The Netherlands-based Euroscan Group has grown over the last 20 years to become one of the most important suppliers of total solutions for data recording and online monitoring in the transport sector. The company’s integrated turnkey systems are used worldwide to ensure safe and secure transportation of food and pharmaceuticals by monitoring and ensuring temperature compliance throughout the supply chain. Its temperature recorders enable customers to comply with the European cold chain temperature and food safety regulations and gain significant operating advantages and efficiencies.
Euroscan Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., the authorised representative and distributor for Euroscan Group in Asia Pacific, was founded in Brisbane, Australia, around five years ago. Having started by catering to some small fleets in Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, it followed an agreement made in Europe and became the supplier partner for Martin Brower and Havi Logistics which supply and deliver food products for McDonalds. Ever since, Euroscan established its very strong presence in Europe with a 60 per cent marketshare in the region and with a share of over 90 per cent in the pharmaceutical sector. The company also does significant business in other parts around the globe, including the US, Canada, Australia and Asia.
Considering the enormous growth potential of the Indian cold chain sector, Euroscan has identified India as a strategic growth market as part of its future plans. The company is currently working on its first set of installations, through its partnership with Carrier Transicold, a global leader in truck refrigeration, for the Indian market.
Talking to MOTORINDIA in an exclusive interaction, Mr. Mark Mitchell, Managing Director, Euroscan Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., says: “We realise that India has huge potential for advancement in the cold storage sector and consider it a strategic market for our long-term growth. Eliminating food wastage is the key for India and we are optimistic that it will happen in the coming years. We have a global agreement with Carrier Transicold and are working closely with them in India as well.”
Euroscan’s products for Carrier are tailor-made to suit the latter’s needs, which also means the company is open to working with other truck refrigeration makers, both in India and globally. The company supplies its products to other truck refrigeration makers as well, but not from the level of an official partner. Euroscan Asia Pacific sister company Unicla International is a supplier of compressors for numerous truck refrigeration units in India, and Unicla is looking to penetrate into the country’s bus air-conditioning segment as well in the near future.
Advancing technology
Euroscan offers two formats of monitoring vehicle activity. The first one is an online format, similar to a telematics system, where the customer is provided an interface to track the vehicle location and the temperature of the refrigerated assets. The other format is an offline one which includes a temperature recorder and gives a printed document of the temperature records. While the online format is slightly more advanced, Euroscan expects the offline method to be the opening game in markets like India.
Apart from the two formats which have been in use for many years, Euroscan has developed a new technique in which the temperature of the fridge is monitored in addition to that of the cargo area. Despite being a newly developed technology, the company is already in talks for delivering a set of units of the new system for a customer in the Indian market.
“The system which includes monitoring the fridge temperature is the next stage in our product range. Though this will primarily be for advanced markets like Europe, we are working with Carrier on fitting the new system on a fleet of several vehicles for a customer in India. Though slow at present, the Indian market might jump other markets by directly adopting the latest technology”, adds Mr. Mitchell.
Globally, Euroscan works with leading brands such as Carrier Transicold, Fedex, Union Pacific, McDonalds, Martin Brower, Havi Logistics and some big pharmaceutical companies which are dependent on cold storage for transport of vaccines. The company recently got a new owner when it was acquired by Orbcomm of the US to complement the latter’s North American leadership position in machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions by adding a significant distribution channel in Europe and other key geographies where Euroscan has a sizeable market share.