Qualitree sprang to life in 1994 as a small greenhouse operation as the end result of a university horticulture project. Today, Qualitree resembles a Dutch-style nursery, including advanced rail transportation systems, computer-controlled irrigation.
PERISHABLES Based in Rosedale, British Columbia in Canada, Qualitree sprang to life in 1994 as a small greenhouse operation as the end result of a university horticulture project. Today, Qualitree resembles a Dutch-style nursery, including advanced rail transportation systems, computer- controlled irrigation, and cutting-edge climate control systems. Qualitree covers close to 100 acres of land with approximately 750,000 square feet (almost 17 acres) of greenhouse production area for its propagation and finished plant lines. For Sales Manager Paul Vaandrager, safely shipping live plants across North America presented some unique challenges that traditional tracking solutions were unable to solve. Their previous GPS tracking system, operating on outdated 3G networks, was becoming increasingly unreliable and had frequent dead zones. “We were getting dead spots—especially in the Midwest,” explains Vaandrager. “We ship across North America, and sometimes we were losing shipment visibility for 16 to 18 hours.” With Tive, Qualitree is able to ensure continuous monitoring— regardless of how many different customer orders are on each vehicle. When a shipment is set up in the Tive platform, all relevant customers get an email with a unique tracking link, which provides unprecedented transparency. “Every customer who has products on a specific truck gets a link to the tracker which shows them in real time that their load is on the way. They can track it themselves, and have total peace of mind that everything is going okay,” Vaandrager explains. This shift from reactive to proactive has produced significant time savings for the Qualitree team, and has also improved accountability with their third-party carriers. The real-time visibility provided an undeniable record of truck movements, eliminating disputes about delivery timelines. The tracking capability has also fundamentally changed customer communications, reducing inquiries to the sales team and empowering customers with self-service visibility. “Our Sales team really enjoys using Tive because it reduces the number of customers reaching out to ask where their cargo is— because they can see it in the platform themselves,” says Vaandrager. This modern approach creates a consistent, premium experience, regardless of order size. In the three years since they started using Tive, Qualitree has tracked more than 1,600 shipments with remarkable results. Despite shipping live, perishable plants across varying climates and distances, they’ve experienced very few claims since they started using Tive. “1,600 loads have included a Tive tracker, and we have had only two temperature claims in total,” Vaandrager reports. The success has been so significant that Vaandrager actively recommends Tive to industry colleagues, including direct competitors. “I can and do suggest Tive to direct competitors.” says Vaandrager. Tive provides an effective way to safeguard high-value shipments at every step of the journey. “We just can’t afford to have delays. When you have live products that need to be delivered in three days… and suddenly now it’s going to take six days? That’s a problem.” “Once you put a tracker on a shipment, they can say anything they want—but it doesn’t matter. If you see that Tive tracker moving or not moving, that’s every indication you need that your load’s going to get delivered on time.” “It just makes sense to use Tive because it is low cost—and provides high value.” “You can’t fake it if you’re actually watching shipments move in the Tive platform.” PAUL VAANDRAGER Sales Manager at Qualitree tive.com/customer-stories Peace of mind at every mile. Products used : Tive Solo 5G, Plus Platform Tier