Spotlite360 Technologies (CSE:LITE) Inc. said it has strategically chosen market segments on which it will focus initially, including the pharmaceutical industry and the healthcare sector.
The company also said it is now exploring opportunities in agriculture supply chains, which have faced significant challenges such as labour concerns and higher oil prices in recent years.
Spotlite360 said its blockchain and internet of things (IoT) technologies can easily be integrated into systems, equipment, and supplies that are common for agriculture industry players that include farmers, ground transporters, distribution centres, and retail grocers.
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Spotlite360 president James Greenwell recently provided examples of item-level tracking technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, in combination with technologies licensed from TrackX Holdings Inc., that are leveraged by Spotlite360 to monitor the movement of inventory with immutable records.
Examples of benefits that could be realized by agriculture firms from using Spotlite360’s technologies include:
- Full Visibility into Shipment Journey - With enhanced reporting of a product’s movements through the supply chain, firms can identify potential hazards or inefficiencies with fewer data gaps. Because blockchain entries cannot be modified, the risk of record tampering in the event of disputes is mitigated. Moreover, this functionality allows recalls to be conducted in an expedited manner to protect the end consumer
- Preventing Loss from Spoilage - Through IoT sensors, firms can continuously detect several attributes of the environment in which inventory is being stored or transported (e.g., temperature, humidity) to maintain product quality and freshness. With the ability to pinpoint where and when shipments may be exposed to unsuitable conditions, firms can more easily address such issues with minimal investigation
- Sustainability Assurance -The technologies can capture and consolidate various data relating to sustainability (e.g., fuel efficiency of commercial transport vehicles) to substantiate claims relating to the firm’s social and environmental responsibility and help consumers better understand their food product choices
- Proof of Origin - Certain food categories are subject to a high burden of proof with respect to the product’s origin (e.g., production and processing standards for kosher and halal foods), and can often increase the retail price significantly. The company plans to include compliance frameworks for several origin-sensitive product categories, which could enable firms to prove origin and maintain the chain of custody more efficiently
“Blockchain has proven to be a relevant, effective, and disruptive technology in the agriculture space, which is a key reason why we chose agriculture as one of our initial target industries,” said Greenwell in a statement.
“The Spotlite360 Technologies go far beyond just keeping track of information on a distributed ledger, as the real value comes from the coordinated use of IoT hardware to capture an unprecedented scope of data that can be used to make business decisions. While the demand for agriculture products will naturally remain relatively constant, the past few years have shown that operating conditions can be anything but constant. We therefore believe that Spotlite360 can provide significant benefits to firms in the agriculture industry by providing end-to-end supply chain visibility with reliable and automated access to key information at each step of the way.”
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