Articles from SmartSense by Digi

Last year, SmartSense’s inaugural Frozenomics survey showed that frozen foods serve as an economic safety net for many Americans, helping them find items that offer both savings and longevity. The survey also explored Gen Z shopping habits and the role of transparency in building consumer confidence in this category. Since that survey, inflation has moderated (but not disappeared), and recalls have consistently made headlines, including ones directly impacting the frozen foods category. To see how the past year's events have shaped consumer views, SmartSense has once again surveyed 1,000 US-based adults (21+) to better understand how trends, behaviors and insights are evolving. Consumers Remain Financially Squeezed Grocery inflation eased slightly in August, but prices remain 2.7% higher …

Scaling food safety and quality control across multiple c-store locations is more pressing than ever. Why? The trend toward freshly prepared, made-to-order foodservice fundamentally shifts the c-store concept from a retail model to a food service model. C-stores are now direct competitors with quick-service restaurants (QSRs). Consequently, fresh food carries significantly higher biological risks than pre-packaged snacks, while, at the same time, increasing logistical complexity. C-stores, therefore, must modernize their operations across several critical areas to improve KPIs. C-store operations managers must shift from legacy manual standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prescriptive workflows informed by automation, built-in guidance, and advanced analytics. Despite the new challenges …

To operate successfully, healthcare organizations must earn the public trust, especially in the efficacy of medications and biologics. Patients should be confident that vaccines, lab samples, blood products, IVF treatments, and over-the-counter drugs have been properly handled. They must rest assured that their prescriptions and protocols will deliver their promised therapeutic benefits. Yet such assurance isn’t always guaranteed due to fluctuating conditions along the medical supply chain. This is where IoT-enabled condition monitoring comes in. By providing descriptive and prescriptive insights, Sensing-as-a-Service solutions enable total visibility into the condition of medications from manufacture to administration. Healthcare providers not only can avoid costly waste, regulatory …

Cargo theft is evolving at a rapid pace. Businesses are confronted with highly coordinated, tech-enabled cargo criminals, typically organized retail crime, who are coordinating in large groups to exploit every vulnerability across the supply chain, stealing larger shipments and attacking cargo carriers more frequently. Fortunately, many businesses have evolved with these bad actors, but questions remain: have they evolved enough? And where do leaders in the cargo theft prevention space see opportunity for improvement? SmartSense’s latest study, compiled from a poll of 150 U.S.-based loss and organized retail crime (ORC) prevention leaders, explores the state of cargo theft from those responsible for combating it. Among the group polled: 81% believe cargo theft has become more organized in …

The reputation of all food service organizations – from QSRs and C-stores to supermarkets and Michelin-starred restaurants – is built not only on quality and service, but also on customer trust that, quite literally, the food they consume won’t make them sick. HACCP systems and digital sensors have significantly improved food safety since the days of manual pen-and-paper practices. So why, then, are foodborne illnesses still a threat, such as the recent cyclosporiasis outbreak? The answer? Food safety cannot be guaranteed only by implementing compliance protocols and technological infrastructure. No doubt, IoT-enabled monitoring, real-time supply chain tracking, and AI-driven inventory governance systems remain the best technological solutions to streamline and automate food safety …

In the modern, complex, volatile healthcare sector, IoT-enabled supply chain and warehouse management systems that support Good Distribution Practices (GDP) are absolute necessities. They guarantee end-to-end traceability of medical products, prevent costly spoilage, and ensure regulatory compliance. IoT-enabled supply chain and warehouse management systems protect patient safety and mitigate the risks of severe financial loss. While GDP dictates the benchmarks for safety and quality control, IoT provides the technology to achieve them. Together, they transform supply chain and warehouse management from basic services into a competitive differentiator for vendors that provide them — and build trust in the customers that use them. Medical supply chain management: quality & …