New food industry traceability solution provides 100% accuracy

London, 30th June, 2007 – The Bizerba Niche Systems partnership today announced that it has integrated Image ID’s Visidot, the world’s first Supply Chain Traceability (SCT) solution to track multiple assets with 100% accuracy, with Niche’s “Nucleus” sales order processing system and weighing and labelling technology from Bizerba, to offer a turnkey order processing and traceability solution for the food industry. The integrated solution will enable manufacturers to realise the full benefits of compliance with food traceability legislation and meet retailer mandates, while achieving greater supply chain efficiencies.

With proven accuracy levels of 100% in actual installations, Visidot provides a reliable and cost-effective alternative to RFID for food manufacturers and processors, delivering automatic, high-speed, high-accuracy acquisition of hundreds of labels in a single read. Companies deploying Visidot will be able to identify and track every item entering and leaving the supply chain, achieving compliance with European legislation, including EU General Food Law Regulation 178/2002. They will also benefit from greater speed and accuracy of traceability throughout the supply chain, while minimising product safety risks by facilitating a quick pinpoint recall in case of a problem.

Visidot also brings dramatic improvements in plant productivity. The single-shot capture of the Visidot application offers significant time savings over traditional hand-held scanning, reducing the time taken to record a full pallet’s contents from minutes to a matter of seconds, while ensuring 100% accuracy to eliminate mistaken shipments and fines for retailers. Improvements in accuracy and order fulfilment are achieved because the capture device can record the exact location of assets - ideal for locating any lack or surplus of products that may be in an order. The capture device also delivers an image of the captured assets for archiving purposes, to be used as a proof in case of a dispute or insurance claim, or to verify the assets’ presence or condition, ensuring that shipping errors are eliminated.

The partnership offers a complete service, and will install, setup, integrate, give training, and provide “Go Live” cover and on going support for the solution. The system is linked to the process control systems on the factory floor, so that faulty products or incorrect orders can be stopped immediately, before entering the manufacturing production process or dispatch.

Mark Haworth of the Bizerba Niche Systems Partnership commented, "The Visidot Reader offers significant efficiencies over existing systems within the food processing and manufacturing industry, and with requirements from legislation and retailers already widespread - and the penalties high - suppliers taking advantage of our new offering can ensure they are best placed to compete effectively within the UK marketplace.”






Rafi Philosoph, VP of Marketing for ImageID noted “The Bizerba Niche Systems Partnership and ImageID both bring specialist expertise and experience, resulting in a unique solution that is easily implemented and offers instant business benefits. With the system, suppliers can build reputations for fast and accurate order dispatch, reducing buyer churn, and attracting new business.”

Mark Glenister, Financial Director at Bizerba, said “Visidot is the only solution on the market that offers complete accuracy, and coupled with Niche’s and Bizerba’s years of expertise in our respective sectors, comprises a truly compelling proposition for UK manufacturers, with tangible business benefits.”

Ends

About ImageID
ImageID, a multinational company with partner networks in the US and Europe, and R&D facilities in Israel, develops and markets the Visidot solution. Visidot delivers all of the inherent benefits of traditional barcode technology, yet far surpasses these with significantly increased code capture speed and efficiency – especially when tracking multiple assets.

About Niche Food Systems
Niche Food Systems has been providing businesses in the UK food industry with high quality, effective software and technological solutions for over ten years. Prior to that, the Directors of the company, Mark Haworth and Phil Grace had a combined experience in the food industry of 30 years.

About Bizerba
Bizerba is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of weighing/labelling and slicing equipment for the food industry. A family-owned business, Bizerba remains rigidly committed to supplying what is widely believed to be the best equipment in the business and consequently, their hardware stands the test of time and (very often, abuse!) across the broad spectrum of its customers.

For further information please contact:
Lorraine Jenkins / Laurie Glimmerveen
Wildfire PR
Tel: 0208 339 4420
laurieg@wildfirepr.co.uk

Mark Haworth
Bizerba Niche Systems Partnership
Tel: 01282 617878
enquiries@bizniche.co.uk