Following a rebranding exercise, Zetes' vision technology is now called ImageID (formerly Visidot). All features and functionalities remain valid.

Accurate deliveries and full product traceability are key to maintaining profits margins in the fresh food industry.

European regulation imposes ever stricter requirements regarding food traceability. From field to fork, products need to be identified, traced , and data needs to be stored for future reference. When dealing with perishable food, additional issues are at stake. Ensuring efficient cold chain management, is essential for example, but so too are accurate deliveries.. Whilst faulty deliveries often generate costly claims and returns, in the perishable food sector, they also eat into profit margins because they can have a major impact on shelf life. Seachill, one of the UK’s leading fresh fish processors faces these challenges on a daily basis. In addition, they need to ensure very short lead times. How do they manage?

Avoiding fines and speeding up deliveries – two different kettles of fish?

As a fresh fish supplier to Tesco, the UK’s foremost food retailer, Seachill ships and delivers hundreds of fresh fish pallets a week .

“Tesco’s short lead times were proving to be a great challenge,” says Steve Wallace, Seachill’s IT Manager. “We’d get orders late in the day, leaving a very small window to get products out of the door. Dispatch was having a hard time handling the influx of data during shipping peaks.” 

To fulfil Tesco’s requirements, Seachill implemented an image based data-capture solution , which captures and analyses very large quantities of tagged containers in a single scan . It allows Seachill to processes thousands of outbound fish cases a day and has replaced much slower hand-held scanners. In addition to speeding up the distribution process, it helps to ensure  100% accuracy  across all fresh fish deliveries. In case a dispute would arise despite the high levels of accuracy, the solution provides an image of the shipped pallet, which serves as proof of the correct delivery and its condition. 

Zetes optimises automatic shipment verification processes with its image-based solution Visidot. Seachill and Zetes won the Charted Institute of Logistics and Transport Awards for the Visidot shipping verification solution.