RFID Temperature Logger Label

Project Information

TSH2020

Grant agreement ID: 735374

DOI

10.3030/735374

Project closed

EC signature date 19 July 2016

Start date 1 August 2016

End date 31 October 2016

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

TAG SENSORS AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TSH2020 (RFID Temperature Logger Label)

Reporting period: 2016-08-01 to 2016-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Problem being adressed:
Annual losses of pharmaceutical products due to problems such as temperature fluctuations during shipment and storage are estimated up to $12.5 billion (s.1). Vaccines are damaged or destroyed during shipment or storage due to: 16.7% occurrence of freezing temperatures during shipment in industrialized countries, 35.3% occurrence of freezing temperatures during shipment in developing countries, 13.5% occurrence of freezing temperatures during storage in industrialized countries, 21.9% occurrence of freezing temperatures during storage in developing countries (s.2). In the Food industry, global losses total more than $750 billion annually. These losses primarily result from lack of proper facilities, improper food safety handling procedures, and insufficient training of personnel working in the cold chain (s.3).

Today there are no low-cost temperature logger solutions capable of following individual temperature sensitive products from production to consumption. The reasons are mainly costs and lack of efficiency. Existing temperature loggers are medium to high cost devices unsuitable for a proper degree of automatization, since they have to be manually operated and applied with the shipment. A consequence of this is that normally only a few temperature loggers are used, and mainly for random sampling of shipments.

Impotance for society:
In the Pharmaceutical industry: Society benefit enormously when temperature-sensitive drugs and biological products are made in efficient large batches, stored until needed, and shipped around the world (s.4). The pharmaceutical and food industrien experience significant losses of temperature sensitive goods, which are global limited resources. Our solution enables tracking and temperature logging of temperature sensitive goods in significantly larger scale, and can detect causes to temperature deviations. This will create a basis for improvement of the value chain, together with economic and environmental benefits.

Overall objective:
We have solved the problem by developing an RFID Temperature Logger Label which costs approximately 1/10 (€1,5 (or less) compared to € 15) of the temperature loggers used today, with significantly lesser need for manual handling. By using RFID technology, higher read range is achieved which enables the possibility to read multiple loggers automatically and in one operation. The solution will enable transition from existing temperature logging based on random samples, to a low cost solution that enable temperature logging down to individual items.

Sources:
S.1: https://www.sdv.com/en/Pages/SDV%20LIVE/Raising-the-Bar-on-Pharma-Handling.aspx
S.2: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div685/grp01/upload/FreezingReviewArticle-Vaccine.pdf
S.3: http://trade.gov/topmarkets/pdf/Cold_Chain_Top_Markets_Report.pdf
S.4: http://pharmaceuticalcommerce.com/supply-chain-logistics/2014-biopharma-cold-chain-forecast/

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work performed during the project and main results acheived so far

Market analysis:
- Maped the market structure
- Determine market segments and target pilot customers
- Described the relevant markets, including expected market development
- Defined target markets in pharmaceuticals and food industries
- Condected competitor analysis
- Mapped relevant regulations, with main focus on Europe
- Analysed and documented customers needs across the whole value chain both in pharmaceuticals and food industries
- Developed market plan
- Conducted SWOT analysis
- Mapped unique selling proposition and selling poings
- Defined early stage market entry strategy
- Defined critical success factors, risks and risk-mitigation measures

Business model:
- Developed value proposition for both pharmaceutical and food industries
- Description of functionality and offering
- Developed pricing strategy and implemented pricing strategy in overall business case
- Validated business and price model with pilot customers
- Developed sales and channel strategy for prioritized markets, Europe and USA
- Developed sales force organization, including sales team and distributors/resellers
- Developed sales metrics and incentive plans for sales organization and distributors/resellers
- Developed brand strategy, e.g. implemented through website
- Developed advertising & promotion strategy, including marketing, exhibition participation and media coverage
- Defined key partners, including component vendors
- Defined time frame milestones for both development project and commercialization
- Devedloped business including revenue streams and cost structures,

Certifications:
- Mapped required certifications in pharmaceuticals and food industries in cooperation with the coach
- Engaged consultant to developed and implement plan to fulfil certification requirements
- Started process for conducting certification in pharmaceutical and food industries

IPR:
- Conducted high level IPR feasibility study in cooperation with patent attorney (Håmsø Patentbyrå), including IPR strategy, freedom to operate and component exclusivity

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Functionality:
In addition to the state of the art printable low cost RFID Temperature Logger Label, costing only 1/10 (€1,5 (or less) compared to € 15) of known competitive products, TAG Sensors will provide a fully automated industrial solution including: Fully automated processes for RFID Temperature Logger Label production, automated personalization (surface print and encoding) of the label and automated attachment of the label on items, automated reading during the value chain by gate readers. This enable logging of temperatures during transport and storage, together with online access to historical temperature data.

Socio-economic impact/societal implications:
Health, demographic change and wellbeing: Approximately 20% of vaccines have stayed outside temperature limits required by WHO (2-8 C). With temperature logging on box/item level, we can verify that medicine/vaccines are not being weakened or harmful due to temperature variations.

Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the bio economy: Global losses in the food industry total more than $750 billion annually. These losses primarily result from lack of proper facilities, improper food handling safety procedures, or insufficient training of personnel working in the cold chain. With temperature logging on pallet/box level, it is possible to detect and improve the weakest link in cold chains.

Smart, green and integrated transport: Due to high cost on temperature loggers and lack of integration with temperature logging systems, even in the same value chain, temperature loggings today are fragmented and based on random samplings. With our low-cost and holistic solution, temperature loggings are cost-effectively performed through the entire value chain.

Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials: The World Bank considers food and agriculture sector the World`s largest, at 10% of global gross domestic product. By early detecting cold chain deficiencies, cold chain can be improved to prevent energy from being spent on transporting deteriorated food.

TAG Sensors Solution