It is not a question of if but when smart scales will make a breakthrough in fresh food departments. Weighing equipment with a built-in camera has potential, as it makes fresh food shopping easier and spurs sales. All customers need to do is put fruit and vegetables on the scales. Within a second, products are automatically identified, weighed and a printed label comes out.

However, the intelligence of the first generation of smart scales faces limitations. Pink Lady apples and Granny Smiths can easily be recognised. But discerning peaches from nectarines or beef tomatoes from plum tomatoes is not as simple. In such case, the system will propose the consumer ´similar´ items to choose from the screen. Metro’s Future Store in Rheinberg (Germany) was the first supermarket to introduce smart scales. Since the opening of the store in July 2003, consumer acceptance of the technology has steadily inclined from 62 per cent at the start to 68 per cent in April 2005. Despite the user-friendliness, consumers of over 60 years old appeared less enthusiastic. However, here too acceptance increased from 56 tot 59 per cent in two years. More important is that research shows that a growing number of customers adopt the solution. The hardcore users, i.e. 30 per cent of the customers, apply the technology at every visit. An additional 60 per cent does so occasionally. These are promising figures and a reason for Metro to start deploying this shopping aid in other stores that form part of the retail brands Extra and Real.

Camera identification
Metro’s smart scale is the result of a partnership between weigh equipment supplier Mettler-Toledo and IBM. The latter developed the identification software Veggie Vision. Cisco Systems is also involved. This IT-company provided the technology to support the scalable, broadband applications. The special software uses an integrated digital camera to identify fruit and vegetables based on their colour, shape and size. At the moment, about 150 different items can be recognised. The scales are connected to the store’s POS controller through an in-store network. This guarantees that the equipment, while printing, always has the correct price for each product. And in case of repeated mistakes, the system can be trained to make correct identifications. Current systems are not perfect but novel technology will create more intelligence. Therefore next generation systems are likely to perform better through a more precise identification of fresh fruit and vegetables, even those that closely resemble each other. One of the technological solutions to achieve this, is to apply different light sources on weighed objects to obtain natural colour profiles. The combination of a sophisticated colour signature and a more refined analysis of structure and shape could raise the matching score to a near 100 per cent. This is much better than most consumers or even cashiers are capable of. In case of foolproof systems, scales can also be used for quality checks. Scales may judge, for example, how ripe bananas are and even differentiate in pricing between green, ripe and black bananas. Moreover, fruit size, often related to grading, could be taken account of in pricing.

Self-checkouts
It is only a matter of time but smart scales are here to stay. More suppliers of weighing equipment are now offering this solution. Bizerba has equipped the latest model of the new touch screen CE system scales for self-service customers in the fruit and vegetable segment with an integrated camera. Rollout has just started. After finishing the initial phase, about 100 camera-integrated scales, including a double display design with a big display on the customer's side, will be installed in department stores and supermarkets. As with the Mettler-Toledo system, products that cannot be clearly identified, appear as appropriate alternatives on the display. All that consumers need to do is touch the screen and choose the correct product.
Smart scales could also enhance convenience at self-checkouts in the future. But when asked, NCR says there are no short-term plans to incorporate digital camera systems in the built-in scales of the FastLane self-checkout scanner. The company is currently using a simple look-up feature on the graphical touch screen while weighing. This enables consumers to tell the system whether they are, for example, buying apples or avocados. Evaluation of the system has shown that most customers know exactly which fruit or vegetable they place in their shopping trolley, often better than the cashiers do. As shoppers generally select the right item when weighing it, integrating a smart scale in the system is currently no option for NCR.

PC-based scales
Less visible to the customer is the introduction of intelligent weighing equipment in service areas. Here fresh food counters increasingly use PC-based scales. Weighing in a Windows environment provides members of staff with extensive up-to-date product information and the opportunity for integrating weighing into the back office stock-control system. This allows goods to be checked in accurately against the order schedule and sales. At the same time, write-off figures can be passed on automatically from the counter to back office. However, there is more. The PC itself is an important marketing tool. Information from the database enables employees to give customers better advice about culinary applications, promotions, nutritional value and so on. Using Avery Berkel’s PC-based MP scale, the operator can highlight the latest promotions, such as discount by weight or quantity, a cross promotion or a voucher issue. Preparation tips, cooking times and menu information can be easily recalled from within the scale application. Alternatively, the scale can access an internal website and can be applied to educate the staff on product and counter operation.
Customer presentation is improved in several ways. Instead of displaying metrology information, scales are featured with graphic screens. This can vary to a simple compact mono display embedded within the scale to full-size colour plasma screens that can handle a variety of video and audio media.
Quality management is also supported by PC-based scales. Based on bar coding data the system can warn counter personnel that products of a certain batch are about to reach their expiry date. Such almost out-of-date items may then be subject to discounts and are automatically recognised by the system.

RFID-identification
Bizerba is also selling scale intelligence and offers new models that go beyond traditional weighing. Touch screen scale CE-H 800 S serves as a point of information and has advanced computer options. The silver design model offers a freely configurable user interface, including Internet technology. This gives online access to product information and important details in the digital operating manual, as well as quick selection of products for trading. A RFID-version of the new touch screen scales automatically recognises the operator through a transponder chip on the sales person. Thanks to RFID-identification, the selection of the operator key for each weighing process is a thing of the past. Operational quality can also be improved with this scales system. For instance, fraud and any intended or unintended mistakes are less likely to occur, if qualified persons only have access to the weighing equipment.

Central control
Linking Radio Frequency (RF) to store information networks enables supermarkets to lever control over in-store product pricing, including those articles that have to be weighed in service and self-service departments. Scaling up wireless real-time connectivity from store level to company level, offers even greater potential. This without the need to invest in additional, costly network cabling. In this way, retailers can centrally control their in-store price policy in a selected number of outlets. Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd. recently finished a project in which scales and price-label printers of hundreds of its supermarkets were connected to the retailer's national pricing system. Until that moment the retailer was using a mix of methods, like manual and some locally connected update options. This was labour intensive and prone to error. Electronics company Digi International was asked to provide a networking solution that would create timesavings, while securing data integrity and transmittance. Hereupon scales and printers were equipped with a network connection to the retailer’s central pricing system. During this operation, Digi operated face-to-face with technicians of weigh equipment supplier Avery Weigh-Tronix. After a trial period, Sainsbury’s is now able to provide automatic updates to all devices in all stores simultaneously. Seamless communication between the central server and the serially-connected scales and printers will enable the British retailer to scale up its retail business.