By Hu Hsiu-Chu

Tekho Inc. has invested over NT$10 million to establish a 900-ping (2,970 square meters) live fish facility in the Anping District of Tainan City. The grouper fish in the 42 neatly arranged live fish tanks range from young fish up to huge 40-kg specimens. This is the largest live fish center in Southeast Asia, with annual production volume of 1.2 million tons. What makes the facility so special is the fact that each individual fish has its own “ID card,” enabling Tekho to maintain a detailed, transparent record of every single fish at every stage of the production process, ensuring that consumers can enjoy safe, healthy fish. The facility is the first of its kind anywhere in the world.

In its management of Southeast Asia’s largest live fish facility, Tekho Inc. has used RFID (Radio Frequency ID) technology to give each fish its own “CV”, to be used in the production and sales process. This technology has helped to create an innovative, safe food supply chain. Tekho has succeeded in integrating every link in the supply chain (up-, mid- and downstream), from the fish farm through the live fish facility to the restaurants where the fish are consumed. The company maintains a comprehensive production and sales data record for every single live fish that it ships. The information is stored on an RFID tag attached to the fish’s gills. When the restaurant is getting ready to cook the fish, they can provide the consumer with comprehensive information about the fish that they are going to eat.

According to Tekho’s Wu Chih-Mou, Tekho possess the key technology that it needs for every stage in the production and sales cycle. By making effective use of its product traceability management platform to achieve a high level of integration, Tekho is now able to exercise control over 80% of the supply chain. With regard to the first stage – breeder fish cultivation – Tekho has been working closely with National Cheng Kung University to identify disease-resistant breeder fish, and is planning to establish an 8-hectare fish farm in Chigu, Tainan County in July 2009, to cultivate breeder fish and produce fish eggs. The establishment of this new fish farm will give Tekho a complete, vertically-integrated supply chain.

Wu Chih-Mou notes that RFID is just a tool; the most important thing is the establishment of the information platform system. Powerful information system support is needed at every stage, from fish farming through inspection and live fish center operation through to the supply of fish to restaurants; the systems involved include traceability systems, purchasing, sales and inventory systems, etc. In its collaboration with the Institute for Information Industry (III), Tekho spent several months just to identify what its system requirements were, but the results that the company has achieved show that it was worth all the effort. Tekho is now making extensive use of the new systems, which have helped to streamline operational processes and improve efficiency.