Cold Supply Chain Management 

Cold supply chain management plays a significant role in logistics and SCM. It deals with managing, storage, and transportation of temperature-sensitive products and goods like food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. CSCM would make sure that the products and goods would maintain their safety, potency, and quality. Today, we’ll discuss cold supply chain management; its definition; key elements involved in the process; benefits, and challenges.

The global cold SCM industry would reach approximately 410 billion US dollars by the end of 2028 with a growth rate of 65%. It shows significant growth and improvement in the demand for fresh medicine supplies and food and product items.

What is Cold Supply Chain Management? 

Cold supply chain management is the method of managing SC operations that focus on protecting and preserving temperature-sensitive medical items and food products. You should beware of the shipping details, packaging design, shipping environment, trip length, and acceptable temperature range for every product or good. Cold SCM comprises the following process that offers you insight and is in control of the SC operations;

• Documentation
• Review
• Training
• Transparent
• Communication
• End-to-end visibility

Key Elements of Cold SCM Process 

Some of the key elements involved in the cold supply chain management process are as follows;

Storage

First of all, you should store perishable food items and temperature-sensitive products in the cold storage facility. It requires freezers, chillers, and cold rooms. In the case of pharmaceuticals, biomedical, and vaccines; then you would need special medical freezers and refrigerators. You should carefully monitor and analyze the storage facilities and equipment to make sure the temperature range.

Packaging

The warehousing team should carefully package the product to make sure that the long-distance transportation won’t damage its quality, flavor, or appearance. The cold packaging would be in various forms ranging from insulated and enveloped shippers to pallet systems and cold chain parcels that would employ the integration of gel bottles, gel packs, and refrigerant bricks.

Tracking

It is significant to manage and analyze the perishable shipment after it leaves the temperature-controlled storage facility. The logistics professionals would employ a modern temperature logger, condition tracker, or real-time locator at the shipment container. You could automatically upload the tracker data to the cloud and receive alert notifications of excursions.

Transportation

Various shippers offer well-equipped transportation options for transporting and moving temperature-sensitive products and goods across the world. Some of the commonly used ground transportation are reefer containers and refrigerated vehicles. However, effective cold SCM comprises of following steps;

• Shippers would analyze and verify the reefer temperature
• Matching the requirements relevant to the bill of lading

Customs Clearance

Customs clearance plays a significant role in cross-border shipment. Shippers should make sure to complete the customs paperwork for the smooth delivery of the products; whether it is global distribution of vaccines, or loading avocados from Mexico. If you fail to do the paperwork, then it results in the form of product loss, spoilage risk, delays, and other expenses.

Managing Product

Along with specialized packaging, cold SCM comprises making sure that your warehousing staff should have training in strategies for managing temperature-sensitive products. If you perform various functions well, then it would finish the refrigeration time limit and cross-contamination risk.

Delivery

Whether you are shipping products across the town or the world, the objective is to deliver time-sensitive products safely and on time. Trackers and modern temperature loggers would offer you transparency and visibility through final delivery.

Benefits of Cold SCM

Some of the main benefits of cold supply chain management are as follows;

Product Integrity

The utility, quality, integrity, and safety of products are heavily reliant on the cold SCM. The modern and latest cold SCM employs storage, monitoring, temperature tracking, and thermal packing to make sure the integrity, quality, and safety of temperature-sensitive products.

Product Safety

Cold SCM would help you to avoid media attention for various wrong reasons. Businesses and companies don’t want to attract the media’s attention and headlines for unsafe and unhealthy products. However, effective monitoring and temperature control means that the product should meet the regulatory standards for the safety of the people.

Efficiency

It is a difficult process when it comes to shipping products and goods either across the country or the world. It could be inefficient, time-consuming, or costly. Cold SCM would employ smart and integrated IOT-based monitoring and tracking technology. It allows companies to streamline and smooth the storage, delivery, and transport of goods by allowing them to decrease costs and improve efficiency.

Customer Service

B2C and B2B customers and clients want their products and goods to be delivered on time by following the highest level of safety and quality standards. Logistics and cold SCM would offer you control over the delivery, storage, and distribution processes to satisfy the needs and wishes of customers.

Challenges to Cold SCM

Some of the main challenges to the cold SCM are as follows;

Heat Exposure

The temperature-sensitive products could easily degrade once they are out of the refrigerator unit or freezer. Product transfer, loading, and unloading in the cross-docking could amplify the risk of exposure to high temperatures.

Damaged Products

Improper handling of the products while loading and unloading could damage the product, along with the shipping cost. For instance, loose packaging of vaccines could amplify the risk of breakage in case of any sudden and shocking movement.

Faulty Equipment

The forklift could damage the freezer door while loading or unloading the refrigerator; damaged sealing would make it difficult to manage the temperature range.

Conclusion: Cold Supply Chain Management 

After an in-depth study of cold supply chain management; we have realized that cold SCM is highly significant for temperature sensitive products. If you are learning about cold SCM, then you should keep in mind the abovementioned elements, benefits, and challenges.