Supply chain management
| PROGRAM OBJECTIVE | KPIs | OUTCOMES | BENEFITS | FUTURE |
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| Assist the red meat industry achieve world leadership in supply chain management |
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e-technology
Australia has well established traceability and product integrity systems and we are working with red meat supply chains to further enhance them. Global standards for numbering, barcoding and eMessaging projects promise to reduce costs, save time and increase product security and traceability throughout the chain.
Electronic meat transfer certificate
We officially launched the electronic meat transfer certificate (eMTC) this year and continue to facilitate its uptake by three major processors who process 30% of Australia’s red meat.
The introduction of the eMTC system is expected to save industry $2.3m a year via reduced administration time, higher levels of security, increased ability to meet customer requirements and faster and higher levels of traceability*. The eMTC work is behind schedule due to AQIS delays; however, there is an extremely high level of interest from industry. Building on this industry interest, we will develop networks through MINTRAC training packages and work directly with system vendors and companies to increase uptake.
Eliminating port marks
Port-marking or lack of it continues to be the leading reason for rejection of Australian meat in the US. This problem has been exacerbated recently by the increase in Australian chilled meat being exported.
We are investigating the potential elimination of port marks driven by a joint steering committee formed by AMIC and AQIS. Progress has been slower than expected due to a delay in the formation of the committee, which has also delayed GS1 membership and traceability awareness.
To support the elimination of port marks and improve industry efficiencies, we have been working with industry for a number of years to standardise barcodes and electronic messaging via the GS1 system. We aimed to achieve 100% voluntary membership of export beef processors for GS1; however, we only reached this target in Western Australia and South Australia, due to port mark project delays.
The Australian Meat Industry and Language Standards Committee has endorsed our guide to information standards as the solution for the Australian red meat industry to adopt for numbering, barcoding and electronic messaging.
Lamb finishing
Lamb finishing has formed a major component of on-farm activities in the supply chain management program with the completion of the Literature review into best practice for production feeding of lambs. This final report provides guidance for future R&D investment and fuelled the development of industry guidelines for effective on-farm implementation – A producer’s guide to production feeding for lamb growth. A code of practice for lamb finishing will ultimately be developed.
CRC collaboration
Next year we will continue our interaction with the Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) for beef and sheep, through four supply chain trials for the commercialisation of current CRC technologies related to the implementation of yield measurement technologies and practices in the supply chain.
* Source: AQIS, MLA reports