Introduction
Founded in 2017, LinkThings is an innovative data IT company specializing in advanced data solutions for a larger variety of businesses. LinkThings has several subcompanies, one of which is Coldcha—a multilingual platform that unites all shipment data into one platform and gives deep insight into their logistics programs.
Coldcha is an AI-based system, similar to ChatGPT, that analyzes large amounts of data and provides answers to logistics and operational questions. The system is self-learning, and specifically applies to the transportation phase of the supply chain. The more information that gets added to the Coldcha system, the more powerful and useful it becomes.
“We are located in the heart of Holland’s greenhouses, and are surrounded by exporters of fresh flowers, vegetables, and fruits,” Coldcha CEO Jin Hoeksema says. “A few of these neighboring companies got in touch and asked us to develop a platform for tracking and tracing their expensive perishables. That’s how Coldcha was born.”
Customers Wanted Broad, Real-Time Visibility
In an effort to provide live visibility for its customers, LinkThings added real-time shipment tracking in 2020—putting it at the forefront of companies using these types of technologies. As a hardware-agnostic software company, LinkThings and Coldcha had used a variety of real-time monitoring solutions, but in 2022 they realized they were missing a few specific features their customers wanted—namely live location and condition data.
“We wanted to offer a fully robust platform that would enable our customers to collect and analyze all the critical data they wanted, and to accomplish this we needed to start capturing data from as many sources as possible: from air carriers, weather sources, ports, and more,” says Hoeksema. “Tive enables us to collect real-time shipment location and condition data—which is immediately added to the Coldcha platform for our customers to access.”
Coldcha now uses Tive Solo 5G and Solo Lite trackers across 98% of its customer shipments: the lithium model for container and road transport, and the Solo 5G Non-Lithium for air transport—whichever is most appropriate for a given shipment.
“We also have an API connection with Tive, which gives us all the location, humidity, and temperature information we need, and the Coldcha platform combines Tive data with all the information we collect—giving our customers a complete view into every aspect of their shipments,” Hoeksema says.
Uniting Multiple “Sources of Truth” Improves Insight
For many logistics-related companies, the power happens when data points from all possible sources are united—providing actionable, ground truth data. Hoeksema first learned about Tive on social media, and was immediately intrigued by what he read.
“After reading a bit about the service Tive provides, I realized that the company fills a gap in the market: Tive provides exactly what the market needs. Many of the older solutions seem to continue looking backwards, doing the same old things, and I think that the breath of fresh air that Tive brings is what is really needed in the marketplace,” he says.
Coldcha collects and links as much shipment data as possible: from the products within a shipment gleaned from ERP systems; temperature, humidity, and other real-time sensor and location data; information from third parties; port information; and data about emissions, weather, and traffic. Coldcha then analyzes this data, and exposes deviations and opportunities for improvement. For Colcha’s customers, gaining these insights, warnings, improvements, and advice helps improve their supply chain—and helps prevent claims and reduce losses.
Three Biggest Values Coldcha Gets From Tive
Positive Tive Experience from Day 1
Colcha’s experience with Tive has been positive from the start. The company started out using the now-defunct Solo 2G trackers—but they didn’t extend to the ever-growing 5G market. “The Solo 5G is quite innovative, with all the included sensors. This tracker also has many, many air carrier approvals, which is critical to our business,” says Hoeksema.
Coldcha has many customers that export fresh produce to the Middle East and America. “These customers use Tive to prevent claims and be predictive—to be more in control of the condition of their shipments,” Hoeksema explains.
Tive is not only the first company to offer a 5G non-lithium tracker for use on air shipments, users can adjust shipment configuration settings while cargo is in transit—yet another differentiator. “Tive trackers work on all modes of transportation—as opposed to needing different trackers for rail, air, road, and ocean shipments. These benefits provide a huge advantage over other brands, and being able to modify shipment settings remotely is a huge help,” says Hoeksema.
“Another thing I really like is the size of Tive trackers. If you look at your competitors, they have larger ones—but I find that the lighter and smaller the tracker is, the better it is for customers,” he continues. “You also have many more sensors in the Solo 5G than your competitors include, which enables us to capture all the critical data we need. This is a huge advantage.”
