Cold Supply Chain Processes in a Fruit-and-Vegetable(3)

果蔬冷链

Cold Supply Chain Processes in a Fruit-and-Vegetable Collaborative Network 5 The fruit-and-vegetable sector is extremely dynamic. It is continuously incorporating new methods and modern technologies, due to heavy domestic competition, and especially because of the development that is occurring in other regions and countries. An increasingly globalized market and competition from producers and distributors from other regions within, and outside of, the European Union compels a continuous effort to adopt competitive measures which add value to the sector and make it possible to respond to consumers’ demands, to face foreign competition, to maintain the leadership of the Spanish sector and to increase its market share by introducing new products, and new ways of presenting them [6].

Spanish exportation of fruit and vegetables in recent campaigns has totalled more than 9 million tons. The main countries of destination are other member countries of the European Union, which receive more than 87% of these exports. Most of these shipments are dispatched by land, especially by road, using refrigerated vehicles to transport loads at a controlled temperature.

Analysis of Spanish production areas, trends in consumption and markets; experience in distribution and logistics; even the expansion to 27 European Union member states, with a market of 500 million consumers, all seems to confirm an increase in the demand of transport by trucks at controlled temperatures (refrigerated lorries), for shipments of fruit-and-vegetable produce and other logistic services associated to it [6,8].

However, the sector must also confront a number of problems, both internal (precarious generational relief, progressive decrease of resources such as water and land, etc.) and external (production from third countries at lower costs and less Customs control, etc.).

A conclusion can be drawn from all the above: by trying to balance market preferences and agricultural reality, the fruit-and-vegetable sector faces constant challenge. For the transformation of this sector the development of innovative solutions will be of great importance to keep its leadership positioning. This goal can be achieved by primarily focusing on aspects which enable producers to have an advantageous position over large distribution chains.

4 The PROCONET Project

When analyzing the fruit-and-vegetable marketing process as a whole, from the point where the decision is made to grow a certain kind of product to the stage when it reaches the final consumer, a wide range of innovations are used as a response to demands from markets and consumers, as well as new proposals in production, distribution and transport.

In this process, relations are established among the agents involved in the food supply chain: producers, growers, exporters, importers, haulers, etc., which must be adapted and managed from a collaborative business model.

The organizational model “Collaborative Network” is composed of a variety of entities (organizations and individuals) largely autonomous, geographically distributed, all collaborating to better achieve common / compatible goals, with the interactions among them supported by computer networks; and with common patterns, such as autonomous entities from varied locations, driven by common goals/intentions to be