Sales Engineer for Trace Register, LLC.
Stephen Pratt is a sales engineer for Trace Register (TR). He provides technical sales support and shares knowledge of TR's supply chain traceability software solution for a range of small and large businesses. He brings years of experience in traceability software and a background working through people problems. Stephen is also a mechanical engineer with engineering and cross-cultural working experience that enables him to translate complex concepts and systems for a range of customers and audiences.
Q&A
When did you first become interested in traceability?
Ever since college I’ve been interested in where my food came from. It began with very basic traceability, and my concern was simple: Am I eating fresh food? I felt most concerned when eating seafood. When I started working with Trace Register in 2010, I learned the true meaning of traceability and realized that most supply chains are very disconnected. Key information from the source was lost before the product reached the retailer.
Do you have any background in sustainable seafood or fishing?
I do not. I love to eat sustainable seafood and I enjoy recreational fishing, but I have a mechanical engineering background. Through a series of events I found myself working for Trace Register, a food traceability software company, and now I know more about supply chain data management and seafood than I ever expected.
What is your role at Trace Register?
My title is sales engineer and I’m currently part of the sales and marketing team. I sell our traceability software solution, Traceability Plus, to companies in the food industry. I talk with retailers, importers, distributors, processors, and even fisherman and farms. Our goal is to show each member in the supply chain how they can benefit from gathering, sharing, and analyzing product and supply chain data. Traceability Plus makes this possible at a low cost. I also do some work with marketing, process improvement, and occasional speaking engagements.
How do you view your place in the Future of Fish Traceability Pod?
I bring my experience and an understanding of traceability - solutions, barriers and demand - to meetings and discussions. I believe that Trace Register has a great tool that can be used to help the Traceability Pod members to meet their goals around three areas:
Capturing and sharing data
Providing user with analytics on the data
Using that data to engage customers
We also have advanced tools for data integration because we recognize that companies and supply chains use multiple data formats.
What excites you most about the future?
I’m excited by the growing demand for information and the many opportunities it brings. Our customers are seeing increased consistency in their products. This may not sound exciting, but it is! Increased consistency results in higher profits, lower waste and greater control over a company’s products and supply chains. As companies strengthen their abilities to trace their products, they can take action to address problems in their supply chains (sustainability, corporate responsibility, quality, and regulations). The more they know the better they can address these problems in a sustainable and repeatable way.
