Cold Storage Warehouse Best Practices: Forecasting & End-to-End Temperature Monitoring

COLD STORAGE WAREHOUSE BEST PRACTICES:FORECASTING END-TO-END TEMPERATURE MONITORINGBY: ANGELA CARVER

Cold Storage Warehouses &Temperature Monitoring• The need for refrigerated storage facilities continues to increase and

expand across industries as products evolve and consumer demandchanges.

• The majority of product being stored in cold storage warehouses is refrigerated and frozen food, but pharmaceuticals, petro-chemicals and some high-tech electronics also require similar storage conditions.

Cold Storage Warehouses &Temperature Monitoring• In order to maintain compliance with changing regulations and

remain competitive in the saturated cold storage supply chain industry, refrigerated warehouse operators are focusing on SCM best practices such as:

• Temperature forecasting• Temperature monitoring• Cold storage specific technology upgrades

• Let’s take a deeper dive into some of the best practices refrigerated warehouses are utilizing to ensure end-to-end temperature consistency in their supply chains.

Temperature Forecasting in RefrigeratedWarehouses• The nature of the cold storage industry is very cyclical due to

seasonal customer demand fluctuations. A good example of this is ice cream. Consumers tend to purchase more products during warm months, meaning 3PL cold storage facilities typically keep more goods on-hand to satisfy this increase in demand.

• More inventory means more space. During these months, cold storage warehouse facilities are expected to accommodate this change in product demand.

Temperature Forecasting in ColdStorage Warehouses• Demand forecasting helps cold storage warehouse facilities to

understand how their facility will be affected by the changes in demand, any changes they must make and what the financial impact could be.

• Forecasting temperature demand is typically done using a combination of historical data and current information such as pre-orders, industry estimates, space requirements per unit and more.

• Completing inventory forecasts regularly will help your team to better understand refrigerated and frozen warehouse storage space requirements and utilization and any changes that need to be made to get the most profit per square foot.

Adapt to Fluctuating Temperature Zones• Once a complete demand forecast has been completed, operations

managers can make educated business decisions regarding warehouse space utilization for temperature zones.

• A recent cold storage industry trend is the implementation of cold storage curtains. These temporary walls allow refrigerated warehouses to adjust the size of their temperature zones to accommodate changing demand. These warehouse walls can be lifted or moved to make adjustments, but provide the same benefits of structural walls including:

– Prevent cold air from escaping– Helps to maintain consistent temperatures to avoid spoiling or other

temp related issues– Helps to reduce energy consumption

Specialized Cold Storage Tools for theWarehouse• The consulting firm Food Navigator reported that the U.S. averages 6

food recalls per day. These recalls have impacted nearly 18.4 million products and resulted in billions of dollars lost for businesses.

• While these recalls were enforced due to a variety a reasons, food safety due to temperature consistency should not be one of them if cold storage warehouse businesses use the available tools and technologies.

• In an effort to comply with industry regulations for food and product safety and industry best practices, refrigerated warehouses are implementing a variety of SCM and temperature capture/monitoring tools in varying combinations.

http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2015/06/track-and-trace-technology-one-cure-common-recall

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Tools for the WarehouseTHERMOMETERS

• Temperature tracking within the supply chain must begin from the bottom up. Many cold storage warehouse providers regularly use low-cost thermometers to test inventory at the item, case or pallet levels.

• These manual readings are used as a QA/QC function to ensure compliance down to the smallest of units.

• As a part of this best practice, many cold storage warehouse facilities arealso implementing thermometers in their freezers and coolers to monitortemperature on a larger scale.

• The data gathered from both types of readings can be transferred directly into supply chain software to create a detailed audit trail and automate alerts if any issues are discovered.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Tools for the WarehouseRFID

• Alternatively, many refrigerated warehouses are implementing radio frequency identification (RFID) to track temperature and condition of inventory at lower levels such as item or case.

• RFID technology passively captures temperature data and translates temp readings into easily accessible data within inventory management systems.

• This allows full facility tracking without the additional labor costs incurred with manual readings.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Toolsfor the WarehouseIN-TRANSIT DATA LOGGERS

• As the omni-channel retail supply chain continues to become more complex, it is also critical for cold storage warehouse providers to take temperature monitoring in direct-to-consumer shipping seriously.

• Orders shipped directly from the warehouse to consumers are typically delivered by carriers such as FedEx, UPS or USPS. These carriers do not specialize or offer refrigerated transportation at the D2C level.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Tools in the WarehouseIN-TRANSIT DATA LOGGERS

• Industry-leading retailers and their refrigerated warehousing partners are now utilizing data loggers for temperature sensitive D2C deliveries.

• These data logger devices are packed in the coolers with the inventory and packing materials so they can gather the most accurate temperature readings.

• Once the shipment arrives at its final destination, the data logger can download all temperature reading data via USB or Bluetooth to thecustomers’ computers and back to the shipper for their records.

• This helps to ensure that the product is safe for consumption for the consumer and helps to complete the end-to-end audit trail data needed.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Toolsfor the Warehouse“SMART” SHIPPING CONTAINERS/TRUCK TRAILERS

• For those inventory items not being shipped direct-to-consumer, but in large quantities to a wholesaler, distributor or retailer, temperature tracking through to delivery must still be controlled.

• Cold storage industry leaders have started outsourcing their logistics operations to businesses with cutting-edge “smart” shipping technologies.

• These shipping containers and truck trailers have built in systems (some use RFID) that monitor and adjust the temperature automatically and record any and all temperature fluctuations. This, just like data loggers, helps to guarantee product freshness while creating a detailed inventory audit trail.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Toolsin the WarehouseWAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (WMS)

• One of the top supply chain technology investments in 2016 is expected to be warehouse management software. This is due to the increase in regulatory and data sharing requirements for supply chain businesses.

• The variety of tools discussed previously collect a significant amount of data in addition to that from regular day-to-day operations. This data must be stored in a centralized, easy to access database.

Temperature Capture & Monitoring Tools in the WarehouseWAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (WMS)

• Industry-leading warehouse management software solutions have built in audit trail functionality. This will collect all temperature monitoring data related to inventory items and attach them to the inventory record.

• These audit trails will help cold storage warehouse customers be prepared in recall cases or if any issues are discovered throughout the inbound/outbound handling or shipping processes.

Conclusion• Temperature monitoring and control is and always will be a critical

function of inventory management for cold storage warehouse providers.

• In an effort to constantly improve and evolve along with the industry it is crucial that refrigerated warehouse operators stay in tune to industry best practices and the tools and technology available to support those initiatives.

• The implementation of these solutions can help cold storage supply chain operations to reduce energy costs, improve regulatory compliance, reduce labor costs and guarantee the safety of their products.

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