The market for refrigerated freight transportation just keeps on growing and, according to some estimates, could easily be responsible for moving more than 3 billion tons of product in the next couple of years.

These kinds of numbers just serve to highlight the importance of refrigerated shipping in your supply chain, because any of those products could be damaged or have their shelf-lives significantly reduced if they experience temperature increases of just a couple degrees.

In other words, uncontrolled shipping temperatures could lead to billions of dollars in losses – both for the producers and the transporters – if those goods are damaged in transit. On top of that, there are public health issues at stake, and many agencies are watching to make sure there are no bacterial or fungal contaminations popping up during the shipment.

Supply chain management in markets that deliver perishable items, fresh or frozen, have to make temperature-controlled shipping a priority from start to finish.

Understanding the Cold Chain

A supply chain that is focused almost exclusively on frozen or other perishable products is normally referred to as the “cold chain,” and has a huge reliance on refrigerated trucking.

More specifically, cold chain logistics is not just about transporting temperature-sensitive goods from one location to another. It is about transporting these products along a supply chain while adhering to very specific instructions for planning, packaging, and shipping the goods in order to maintain their integrity.

Providing consistent temperature control along the way is a critical part of this process and helps to ensure that the products aren’t altered or impacted in a way that could reduce their shelf life, efficacy, or freshness.

The Challenges of Refrigerated Shipping

Moving regular freight straight from point A to point B is, well, pretty straightforward.

Moving cold, perishable products, however, requires a bit more care and concern to make sure everything arrives in an unaltered state, ready to hit the shelves.

To that end, there are a number of challenges that must be considered at every stage of the process. These might include:

• The point of origin and the final destination and whether or not they are within a certain distance from each other.
• The equipment needed to handle cold products (food safety standards cannot be ignored in any way).
• The ability to correctly store and load frozen or perishable goods. This means both the trucks and the warehousing must have the capabilities to load and store these products safely.
• The smooth flow of inventory to ensure products never spend excessive time in an un-refrigerated environment – i.e., waiting to be loaded. When the time comes to move the goods, you must have the capabilities to shift them swiftly and carefully.
• The estimated delivery times must be very accurate and on-time deliveries become crucial because of the time sensitivity of these products.

The Cold Chain in Action

Some of the industries that rely on refrigerated shipping the most include: fresh foods (including all fruits and vegetables as well as meats and seafood), floral, dairy, and pharmaceutical.

Let’s take a closer look at one of these industries in particular – the pharma industry – to see why reliable refrigerated freight shipping is so important.

(Note: further details on how the transportation side and the production side need to work together for the best results in this industry can be found here.)

As the pharma industry continues to grow and develop, more and more drugs are coming out that are sensitive to temperatures or the passing of time. (This has to do with the shift from simple chemical-based formulas to more complex designs that can be impacted by their environment.)

Unfortunately, since many companies weren’t ready for this shift, billions of dollars of pharmaceuticals were stored and shipped (or delayed) at improper temperatures, which means they were either putting less-effective products on shelves or forced to recall them entirely.

In the worst-case scenarios, these products could have posed a real threat to the consumers if subpar or spoiled products were sold to the general population. (And that doesn’t even touch on the possible lawsuits that could result from such actions.)

Any pharmaceutical product with any kind of temperature sensitivity will have some real shelf-life concerns. Yet, with so many more products being shipped around the country than ever before, the risks of human error and other road safety concerns are quite common. Routes must be planned perfectly, the logistics of warehousing and loading and unloading must be flawless, and communication and transparency with the producers and receivers should be clear and constant.

However, as long as the products are properly labeled – indicating the importance of temperature-controlled storage and transportation – these products can make it to the store shelves in great condition. They will maintain their efficacy and give the seller a chance to stock and move their merchandise.

Understanding the Benefits of Refrigerated Shipping

The number and variety of goods that are available every day are higher than ever. And the same can be said for customer expectations.

Of course, a lot of these products can deteriorate and lose their value if they aren’t properly stored, shipped, and handled and the right temperature.

When it’s done right, producers can meet the growing demand for these types of perishable goods. More than that, though, they can meet the regulations on put in place by government agencies like the FDA.

Always Improving

As the demand for better refrigerated shipping in the supply chain continues to grow, the transportation industry has responded with new developments for better flows, better electronic tracking, and more visibility into the process.

As we continue to develop our own processes and find even better ways to maintain the proper temperature in our trucks and warehouses, our clients can continue to expect better services, better deliveries, and better profits.

Warehouse storage services play a significant role in the supply chain, which means there are several elements that you must consider to ensure your products are received and distributed as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Everything from lead times and supply chain velocity to anticipated throughput, receiving, storage, and dispatch volumes could impact the type of warehousing solution you need. Even then, these needs could change on a seasonal basis, so you need to think about both short-term and long-term solutions.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most critical warehousing considerations.

Types of Storage

This may seem very obvious on the surface of it, but it’s important to define these terms before we get into everything else. There are several types of warehouse storage solutions available to you, including:

• Ambient storage – A dry storage warehouse for goods that don’t require any particular temperature control. Most products will fall into this category.
• Cold storage – This is specifically for fresh food products and other perishable goods.
• Hazardous storage – This is for anything from flammable liquids and chemicals to other materials that require extra security and safety precautions. (Not currently available at Calex ICIS.)
• Outside storage – Some products have characteristics that allow them to be stored in the yard rather than in the warehouse.

Accessibility and Flow

Warehouse operators need quick and easy access to every pallet within a warehouse. It must be convenient to identify and obtain items, and the design/organization of the warehouse must support the flow of products into and out of the building.

A warehouse layout needs to always consider the flow of work. Every sequence of actions that must be carried out should be located conveniently to each other, in the order in which they must be accomplished. Inventory must be able to flow smoothly in and out in a logical sequence, so regular flow analyses may be required.

When it all comes together properly, there should be an uninterrupted flow of people and inventory through the building without any bottlenecks or overly high traffic areas.

Something as simple as aisle width can have a huge impact on accessibility, though it’s something many businesses don’t consider in their own warehouses. The width of an aisle will change the way people and machines move through spaces, and it will also influence the size of forklifts or trucks you can buy as your company grows.

It’s all about organizing the warehouse for your current convenience and future needs.

Space

For most companies, this is the first consideration when they begin looking at warehouses. The allotment of space will obviously be one of the most important variables in order to keep your supply chain running efficiently. You don’t want to pay for too much, and you never want to be caught with too little on hand.

A capacity analysis can help you determine how much space you really need for your inventory.

Location

A warehouse that is not located anywhere near your business or your consumers may have a lower cost, but it will add some very real impediments to your supply chain.

It’s important to analyze your needs and determine the most effective geographic location so you can balance warehouse costs with transportation costs.

Is the warehouse located near shipping docks? How long will it take to reach end destinations?

At Calex, we have a 99.7% on-time service history because you can reach nearly 50% of the U.S. population same or next day from our facilities.

Internal Environment

The heating, cooling, and lighting of a warehouse are critical for the care and protection of your inventory as well as the warehouse staff. Employee comfort contributes to productivity and accuracy, so this is something that can’t be overlooked.

The warehouse should never skimp on effective lighting, since it likely has the highest impact on productivity. More importantly, it reduces the risk of accidents and injuries on the job.

In areas where perishables will be stored, the proper temperature must be consistently maintained in order to protect the inventory.

Security and Safety

Warehouses need to have the necessary security and safety systems to prevent thefts and accidents and collect the records it needs to dispute any potential liability claims.

With so many moving parts in a warehouse, there are a lot of potential risks – high shelves, heavy machinery, lots of people moving around, electrical and chemical incidents, and much more.

Theses systems need to be made especially for warehouses, because a lot of these huge structures might not be able to support traditional wireless systems. For more reliability, a warehouse needs to use a hard-wired system for their security systems.

On top of that, security cameras need to be strategically located in order to maximize their fields of view and cover every potential area where a theft or accident could happen. The same goes for alarm sensors, whether it’s a door or window break sensor, fire alarm, motion detector, or another similar device.

Warehouse Management System

The technology that keeps our warehouses running at peak efficiency continues to change and evolve. At Calex, our warehouse management system (WMS) provides the tools we need to keep everything moving as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

We use the WMS to eliminate a range of manual processes while optimizing your inventory storage, tracking, workload distribution, and shipping. It’s also what allows us to provide as much transparency as we can so you are always connected to your inventory and know exactly what is in stock and when you’ll need to consider another shipment.

Flexibility in Storage Solutions

Very few companies need the same amount of storage all year long. After all, if your inventory needs remain stagnant, that might say something unfortunate about your sales.

You need warehouse storage services that can grow or change with your needs, whether they fluctuate with the seasons or grow and shrink depending on industry trends.

On top of that, not all products are uniform shapes. Shelf and rack sizes and heights may need to change. Other precautions may need to be taken to keep fragile products safe no matter where they are in the warehouse. Your solution needs to be as flexible as your needs.

Consider Them All

This may seem like a lot of things to consider when you are looking at your warehousing options, but they are a part of your supply chain solutions. By considering all these elements, you can expect improvements in search and retrieval times, pick-and-pack fulfillment accuracy, and workflows/processes.