Motorola Selects Lowry Computer Products Implementation as Most Innovative Solution
Award Recognizes Lowry's RFID Food Traceability Implementation for The State of Hawaii as the Most Innovative Enterprise Mobility Solution Implemented in 2008 by a Motorola PartnerSelect Member
BRIGHTON, MI, April 29, 2009 - Lowry Computer Products, one of the nation's leading RFID solution providers, announced today that they have been awarded Motorola's "Most Innovative Enterprise Mobility Solution" implemented by a PartnerSelect member in 2008. The Enterprise Mobility Solutions Awards are awarded to recognize the most innovative solutions that help customers accelerate growth, productivity, and operational efficiencies. A select panel of judges chose the winners from the United States and Americas International (Canada and Latin America) and other Motorola regions around the globe.
The RFID fresh produce traceability solution, developed specifically for the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture, was implemented with a number of participants in the Hawaiian fresh produce supply chain -- growers, a produce distributor, and a retailer. The State of Hawaii evaluated proposals from many leading systems integrators. Lowry Computer Products was chosen to perform the implementation of the system utilizing EPCglobal standards based on passive UHF RFID hardware from Motorola, software supplied by Lowry, RFID carton labels produced by Lowry, and integration/implementation services managed by Lowry. "We are honored to receive this award from Motorola," remarked Mike Lowry, President of Lowry Computer Products. "By teaming with the State of Hawaii for this leading edge RFID produce traceability implementation, we are confident that the fresh produce supply chain and consumers will benefit from comprehensive solutions like the one we have implemented in Hawaii."
Over the past several years, there have been numerous outbreaks of E.Coli in fresh produce. These outbreaks have resulted in hundreds of people getting ill and/or dying; and have led to numerous nationwide produce recalls. In order to avoid future occurrences of this type of event, the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture was seeking a more effective and voluntary way to monitor and track produce in order to decrease the impact. The goal was to devise and deploy a failsafe system to identify and pull contaminated products before they reach the consumer.
During the project, produce cases and pallets were pre-tagged in the field or pack house with a RFID label. A combination of portable RFID handheld devices and fixed position RFID portals were implemented to strategically scan the produce cases/pallets as they moved through the supply chain. Motorola handheld readers were primarily used with the growers, while Motorola fixed RFID portal scanners were implemented at dock doors and internal doors (cold storage and the box crusher) with the distributor and at the retail outlet. Key business benefits resulting from the project included real-time and historical visibility of produce movement and cold storage visibility statistics automatically generated from the system wide dashboard reports.
As a result of the engagement experiences with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture and other major, vertically integrated fresh produce producers and providers, Lowry has leveraged their expertise with the development of an impressive array of commercially available inventory management / traceability solutions --Secure Visibility(TM). Secure Visibility - Track & Trace is an inventory management software application and lot traceability solution that enables the secure capture and sharing of lot information in real-time. Lowry is working together with industry leaders, such as PMA, United Fresh and GS1, in establishing standardized food traceability guidelines. Secure Visibility - Track & Trace promotes faster detection and removal of contaminated foods from the fresh produce supply chain through the utilization of enterprise mobility solutions from Motorola, Zebra, and Microsoft.
This project was funded and administered by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, through a grant and fielded through the State Department of Agriculture. This material is based upon work supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Award No. 2006-39537-17674 and the Economic Development Alliance of Hawaii.
About Lowry Computer Products
Lowry Computer Products is a leading manufacturer, systems integrator, and software provider of RFID/EPC products, wireless, barcode and data collection solutions with an install base of several thousand customers. Lowry's end-to-end solutions for food safety traceability, asset management, supply chain visibility, work-in-progress, track and trace, and mandate compliance deliver real ROI for their customers. Lowry also manufactures fully converted, tested, and ready-to-use Smart Trac(TM) labels with Gen 2 inlays, as well as automated labeling systems for supply chain, packaging, and RFID software applications. Through its nationwide sales offices and service centers, Lowry provides certified sales, technical support and trusted customer service throughout North America. To find out more about Secure Visibility and Lowry's products and services, visit www.lowrycomputer.com and www.securevisibility.com.
Press Contact:
Mark Brown
Vice President of Marketing
Lowry Computer Products
810-229-7200
markbr@lowrycomputer.com
