COLT Technologies Signs Five-Year Worldwide Exclusive Manufacturing Contract with RGM Inc.
August 26, 2005 (PRLEAP.COM) Business News
SALT LAKE CITY and Puerto Rico – COLT Technologies™, a Salt Lake City-based developer of wireless agricultural technologies, today announced it has signed a five-year worldwide exclusive manufacturing contract with newly formed RGM Inc. of Puerto Rico.RGM is comprised of several of the most progressive high-tech companies and manufacturing experts in Puerto Rico. With its partners in Puerto Rico and on the United States mainland, RGM’s purpose is to ensure that its production capacity can meet the worldwide demand for COLT Technologies’ TekVet System™.
Under the terms of the agreement, RGM will be responsible for all worldwide manufacturing of COLT Technologies’ TekVet SmartSensors™ and TekVet SmartReceivers™, critical components of the TekVet System.
“The RGM team and its partners have made a significant commitment to COLT Technologies to repair the broken promises of COLT’s former partner, and we’re looking forward to tooling up for the initial manufacturing run so we can begin to meet the worldwide demand for COLT’s TekVet System,” said Ruben Monroig, chief executive officer of RGM.
Additionally, COLT Technologies announced today that it has severed a prior manufacturing agreement with San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Electronic-Coop for failure to perform under terms of the contract between the two firms.
“We’re excited to finally partner with such a formidable consortium of the most progressive Puerto Rican-based high-tech companies that have the expertise and proven production capacity to meet the worldwide demand for our TekVet ‘Health Monitoring and Traceability’ technology,” said Tali J. Haleua, co-founder, president and CEO of COLT Technologies. “Because of COLT’s inroads in this space, it is our hope that more high-tech companies will now see that the ‘new challenge for technology’ is helping to fight against the threat of bio-terrorism and agro-terrorism right here at home. For those of us lucky enough to enjoy being at home, there is much more we are obligated to do to help win the war on worldwide terrorism by spending our time, expertise and talents to protect our most valued internal infrastructure: our food supply.”
“While the challenges of getting the TekVet System ready for market during the last two years have been daunting at times,” said Larry Roberts, COLT Technologies’ director of technology development, “Everyone involved with COLT Technologies believes the TekVet System hits the nail on the head when it comes to creating technology to help protect our most precious resource – our food supply.”
“President Bush has challenged and encouraged the brightest minds in the cattle and high-tech industry to bring our food/meat supply chain and processes into the 21st century,” said Randy Conklin, chief technology officer of COLT Technologies. “The TekVet project does this. Invented by a 30-year cattleman veteran, developed by one of Utah’s most innovative high-tech companies, tested by one of Utah’s largest beef cattle processing operations, and now supported by a compilation of U.S. and Puerto Rican technology manufacturing firms, the TekVet System’s time has finally come. The TekVet System was designed around the idea of consumer safety first. With the concern and uncertainty of disease-tainted meats at an all time high due to recent findings of BSE (mad cow disease) and the growing threat of bio- and agro-terrorism, interest in the TekVet System has escalated and is receiving the worldwide attention it deserves.”
“The TekVet System will introduce an old-time but respected cattle industry to the cutting-edge of technology,” said Bob Giampia, chairman of the board for RGM. “It is our hope that the USDA and the Department of Homeland Security will recognize and support the TekVet technology as a sort of ‘prototype standard’ that should be mandated for all livestock. Our commitment to maintain manufacturing within the boundaries of the United States was our way to assist in implementing an anti-terrorism technology specifically designed to monitor, track, trace, and certify the quality of our meat supply.”
“We’ve been diligently tracking COLT Technologies from its earliest days in the industry, and we’re convinced that the TekVet System can now deliver an industry-changing solution to the beef cattle marketplace,” said Wilmer Fernandez, RGM’s executive vice president of manufacturing operations. “When it became apparent that COLT’s prior manufacturing partner in Puerto Rico was unable to deliver as promised, we were more than happy to join COLT Technologies in bringing the ground-breaking TekVet System to market.”
The TekVet System is a wireless radio frequency (RF) solution designed to monitor the core temperatures of beef cattle, one of the key indicators of feeder animal health. COLT Technologies completed “live animal” beta testing in mid-2004 of its TekVet SmartSensor (wireless health monitoring transmitters) and TekVet SmartReceivers (a proprietary wireless receiver and antenna system), both components of the TekVet System. The TekVet System received manufacturing clearance in August 2004 from the United States Federal Communications Commission for compliance under the FCC Parts 15C rules, in the low power communication device transmitter equipment class.
The TekVet System immediately identifies unhealthy animals by monitoring core body temperature via the TekVet SmartSensor, a small wireless device attached to a feeder animal’s ear that monitors temperature through a thermistor inserted into the animal’s ear canal. When the body temperature drops below (or climbs above) specific temperature guidelines, producers/feedlots/researchers are notified immediately via a wireless alert (through cell phone, pager or COLT Technologies’ console management software) about the change in the animal’s core body temperature. As a result, sick feeder animals can be immediately identified, treated and returned to full health faster than ever before. This lowers the cost of caring for sick beef cattle while increasing the average profit per animal and making it possible for producers to ensure that animals are healthy at the time of slaughter.
Inherent in the TekVet System is the ability to gather historical data for trend analysis, as well as traceability capabilities that can track where an animal was born and record (throughout an animal’s life), when (if ever) an animal was sick, what illness was diagnosed and what treatment was given to restore the animal to health. The TekVet SmartSensor’s technology can also be tied to passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to “date/time stamp” an animal and provide historical information about the animal’s life from “birth to slaughter.”
Additional information about COLT Technologies’ progress in bringing the TekVet System to market will be forthcoming.
For more information about COLT Technologies and its TekVet System, interested parties should visit www.tekvet.com or contact COLT Technologies’ strategic communications agency, Politis Communications, at 801-523-3730 or via email at info@politis.com.
About COLT Technologies
Formed in 2003, COLT Technologies, LLC is a privately funded Salt Lake City-based developer and manufacturer of agricultural technologies. The company focuses on the application of wireless technologies to lower production costs, increase profits and improve product safety in the livestock industry. For more information on the company, visit its Web site at www.tekvet.com.
About RGM Inc.
RGM Inc. is a newly formed company in Puerto Rico that is managed by a consortium of the most progressive high-tech companies and manufacturing experts. With its partners in Puerto Rico and on the United States mainland, RGM’s sole purpose is to ensure that manufacturing and production can meet the worldwide demand for the TekVet System.
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COLT Technologies, TekVet System, TekVet SmartSensor and TekVet SmartReceiver are trademarks of COLT Technologies, LLC.