Matthew Neidlinger explains the uniqueness of Emerson’s GO real-time trackers.

Emerson is an American multinational corporation with 205 locations worldwide. They create products and provide engineering services for a wide range of industrial, consumer and commercial markets.

This time Fructidor had an opportunity to interview Matthew Neidlinger, the Director of Product Management, Cargo Solutions at Emerson. He explained what is special about Emerson’s GO real-time tracking devices.

Fructidor: “Why 4G/5G tracker is better than trackers you offered before?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “Emerson’s GO real-time tracking devices depend on the same cellular networks used by mobile phones to transmit data. As long as the trackers send small amounts of data, the bandwidth that is available on existing 2G and 3G cellular networks is more than adequate. However, cellular carriers are racing to accommodate increasing global demand for faster mobile internet to perform higher-level functions such as streaming video and music and are therefore turning down older, legacy 2G and 3G networks. 

To minimize gaps in real-time tracker coverage due to the 2G and 3G turndown, cargo tracking manufacturers are developing tracking devices that utilize the new variants of 5G, like Category M (Cat-M) and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) networks. These networks will help keep real-time trackers cost-effective while delivering the same performance features. 

Our next-generation 4G/5G trackers are engineered to enable new, multi-network capability. This is going to eliminate real-time dead zones by providing coverage for freights which travel between legacy and emerging networks.”

Fructidor: “What are the main markets for 4G/5G tracker? Is the tracker available in the U.S. only, or in other countries as well?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “Some of the carriers have already stopped providing 2G service in the U.S., while other countries are still active. In Canada, 2G turndown is occurring now. In Australia, New Zealand and other Asia-Pacific countries, 2G is either already shut down or soon will be shut down. We anticipate both European and Latin American carriers will continue to support 2G until 2025. The 2G timeframes vary country by country, with U.S. support likely to end in 2022. In certain regions, 3G could shut down before 2G.

Multi-network technology will allow end users of the new Emerson 4G/5G devices to utilize emerging networks around the world when they are available, while “falling back” to 2G in the event one of these new cellular tower variants is not available.”

Fructidor: “For which products trackers can be used?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “For retailers, maintaining food quality and safety is a primary challenge. The FDA recently announced a “New Era of Food Safety” initiative with a focus on technology. Traceability will be a main focal point, but there are also increased opportunities to use various types of new technologies to ensure an unbroken cold chain.

This is extremely important with the global demand for year-round access to perishable production. Regardless of geographic location or season, consumers demand a rising variety of fresh production throughout the year. Acquiring this feat can demand fresh production to be transported by land, air or sea, encompassing the point of harvest, processing, distribution and cold storage - all before it ever begins the last-mile delivery to a restaurant, store or consumer. Overseas shipments can last from 2 to 4 weeks. It’s startling to realize that there can be potentially as many as 20 to 30 individual steps and multiple changes of ownership throughout the journey.

At the same time, consumers and regulators alike are demanding better transparency in the food supply chain and improved traceability of food’s journey from farm to fork. To succeed in this environment, operators must employ best practices to deliver the safe, high-quality food offerings that customers consistently expect. It starts with understanding everything that contributes to food quality and safety throughout the cold chain. With today’s connected internet of things (IoT) monitoring and tracking infrastructures, operators now have better potential visibility into each step of food’s journey and even the possibility for comprehensive cold chain traceability. Now stakeholders are able to monitor, control and track at each point a variety of conditions required for preserving food quality, including temperature, lighting, humidity and much more. 

Our products and services can help customers protect the quality and safety of their in-transit perishables and high-value products by monitoring location and temperature. The actionable data accumulated helps users streamline their supply chains, maximize perishable freshness, and make critical business decisions.” 

Fructidor: “Which companies usually buy and use trackers?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “Real-time trackers have become integral parts of food quality and safety initiatives for many stakeholders in the perishable supply chain. These are used by growers, producers, 3PLs, food service and food retailers to provide live access to in-transit shipment location, temperature and other sensor data. Many food retailers implement quality assurance programs with their supplier base to ensure proper temperature monitoring is in place throughout the entire cold chain from the grower/shipper to the customer.”

Fructidor: “If 4G/5G is not available during shipping , will the tracker work?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “As 2G and 3G networks become outdated, end-users that have not addressed the technology transition may experience data gaps in their in-transit shipment coverage, which could be noted in an inability to monitor food quality and safety in real time. Rest assured the real-time tracker is logging data and will download information when networks become available.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies are not informed of the cellular network transition and haven’t been watching for any disruptions in coverage. It’s important to understand that coverage areas may vary from region to region, so companies should monitor their shipping routes closely for signs of network connectivity disruption such as increasing blind spots in visibility to shipment location or temperature data, intermittent brownouts of real-time access, and gaps in historic trip coverage and data points.

Emerson’s GO real-time 4G/5G trackers are designed with multi-network technology that will allow them to utilize emerging networks while “falling back” to 2G connectivity as needed. This will help mitigate real-time dead zones by providing coverage for shipments that travel between legacy and emerging networks.”

Fructidor: “Is there anything else you would like to add about these devices?”

Mr. Neidlinger: “Information from GO real-time 4G/5G Trackers is pushed to Oversight which is our online portal to harness the power of data. The Oversight portal clearly presents this information in a standard web browser format. This cloud-based online portal works as the real-time resource for following in-transit shipment data such as temperature, location or any other sensor information which may affect the quality of perishable cargo.

At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily about the devices; it’s about the information they provide. We give our customers the information and analysis they need to streamline the management of their supply chains and help them make better supply chain decisions about the status of their in-transit cargo.”

To learn more about the Emerson follow the link.