Barrel Trak

Barrel Trak is an advanced process data management system that brings real time, read/write data tracking and process history to the winemaking process.

Barrel Trak provides winemakers with complete wireless access to all critical data while they are working with the wine at the barrel. Winemakers can enter handwritten personal notes about the wine directly into a PDA, saving them for future reference to support the critical process of blending and finishing the wine. Additionally, Barrel Trak enables the winemaker or operations manager to track barrels, an important and costly winery asset, and provides the winemaker with a complete history of barrel usage and flavor profiles.

Barrel Trak offers wineries a unique, affordable solution to many of the problems that directly affect their revenue stream - the very real issues of product loss, production inefficiencies and general waste. Barrel Trak enables winemakers to deliver a product of superior quality in an extremely demanding market.

TRACKING A WINEMAKER’S KEY ASSET
For wineries, oak barrels are uniquely valuable assets. Winemakers rely on them as critical components in the winemaking process. Barrels are a primary tool used to infuse a winemaker’s unique personality into their carefully crafted wines. Each barrel has a distinctive flavor profile that imparts a series of distinguishing attributes to the wine it contains.

Because barrels are expensive and have a typical service life of only five years, it is important that each barrel is tracked carefully. Today, wineries use several tracking systems, all with serious limitations. The most sophisticated is barcode labeling used with handheld optical scanners, but many wineries still use hand printed 3x5 note cards or scrawled chalk marks.

These limitations can affect the quality of the wine, and, more importantly, impact the bottom line. These include:

• Barcode labels and other markings can be easily damaged or misread, resulting in lost or misplaced barrels, process interruption and wine waste
  
  
• Current systems do not provide the ability to record barrel/wine history or winemaker notes while at the barrel
  
  
• Chance of human errors increases dramatically when applying/using barcode labels, paper tags, or chalk marks
  
  
• Restricted data field length requiring frequent, often daily, label reprinting and replacement

Barcode systems, in particular, have particularly onerous operational issues. They require special printers and label stock; label adhesives are poorly suited to the winemaking environment and often fall off or require staples; and labels become torn, faded, dirty or moldy. When barcode data is updated, stacks of labels must be reprinted, old labels removed and new labels re-installed - all with an associated labor cost and a potential for error. Barcode scanners are also prone to human error when reading data, resulting in misplaced or lost barrels, wine contamination and loss of the final product. Additionally, all data captured by the scanner must be manually synchronized with back-end database systems.

HOW THE BARREL TRAK SYSTEM WORKS
Barrel Trak goes beyond barcode systems to provide a winemaker with reliable data, better labor utilization, and the ability to access and update data at the barrel.

BT RFID Tags: Approximately the size of a quarter, a BT RFID Tag is a nearly indestructible tag that holds 240 bytes of data. Each wine barrel requires a unique serialized tag, provided exclusively by TagStream that mounts to the head end of a barrel with a food grade adhesive.

BT Wireless Data Wand: The BT Wireless Data Wand is an approximately 18” long ergonomic wand that contains a low frequency (LF) RFID read/write antenna, a battery pack for the RFID antenna, a PDA with Wi-Fi networking software, and unique Barrel Trak application and communications software. With the BT Wireless Data Wand a winemaker can enter handwritten tasting notes while working with the wine at the barrel and wirelessly transmit the notes associated with each transaction to the Barrel Trak Server in real time.

BT Server Software: Developed by TagStream, BT Server Software is proprietary software featuring wireless data collection, barrel tracking and management, a handwritten tasting notes database, and integration with third-party process control databases. Barrel Trak uses a well-defined software Application Program Interface (API) to enable easy integration.

FEATURES

• 240 bytes of data on each permanent RFID tag
  
  
• Barrel history (usage, ownership, characteristics) retained on the barrel
  
  
• Wine history (grape, lot, vineyard) retained on the barrel
  
  
• A direct connection between the winemaker and the wine via handwritten notes
  
  
• Real time access to data in the barrel warehouse

• NEW Blend Composition and Chemical Analysis data displayed in real time
  
  
• NEW Supports commodity ID-only RFID and barcode tags
  
  
• NEW PDAs using commercial high frequency (HF) RFID and barcode scanner cards
  
  
• NEW Batch-mode synchronization of barrel data with PDA

BENEFITS

• Quantifiable cost savings
  
  
• Robust and secure data retention
  
  
• Improves quality of the final product
  
  
• Reduces wine waste and loss
  
  
• Lowers overhead; provides efficient labor utilization
  
  
• Automated data collection aids in BATF-TTB and FDA reporting and compliance

END USER REQUIREMENTS
End user system requirements include:

• PC-based system(s) running Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP for data collection and management
  
  
• PC-based process control database running Winemaker’s Database, eSkye Blend Vineyard Management, or other SQL-based winemaking database system. Barrel Trak can also interface with more sophisticated database systems including Oracle, SAP, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL and others.

• Wi-Fi Access Point(s) and backbone network providing adequate coverage for barrel storage and processing locations and back office functions (Barrel Trak for eSkye's Blend can operate in "hotsync" mode and Wi-Fi networking is recommended but optional.)
  

INSTALLATION AND SUPPORT
TagStream provides installation of the Barrel Trak system through its network of qualified system integrators (SIs). These SIs provide our clients with a comprehensive, flexible solutions framework that can be tailored to meet the particular needs of each winery. From developing site plans to installation to troubleshooting you can be assured that your wireless process data management network will make your team capable, agile and well-equipped to make your technology investments support your business objectives.

TagStream is your first line of support for any issues relating to the Barrel Trak system, including basic training on use of the system. If issues arise with your wireless process data management network, our systems integrators are on hand to solve your problems and get your network up and running as quickly as possible so that you can do what you do best, deliver high-quality wine to your customers.