Ensuring supply chain safety through time temperature integrators

Purpose – The technology of time temperature integrators (TTI) is used to ensure the safety and quality of temperature sensitive goods such as food and drugs along their entire lifespan. This work aims to provide a better understanding of potential benefits that can be expected from the use of TTIs in terms of supply chain improvement. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the different types of information provided by TTIs: information on products' freshness and information on products' remaining shelf lives, the paper identifies qualitatively the benefits that would stem from each type of information. Findings – A framework is built to evaluate the benefits, in terms of cost reduction and/or quality service improvement, that would stem from information provided by TTIs. Illustrative models are also developed in order to quantify some of these benefits. Research limitations/implications – The coexistence on products' packaging of a printed use by date and a TTI device can be misleading for consumers. Besides, the benefits that supply chain actors will achieve by using TTIs will vary by product category and are dependent upon the level at which the TTI device is used. Further research and case studies have to be developed in order to bring further answers to these issues. Practical implications – This paper is one of the first studies that helps companies in the food and the health care industry to better understand the benefits of using TTIs from an operations management point of view and to evaluate whether it can be advantageous to deploy this technology or not. Originality/value – This work differs from investigations in literature in that it identifies exhaustively and qualitatively the benefits of TTIs and to give perspectives for quantitative models that can be developed to assess these benefits.