Rao Mandava was born into a farming family in India and grew up learning how to harvest rice, tobacco and various vegetables from his father. After years of exploring different careers and countries, Mandava came back to his original farming roots through Inteligistics.
Inteligistics was launched by Mandava more than 10 years ago to provide the fresh produce industry with a solution to ensure quality and freshness using temperature monitoring, humidity visibility and product tracking. “Our technology assures that perishable produce is safe, fresh, edible and saleable for longer periods of time,” said Mandava.
When going to the grocery store, it can be unclear how long a head of lettuce or a package of grapes may stay fresh. Produce can last between a few days or as long as two weeks, Mandava remarked. “Quality is uncertain so customer satisfaction is inconsistent. Our monitors deliver quality certainty which is important to the consumer and the success of the growers, shippers and retail stores.”
Inteligistics’ solutions provide pulp temperature monitoring for fresh produce. A sensor actually touches the product being monitored, starting from the field through to the cooling and shipping process, and even to the retail store shelves. “No other competitor has end-to-end technology visibility,” said Mandava. “Other companies either measure temperature as the produce is transported or in specific locations in the field. Our technology starts from the field and monitors the same box or pallet of produce all the way to when the consumer buys it. We automate this process and provide full traceability throughout the distribution chain.”
Which is important to the consumer and the success of the growers, shippers and retail stores ?