Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Article handling
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-12
2002-08-06
Ellis, Chistopher P. (Department: 3651)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Article handling
C053S467000, C053S484000, C053S473000, C426S129000, C426S396000, C206S518000, C206S519000, C206S557000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06430467
ABSTRACT:
Conventional supply chains for meat products involve shipment of beef sides, pork sides, and other large cuts of meat to points of sale such as grocery retailers and, more recently, integrated grocery retailers and general goods suppliers such as large chain or “big box” stores. This supply chain reflects legacy processes which rely on localized butchering expertise from the days when meat products were grown and slaughtered more locally. The local grocery butcher remains hard at work even if processing facilities which ship sides of meat are more centralized currently than they have been.
These current processes reflect manual and to some extent more conventional supply chain management. However, recent automation of retail logistics, manufacturing and distribution supply chains gives rise to considerable efficiencies which drive the new large chain retail operations. Automated devices at each point of sale such as at cash registers can capture bar code and other information. They report that information in real time to centralized information technology facilities which can then automatically schedule purchase and shipment of replacement inventory and make other inventory control decisions based on consumer preferences and other factors. As a consequence, these chain operations move inventory more efficiently for an ultimately lower price to the customer with higher profit margin, even if they require closer support of points of sale via regional inventory centers coupled with sophisticated transportation and shipment techniques and management.
These automated techniques for retail operations have proved successful for clothing, dry goods, and other manufactured products which have relatively long shelf-life. Only recently have information processing power, cost and data network communications converged to provide, according to Moore's Law, automated solutions that are sufficiently sophisticated and powerful to manage and control packaging and distribution of perishable inventory with very short shelf life. Such systems are emerging which can, for instance, know when a retail operation has sold a particular unit such as a pound of ground beef, inform a regional processing center that such retail operation needs to replenish that unit of inventory, arrange for regional butchering, packaging and loading of that unit onto a truck or other transportation unit to the point of sale, and inform the point of sale that the shipment is on the way. Only recently has it become commercially viable to package meat products regionally into point of sale units such as a pound of ground beef in packaging that is customer ready for display at point of sale, then ship that product to the point of sale, which may be hundreds of miles distant, and do so based on automated processes which maximize the potential that there is a need for that unit at that point of sale and that it will be sold before the shelf life expires.
At the same time these automated supply chain logistics tracking and management systems are emerging, labor costs are increasing. Retail operations are particularly sensitive to labor costs because so much of their business is labor intensive. Stocking of shelves with SKU's of product, for example, is a manual operation, as are other activities aimed at offering to the customer a pleasing array of various products at a reasonable price. This problem is exacerbated by additional competitive pressure driven by the low margins and competitive nature of the grocery industry generally.
Recently, automation has had its own effect on this industry in another way by giving rise to Internet grocery suppliers such as WebVan. WebVan allows users to select perishable and non-perishable grocery products using their browsers, which the WebVan organization receives in hypertext markup language or other automated scripts or forms, and then fulfills from a central distribution facility via delivery trucks to customer's houses. Although WebVan is required to absorb the labor intensive activity of picking and packing products for delivery to particular customers, which the customers themselves ordinarily do in a grocery store, that additional cost is more than compensated for by the fact that WebVan does not have to own or pay rent for prime retail space at prime commercial locations. This form of automated grocery logistics will only increase the pressure on the grocery business as conducted at retail points of sale. In the Webvan or internet grocery supplier paradigm, which is a prime candidate to make use of packaging and processes according to the present invention, the point of sale may be the warehouse which serves a city or part of a city, or other facility from which delivery trucks transport products to customers' homes.
All of these factors create a climate which increases the premium on doing business more efficiently and effectively to provide grocery consumers a wide and pleasing array of product at a reasonable price with a pleasant buying experience. Perishable products such as meat, vegetables, fruit are key to success in this connection, given that a major factor in consumers' decisions about where to buy groceries hinges on high quality produce and meat products, as well as other perishable products.
Meat products in particular are a major focus of consumer attention in the grocery purchasing experience. Meat which is too blue, gray, or otherwise of the wrong color, or which is otherwise unattractively packaged, for instance, can literally send a customer to another grocery store. This loss not only deprives the point of sale from selling that meat product unit, but also sometimes carries through to the rest of the contents of the customer's shopping cart. Accordingly, it is of paramount importance to grocery retailers that meat products are packaged in a literally mouthwatering fashion with attractive color and appearance, convenient and attractive presentation, and accurate and informative labeling. But not only must the meat product unit be attractive and appealing visually; it must also have the right feel. Customers often pick over meat products in the meat display looking for the right cut or size or product. Packaging which is insufficiently robust or sturdy can be damaged, which can detract from visual appearance and can cause leakage and spoilage. Accordingly, it is a prerequisite that packaging not only have the right look and feel, but that it must sustain normal wear and tear at the point of sale before the sale occurs. This robustness issue is perhaps less significant where meat is cut and packaged at the point of sale by the butcher. Where the packaging is performed at a distant location, however, and the unit is then shipped to the point of sale, packaging robustness becomes a far greater issue.
Consumers also prefer convenience, in addition to aesthetically pleasing packaging. Retailers can offer a distinct advantage to the customer if they can present meat products in containers that are microwavable, dishwasher safe and thus reusable, and freezer safe. In addition, it is or may be preferable to offer perishable foods packaging that is recyclable, such as suitable for curbside pickup and recyclilng.
In sum, in the current economy, where automation and more efficient business practices generally are driving competition in the grocery industry, grocers must explore every avenue to become more efficient and customer oriented. In this climate, any labor intensive tasks which can be reduced need to be evaluated, including whether it continues to make economic sense to distribute meat products based on localized butchering at the point of sale. These new automation and business techniques, combined with labor expense in the current climate gives rise for the first time to the possibility of more centralized butchering combined with automated, sophisticated supply chain support of the meat case at the local retail grocery operation. This new climate, however, requires new and innovative packaging for perishable products, such as meat produ
D'Amelio Vince
Hobbs John Kerry
Tyberghein Mike
Van Domelen Marshall Martin
Ellis Chistopher P.
Kilpatrick Stockto LLP
Rock-Tenn Company
Tran Khoi H.
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