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June 2010: How to Interpret the PTI announcement of "Goal Unchanged, Milestones Adjusted"

Here's what the May 25th announcement said:

• The PTI committee reaffirmed that the approach on the table (GS1/GTINs, etc.) remains the right way to go, and that whole-chain traceability by 2012 is still the goal.
• The only material change is the moving of milestones 4 & 5 (putting labels on cases) to coincide with milestone 6 (retailers recording cases inbound) that is at the end of 2011.
• The PTI committee softened their language about these milestones being "must comply", and instead called them "target goals". The committee also wants to shift the onus of driving compliance away from trade associations (who have neither carrots nor sticks) and towards retailers and foodservice operators (who have both).
• Finally, the committee is proposing pilots to resolve "issues such as the best ways to label cases in field packing, exchange GTIN data between seller and buyer or a common data pool, and capture outbound data from a retail distribution center to individual stores taking advantage of current voice-pick systems in warehouses."

Here's what the announcement means:

• The PTI is still happening – The PTI remains the best way to enable whole-chain traceability, and the overall timeline is unchanged. What was effectively an intermediary progress checkpoint ("are shippers able to put labels on cases?") has been eliminated. What hasn't changed is that shippers have 18 months to be "all systems go" – ready for handlers to receive properly labeled cases and pallets with hybrid pallet tags.
• There's time to fully implement PTI – The announcement gives packers with complex high volume mixed product lines and field-packers (and laggards) more time to solve some very real operational challenges, and retailers more time to get comfortable with the ROI of the program. The fact is, 18 months is actually not very long. In our experience, although we can deploy a PTI solution in days – a complete program from start to finish even for a typical seasonal shipper can take months. Thinking this announcement provides a reason to defer PTI projects until sometime late 2011 would be a mistake.
• Secure your position as a leader – For those leading-edge shippers who have already implemented PTI (we know of at least 50) – they can be confident that not only are they on the right path, but they now have an even bigger head start over their competitors. The delay gives them the opportunity to exploit the data that derives from PTI, integrate smoothly into their customers' systems, promote their product as traceable, signal their leadership and commitment to a safe and efficient supply chain, and potentially capture preference from those retailers who have stated a commitment to PTI. Indeed, the presence of a PTI label on their case is now a clear signal that they are in the ‘leader' not the ‘laggard' category.
• Innovations from companies like HarvestMark are making deployment a lot easier - The announcement refers to "solutions not originally anticipated by the PTI Steering Committee [which] may offer cost-effective and efficient options in achieving PTI goals". This could include our VoiceCode solution (discussed here), acceptance of inkjet printed barcodes, and a relaxation of the date-specific lot. All would be good for the industry – and HarvestMark is ready to support you.

Interestingly, almost every grower/shipper we've spoken to since the announcement came out has said that it didn't affect their commitment to PTI or their implementation plans.

More growers and shippers have chosen to partner with the HarvestMark team for their traceability needs than any other vendor. If you want to get on the path to compliance and reap the benefits of traceability, please give us a call. We'd be happy to develop a PTI implementation timeline tailored to your specific needs.