smart.CONSERVE – Smart Container Services for Food Industries

 

The food industry operates in a field of tension between the necessity of cost-effective production and the high demands on the processes in production and logistics. Particularly in the production of temperature-controlled and highly perishable food, compliance with and monitoring of food hygiene is demanding. It is influenced not only by temperature but also by other parameters and factors such as solar radiation, filling pressure or contamination with other substances. These parameters require constant monitoring during the transport process and storage in industrial bulk containers (IBCs).

Within the framework of the joint project "smart.CONSERVE - Smart Container Services for Food Industries", a combination of stainless steel IBCs with intelligent information and communication technology is to be achieved using industrial research and experimental development. The aim is to develop an intelligent food container that uses modular sensor technology to record relevant data on the transported food (here: fruit products in bulk). The focus is on the modification of existing and standardised stainless steel IBCs, which can be individually extended according to customer requirements by combining available satellite sensors. In addition, data-based services based on previously defined business models are to be developed and made available to the various users via a software platform in a user-related, real-time and telematic manner. The achieved informational transparency with regard to hygiene-relevant data promotes a stronger trust of suppliers, customers and consumers in food safety. At the same time, container management between suppliers, food producers and customers is considerably simplified. Furthermore, the establishment of standards in container management is intended to create data consistency while taking data protection and data security into account.