existing enterprise systems and processes.

Individualized Insight, From Grower to Customer

Ashton Potter empowers producers and consumers alike to verify the origin and safety of food and beverage products through its tamper-proof labeling solution that applies a unique, serialized identity directly to every batch, pallet, and finished product. Highly scalable to billions of records, Ashton Potter leverages best-in-class printing techniques that enable food and beverage growers and producers to efficiently authenticate every item throughout the supply chain, passing down this verification capability through secure labels to the end buyer.

Drawing upon years of experience in the security printing space, Ashton Potter is accustomed to serving the world’s largest food and beverage providers and delivering product-level security in the way that best suits their operations. That means adapting its labeling solution to each operation’s unique requirements—from printing labels at a remote, secure facility and applying them to products down the road, to producing and adhering labels directly on site, to starting the labeling process in the field at the very moment of harvest.

Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability

Ashton Potter pairs its serialized labels with ProLinc®, an advanced technology solution that provides total transparency into the food and beverage supply chain—from the field, to the manufacturing plant, to store shelves, and beyond.

By spanning the entire supply chain without exception, including the last mile from the retailer to the end consumer, ProLinc provides customers the ability to verify product origin and claim credibility. With a single scan, customers can recall highly-detailed records that provide insight into field conditions, pesticide use, exposure to allergens, and more. At the same time, ProLinc ensures maximum security and accessibility of these records through a highly-secure, Blockchain-enabled database.

Integration Services & Process Optimization

As a proven partner with specialized knowledge of the food and beverage sector, Ashton Potter augments its technology and labeling solutions with a suite of services that streamline implementation, optimize operational processes, and accelerate time-to-ROI. Working with its network of skilled partners, Ashton Potter provides end-to-end project management, process design, on-site and remote training services, and technology integration to food and beverage customers of all sizes.

At the same time, ProLinc integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise resource planning systems, field and factory equipment, and business intelligence tools, contextualizing product insights to offer greater transparency and control to stakeholders throughout the supply chain.