Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/247165
Wednesday, May 15, 2013 Produce Show Daily Blue Book Services (Cont'd. from p. 1) standing our customers and the industry's needs and expectations. We know of no other source where so much important information can be accessed so easily," said Doug Stoiber, Vice President of Produce Transportation Operations at L&M Transportation Services, Inc."Blue Book's New Hire Academy will be a part of every new employee's first weeks of training, but just as important, NHA has become an important experience for all our longtenured veterans as well." A&B Packing Equipment (Cont'd. from p. 1) service, and cutting-edge equipment for the 21st century! We manufacture the most accurate cleaning, grading, weighing, and packaging equipment for the fresh produce industry. Our equipment is designed in the most innovative, gentle, accurate, and speed efficient ways we can dream of. We are globally known for having the fastest packing equipment on earth, for the clamshell industry. We hold several patents pertaining to the topics listed above, allowing us to offer our proven innovative ideas to our customer base. Like my father, Robert Williamson (Owner and President of A&B Packing Equipment) always says, "Often copied but never duplicated!" PSD: What would you say makes your company unique? MW: What makes our company unique is our ability to understand the challenges our customers face, because Locus Traxx (Cont'd. from p. 1) both the quality, and the timeliness of the information. Information Quality: "Where's my shipment?" Everyone has heard that question, and the answer usually requires a call to the driver. Think about the implications of that. You have tens of thousands of dollars of product out in the wild, and yet, a call to a driver the only way to find out where it is. That's just not right in a world of cheap and powerful communications, cheap and powerful technology, and a very cheap and very powerful computer clipped to your belt. UltraSource (Cont'd. from p. 1) the United States at its Kansas City, Mo., facility to meet the needs of its loyal customers. The Rhino® line of tray sealers is designed and engineered to enhance product appearance, increase shelf life, and package durability, making them an ideal choice for packaging produce. UltraSource's three models are sized to handle an array of food packaging applications and volumes and are equipped with seal only or modified atmosphere packaging technology, commonly known as M.A.P., to meet your specific production needs. All products, even complex food The NHA program consists of five detailed online courses and is available to members through Blue Book Online Services at www.producebluebook.com. Each session is conducted by industry experts, and is between 20 and 70 minutes in length. "If the produce industry was ever simple, it's not simple today," said Jim Carr, President and Owner of Blue Book Services. "There's always more to learn, and for a new employee it can be especially challenging. We wanted to help our member companies meet on-the-job challenges and succeed." Since the program launch in December, the sessions have been watched thousands of times and become "required" learning for firms across the industry. After an individual watches all five session and passes an optional 40question quiz, Blue Book provides a certificate of completion. At LMTS, a "Hall of Fame" has been created to congratulate each of their employees on earning their certification. Each of the sessions is available to Blue Book members. "There is no charge to members," Carr explained. "We are very grateful to our outside partners from we are growers ourselves. We put ourselves in their (the customer's) mind set and this gives us common goals. We understand the needs of other growers and have the ability to build custom equipment that meets those needs. Having the same common goals as our customers allows us to do more directional research and development testing with our products. These goals also allow us to bring more innovative and proven equipment to the fresh pack and process market. This is the flexibility that is needed to be innovative and reactive in today's world! The understanding of sanitation, gap, third party audits, frustrations, and dreams of our customers is what sets us apart from the competitors. guidance and input. We always focus on the facts of being a family-orientated company, and a grower producer as well. Our tech support team provides a great service to our customers which is always appreciated and definitely plays another role in our success. PSD: Describe your company's current marketing strategy. MW: Our current marketing strategy is to understand changing trends in our customers markets, and to produce new innovative equipment with their PSD: What do you anticipate to be your greatest challenge in the year ahead? MW: We have always been a growing company since 1995, even with the recent decline in the U.S. economy we continue to grow and continue creating new jobs; but to answer the question more directly, probably our own U.S. government! PSD: Are you introducing any new products? MW: We bring new innovative product to the market every year as the growers markets evolve. This year we will be bringing the Cherry Evolution to the cherry fresh pack industry. Continuous Shipment Monitoring Sensors, wireless communications, computing power and industry expertise have now been combined into a cost-effective way for you to reduce shipment risk, even if you don't own the truck transporting your shipment. The SmartTraxx Portable shipment monitoring system from Locus Traxx lets you continuously monitor any shipment at any time. A wireless temperature sensor goes inside the shipment. A communication module mounts outside the shipment to capture GPS location information, read and capture the temperature sensor data, and transmit all of that information, in real-time, from the road. It's a continually updated system, instead of relying on a driver to tell you the location of your shipment. It's a sensor within the shipment, not a reading at the end of the shipment, keeping you updated on changes in shipment temperature. Rules that you products, have their own ideal atmosphere. Modified atmosphere packaging can be used to carefully control the atmosphere within the package to extend the shelf life. This process changes the existing atmosphere to an atmosphere more suitable to achieve a specific end result. It is a one-time modification before the package is sealed. However, the atmosphere introduced will go through continued changes depending upon the product being packaged. At which point, the mix can no longer be controlled, special films with micro pores or specific permeability properties are used to allow gas to escape from the package. These types of applications are most common with certain produce items that emit carbon dioxide, which will spoil if not allowed to leave the package at a controlled rate. Constructed of stainless steel and anodized aluminum, the Rhino tray sealers are built to operate in wash down environments. Common features include: Seal Tight® film clamping system for wrinkle free packages every time, PLC controls with full color multilingual (English, German, Spanish, and French) touch screens, stepper motor controlled film advance and uniquely designed rewind system eliminates film breakage, Teflon® coated Information Timeliness: "How's my product?" You can see a baseball game on your phone, call up the weather in any city in the world, and track your investment portfolio in real-time. But you don't know the temperature of tens of thousands of dollars of perishable product that's shipping across the country until it reaches its final destination. It doesn't have to be that way. 37 the Fresh Link Group, LLC and Rynn & Janowsky, LLP who volunteered their time for this important initiative. These online tutorials are rigorous and of the highest quality." Blue Book Services is also giving away $100 to one lucky person who visits the company's booth 619. Stop by the Blue Book booth for your chance to win. For more information, visit Blue Book Services at United Fresh booth 619 or log into BBOS www.producebluebook.com and click on the "New Hire Academy" button under Education. PSD: What products do you see as being hottest this year? MW: Our Evolution model of weigh and fill machines for a multitude of different fruits and vegetables. MW: How do you handle sales? PSD: We have traveling sales forces that are established in South America, United States; East and West coast, Canada, and Europe. All of which are supported by our inside sales team. Because of our great sales staff, we have good repeat business relationships, with a loyal customer base, that allows A&B to be part of their team, but satisfied customer word of mouth will always be our greatest asset! For more information, visit booth 604 at the United Fresh Show 2013, go online to www.abpacking.com, call 269-539-4700 or email sales@abpacking.com. set, even send text and email messages if something happens that needs your attention. You can continue to trust drivers to locate your shipment and wait until shipments arrive to find out the health of you shipment, or add continuous monitoring to your shipments and reduce the reasons for, and the risk of bad shipments. You'll find that reducing shipment issues will leave you with more time and money available to improve your business. Learn more about continuous shipment monitoring at booth 836 at United Fresh, visit www.locustraxx.com, write to info@locustraxx.com or call 561575-7600. sealing plates, and fast, easy tooling changeover requiring no more than a single tool to accomplish product changeovers in less than 15 minutes. So no matter what size your operation, UltraSource has a tray sealer to meet your needs. Stop by booth 1512 to see the Rhino 12 tray sealer in action and learn how UltraSource can help your business be more profitable with reliable capital equipment and day-today operational supplies. For more information, visit booth 1512, go online to www.ultrasourceusa.com, call 800-777-5624 or email info@ultrasourceusa.com.