"With Solo 5G trackers on every shipment, R&D Nurseries has the real-time visibility they need to protect their products, reduce claims, and strengthen customer relationships."
- Natalie Roe, Vice President & CFO
Based out of Umatilla, Florida, R&D Nurseries is known for cultivating and shipping high-end tropicals and rare plants to major retailers across the United States. But maintaining plant quality over long hauls, especially across multiple stops and unpredictable conditions, can be a risky business. Environmental inconsistencies, such as during transfers from reefer trucks to greenhouses or storage facilities, can cause irreversible harm to delicate plant material, and in 2024 it became clear R&D needed real-time temperature monitoring and shipment visibility. To ensure that each and every load arrives on time and in perfect condition, R&D Nurseries turned to Tive.
“In the beginning, we had a lot of claims from Arizona customers saying the product had gotten too hot, or from DCs where it got too cold. Once we started using Tive, we were able to pinpoint the source of those issues and prevent them from happening again.” - Natalie Roe, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, R&D Nurseries
Since they were founded in 2009, R&D has never used a shipment visibility solution to track shipments while in transit, instead relying on their trusted transportation partner for regular updates. R&D has never experienced problems while shipments are in transit; for R&D, issues periodically cropped up when their containers were delivered to distribution centers (DCs) and left in dangerous temperature zones. Plants were getting too cold or hot while sitting on loading docks or in holding rooms, leading to stress, damage, and customer dissatisfaction.
R&D now outfits every shipment with a Tive Solo 5G tracker, and sometimes uses three per load, depending on the number of stops or temperature zones inside the container. Depending on which plants are inside the container, R&D sets up specific alerts, and when thresholds are crossed, R&D is able to contact someone and get the situation fixed. The Tive cloud platform enables the R&D team to stay informed 24/7, and because Tive’s data logs are tied to purchase order numbers, it’s easy for R&D to communicate specifics with customers and quickly resolve issues.
“If I get a notification that a load is too cold in the DC, I screenshot the alert and immediately contact the customer. We’ve been able to prevent product damage multiple times this way.”
Since implementing Tive, R&D Nurseries has seen a measurable drop in damage claims, particularly with one large grocery chain that once stored plant products in unsuitable environments. “We had to fight for our reputation,” said Roe. “We used to put five devices on one truck—inside boxes, outside boxes, on the truck—just to gather data. Thanks to Tive, we could prove that the damage wasn’t because we were mishandling shipments." This improved level of visibility has raised customer confidence and reduced the level of potential friction in high-stakes retail relationships.
For R&D, the benefits of using Tive go beyond shipping lanes. The R&D team also uses trackers inside their greenhouses, especially during winter, to monitor temperatures across different zones.
“We scatter trackers around the greenhouse to monitor temperatures, so we can see if propane needs to be cranked up,” said Roe. “We have even identified air leaks or cold drafts using this strategy.” That kind of flexibility, paired with the ease of use and reliability, has made Tive an indispensable tool for the R&D team. Says Roe, “We call Tive our mobile insurance policy. It protects our product, our customers, and our peace of mind.”
“We give Tive a ten, and recommend them with no hesitation. If you're proud of your product and want it to arrive the way you expect, you need to protect it. Tive helps us do that.”
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