Monitoring devices are everywhere, and travel more miles than many of us will in a life-time. They are the companions of Pharmaceutical products, Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Fish, and anything that is Temperature and/or Humidity Sensitive. They play an important role in ensuring our food and medicines have been transported in the right temperature and/or humidity conditions.

I'm going to talk about Temperature data loggers, as these are more common in supply chains than other monitoring devices. You will find, and no doubt already know, that temperature data loggers come in all shapes and sizes – and operate over various temperature ranges; from extreme low temperature conditions such as dry ice, to extreme high conditions common in pasteurisation and sterilisation processes – all of which have a need/regulation for temperature monitoring.

So, when it comes to setting up your temperature monitoring device you have many options to consider. These are, but not limited to, the following;

• Temperature Sample Rate: How frequently you would like the device to take a temperature reading
• Temperature Alarm Points: Some data loggers allow for up to 4 temperature alarm thresholds that will either activate and LED alarm or flash a warning on the LCD of the device, some have audible alarm options as well. In fact there are many things that the devices can do when a temperature point is breached, it depends on the device you have
• Start Delay: A common question is what the start delay option is for, the answer is quite simple. If you have the device in your nice warm office, and program it to start immediately you will record the temperature of your office – Your shipment could be refrigerated so a start delay is there to help you from having any ‘false’ readings as the temperature sensors need time (up to 20 minutes) to acclimatize to shipment conditions
• Alarm Delay: It may not be a problem for you if your shipment exceeds 8°C for 10 minutes, but 30 minutes over or under temperature could be a problem – so the alarm delay is there for that reason

Above statistics from a temperature & humidity monitoring device.

Those are the main four items with the programming specifications of any temperature monitoring device. You will have other options specific to each device available; some will allow you to enter additional information fields which can be used to improve the traceability – for example shipment tracking details, pallet number and product reference(s).

As there are many different types of Data Loggers available, you have various options to consider when choosing the right monitoring device for your needs. Some tips on this can be found by clicking here

Some more information on the best way to maintain temperature within your supply chain can be found by clicking here