In perishable logistics, planning is critical. While one can build a perfect production line, delivery quality struggles if the product loses its freshness on the way to market. Therefore, supply chains must be prepared for resilient adjustments, product life management, disruption response and efficient collaboration when dealing with short shelf-life market segments. Only through these measures can we ensure that the products remain fresh during delivery and meet the needs of the market.
So let's take a look at some of the main challenges of cold chain logistics and determine the best way to ship them safely and with the least amount of hassle.
Tracking, Monitoring and Quality Control
Perishable items are difficult to keep for a long time. Whether it's pharmaceuticals, fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy products or seafood, maintaining their freshness and taste is impossible without the right environmental conditions. Fortunately, however, cold chain technology has made huge strides in this regard and offers many more options than traditional refrigeration or heating setups. There is state-of-the-art technology on the market today that can help monitor what’s going on inside a container and provide a real-time view of location, temperature, humidity, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. But that's not all. If market conditions change, shippers can leverage existing expertise to redirect shipments to more favorable destinations to ensure the best quality and freshness of the product.
Time to market
Time-to-market can face difficulties when fluctuating demand quantities lead to poorly planned supply chains. At this point, instead of finding the root cause of the problem and implementing a targeted solution, supply chain managers turn the entire setup upside down, with costly and complex results.
To achieve hyperlocal metrics like time-to-market, being closer to the destination market can lead to better results. On-premises cold storage is a proven example of reducing time to market while reducing recurring shipping costs.
When transported in a temperature-controlled supply chain, some chilled meat and seafood commodities can be kept for up to 90 days from the date of production. Therefore, any delay in shipping reduces the supermarket's sales window. Local cold storage can easily handle this situation, ensuring the freshness and quality of the product while providing greater flexibility and responsiveness.
Equipment Availability
Errors can also result in days lost throughout the supply chain, resulting in waste and lost revenue. To ensure continuous availability, some settings allow requirements to guide inventory management. However, as market conditions change frequently, most supply chains maintain buffer stocks to eliminate any possible risk of shortages.
While all perishable food businesses are prepared to keep buffer stocks in dedicated containers, this is especially important for pharmaceuticals, fruit and vegetables, which face high demand throughout the year. Such reserve stocks are able to cope with sudden increases in demand or unforeseen factors in the supply chain, ensuring continuity of supply of products and reducing possible shortages.
Interference
Despite increased market openness, an unbalanced trade equation is expected to lead to a concentration of unilateral risks and increased costs, which may persist for some time. Until normalcy returns, supply chains must allocate sufficient resources to dominant markets to prevent further loss of margins.
For more common but less severe disruptions, digital solutions and dashboards can help identify demand patterns and aid decision-making based on historical data. These tools can provide real-time data and analytics, allowing supply chain managers to better understand market trends and fluctuations in demand so they can take appropriate action. By leveraging these digital solutions, supply chains can respond to disruptions faster and make data-driven decisions to minimize impact and maintain business continuity.
Commodities face unique challenges
Some common problems exist in each field, and some challenges are more prominent in specific fields. Here are some examples of relevant industries:
pharmaceutical company
fruits and vegetables
banana and pineapple
protein and dairy
fish and seafood
To meet these challenges, the cold chain logistics of the supply chain plays a vital role. From scheduling handover times to managing temperature control and safe delivery during transportation, cold chain logistics requires precise and meticulous operations. Ensuring that a supply chain setup or supplier has the right capabilities, coverage and a team ready to go the extra mile is key to guaranteeing that the product is as expected.
If you would like more information about our refrigerated cargo services, we are happy to provide more detailed information.