Midland Ross

4Dec/06Off

Midland Ross

Tracegains Director of Industry Relations Richard Ross Addresses Food Supply Chain Monitoring

Richard Ross is Director of Industry Relations for TraceGains, Inc. According to Ross, “A new imperative has appeared. Consumer trust of food safety is shaken. Food businesses are realizing that traceability and supply-chain monitoring exposes an opportunity for additional profit. Although the consumer has always had the power to influence the food industry, that influence is being heard loud and clear – safe, flavorful and affordable food - and the food businesses are listening intently.”

Ross designed and owns PathTracer, a software-as-a-service food traceability program. PathTracers design is derived from Ross’s thirty-some years of management experience in the food industry. He has managed six different food businesses for Archer Daniels Midland that includes flour and corn milling, packaging, custom mixing and Martha Gooch pasta. As a vice president and general manager for ConAgra, Richard was responsible for the Specialty Grains division that included eight food manufacturing facilities (three international) associated with corn and oat milling, wheat germ oil extraction, oat milk production and a special barley product for diabetics and weight control.

TraceGains, Inc. (www.tracegains.com) was founded in 1998 with a 100% focus on traceability. The company has a patented delivery system —14 patents granted and growing —and also is an Issuer of United States Department of Agriculture Process Verification Program (PVP) Label.

By providing real-time bi-directional supply chain transparency and traceability, TraceGains reduces risks to the corporation and its executives, who may become personally liable in case of a recall. Positively Assured Traceability provides the following essential capabilities:

Continuous attribute visibility for each incoming ingredient received.

Identity preservation across commingling, batching, blending, transformation, and re-work.

Continuous comparison between on-floor activities, business rules, and compliancy requirements.

However, TraceGains not only adds the missing capabilities to protect food companies, its officers and executives, and consumers, but goes beyond to turn data into actionable business intelligence from the floor to the board room.

With proven solutions and hundreds of implementations, return on investment (ROI) and profitability enhancement has been independently confirmed in university studies. Companies’ bottom lines are positively affected through the following results:

· Improved operational efficiency by identifying profit leakages.

· Enhanced product consistency by pinpointing causes of variation.

· Increasing market share by assuring trading partners they are protected with actionable data.

By using Web Services to interconnect with all leading ERP, SCM, and MES systems, Positively Assured Traceability can deliver compliance with internal business rules, assurance of pedigree claims, enhanced profitability, and increased operational excellence. From the grower, aggregator, manufacturer and processor, to distribution and logistics, and finally the retailer, only TraceGains provides bi-directional unit-level (item, carton, pallet, etc.) traceability while boosting profitability and cost-effectively improving operational excellence.

TraceGains Inc.

www.tracegains.com

Marc Simony, Director of Marketing

traceability@tracegains.com

(303)682-9898

About the Author

Professional Marketing Firm for the Manufacturing Community and Manufacturing Journalist to most manufacturing magazines

Any information about 1887 Midland Railroad in central Indiana?`?

The railroad, also known as the Central Indiana Railway had stations at Muncie, Avondale, Anderson, Lapel, Noblesville, Westfield, Jolietville, Roston, Gadsden, Lebanon, Advance, New Ross, Ladoga, Waveland, Waveland Juction, Sand Creek, E. Rockville, Bridgeton, Carbon & Brazil, Indiana. It ran a total of 117 miles.

There's a history and timeline for the Midland, which became the Central Indiana in 1903, at this website:

http://www.indianatrails.org/MidlandTrace/history.htm

There are photos of the right of way and links to related sites in the area.
It looks like at least part of it is now a recreation trail called the Midland Trace.

It says there that the road eventually became part of Conrail, but that it was torn up in the mid-1980s.