Breaking News: AIPIA members Bayer APAC and Kezzler link up to improve supply chain visibility for farmers | 17-09-2020 |
Leading AIPIA member Kezzler today announced the signing of a new Master Service Agreement (MSA) with Bayer. Kezzler, a global supply chain traceability and serialization technology provider and Bayer, the Life Science company, with a more than 150-year history and core competencies in the areas of healthcare and agriculture, have had a working relationship for the last 4 years.
Under the new agreement, Bayer will leverage Kezzler’s managed SaaS platform to provide supply chain visibility, traceability and enhanced affiliate management. The signing of the MSA will help strengthen the collaboration between the two companies in protecting farmers from counterfeit seeds and the unacceptable risks they pose to public health and the environment.
“Consumers are increasingly demanding farm-to-fork visibility for the food they consume,” commented Unnikrishnan Nair, digital transformation/IT business partner lead APAC for the Crop Science Division of Bayer. “Achieving transparency on the origin of seeds and the supply chain to farmers is the first step in delivering full traceability. The Kezzler platform will support our efforts to eliminate the risk of counterfeit goods, which can lead to substantially lower yields and have a detrimental effect on the environment. We are pleased to work with Kezzler, as they share our commitment to finding better solutions to address food and environmental challenges.”
Unnikrishnan continued, “The MSA lays the foundation for our cooperative work moving forward. It sets out for both parties the necessary guidelines to ensure we achieve our goals with a joint focus and as efficiently as possible. The extended cooperation and pooling of resources allow us to be more agile and deliver our solutions to market faster. A single platform with a single-code repository, that allows data to be stored in multiple locations, provides a standardized approach that is scalable and adaptable to national needs and requirements. In addition, it opens up new channels to engage directly with consumers and retailers.”
Christine C. Akselsen, the CEO of Kezzler, added, “Over the past 18 years, Kezzler has deployed digital solutions to support food traceability and authentication across the globe, from sweet potatoes in the US to infant formula in China. We are proud to continue our work with Bayer, a market leader with a global commitment to protecting sustainable farming. Integrating with Kezzler’s traceability platform empowers Bayer’s solutions to provide full supply chain visibility and product authentication in real-time.”
“It is very rewarding to be part of this extensive project as trusted partners with the Bayer team. Through our continued cooperation, we are able to expand delivery of our track and trace technology to smallholder farmers worldwide. Unit-level product traceability and authentication provide a solid foundation for resilient and agile supply chains, a key necessity during the current times of uncertainty and beyond,” explained John B. Beerens, CSO of Kezzler.
