Having had a busy 2018 with the launch of several new products, U.S.-headquartered technology and engineering company Emerson is now adding new trackers and loggers under its GO line to provide a greater level of monitoring capabilities of in-transit perishable cargo.

Last year the organization launched the GO Real-Time CO2 Tracker and GO Real-Time Secure Tracker, bringing the total number of products in the category to eight.

Although both product families can monitor a large range of variables in perishable cargo, the trackers provide real-time information and a location while the loggers' data is downloaded once it reaches the destination.

Now, the company is adding even more products, with the launch of the GO Real-Time Flex Tracker and the enhanced GO NFC Logger, to be featured at the Fruit Logistica trade fair taking place in Berlin this week.

"The Go Flex has many of the same features as our existing trackers - the onboard temperature and light sensing, the real-time location - but with the GO Flex we're adding two other elements, humidity, and probe sensing," Matthew Neidlinger, director of product management Cargo Solutions for Emerson, told FreshFruitPortal.com.

"The probe is a plug-in device that allows customers to take an internal pulp temperature of the fruit, which can provide a more precise measurement of temperature for perishable items in transit. This will allow for more accurate internal temperatures with the aim of enhancing freshness and shelf life when it reaches the destination."

Neidlinger expected a high level of demand for the GO Real-Time Flex Tracker, noting there were certain commodities such as berries that are more sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and therefore needed to be more tightly controlled.

"Our technology helps enable our customers to build their reputations and deliver the freshest possible produce to their end customers.

Emerson describes the GO NFC Logger as an affordable logger that monitors the time and temperature of perishable producing during distribution and storage, with data accessible through a variety of simple solutions. The loggers are compact and transfer data using phones and tablets.

The GO Real-Time CO2 Tracker - whose main functionality is focused on monitoring levels of carbon dioxide in controlled atmosphere containers  - has proved to be popular in Chile over its summer export season, with berry companies trialing the product with shipments to distant markets like Asia and Europe. 

With the Southern Hemisphere country's summer season now winding down, Neidlinger said he expected demand to increase in other fruit-growing markets around the world.

The GO Real-Time Secure Tracker is a device placed on the outside of a container that adds an extra layer of security to the cargo by way of an unremovable steel bolt that is passed through the locking handle of the truck or container. If the bolt is broken, an alert is sent to the company, and thanks to its GPS capabilities, authorities would be able to see exactly where the load is located.

In addition to launching new products to its current lines, Emerson is also improving its Oversight cold chain analytics system- the main customer-facing access point to its data.

"We're giving Oversight a facelift, focusing on speed and performance in terms of accessing the data, the user experience, and making sure the system can be used well in all regions of the world where we have sales," Neidlinger said.

Customers can either use Emerson's Oversight themselves to monitor the data via internet or mobile device, have the data integrated into their existing enterprise systems or have Emerson monitor the data on the customer behalf through their Managed Services.