THE COLD CHAIN SUPPLY CHAIN

 

There are markets whose products fall into a special niche--temperature sensitive.  For: Pharmaceuticals. Food. Meat.  Fish and seafood.  Produce.  Chemicals. To protect against Thaw.  Freeze.  Melt.  Degradation.  Spoilage.  Growth of pathogens.  Loss of efficacy.  Cross-polymerization.  Product degradation.  Irreversible physical change.  With problems and failures, the product loses some or all of its purpose, quality, and value.  It may also create dangers and risks for end-users.  As a note, there is more as to industries and products, but this is illustrative of temperature control.

The cold chain segment got global attention with early stories about one of the CoViD vaccines and its extreme cold temperature requirements.  The temperature cited would have been a serious challenge for its worldwide movement, logistics, and distribution to vaccination depots and administration locations.

Supply chain management (SCM) for the cold chain is more than storage and shipping.  There is product risk that makes it unique. And that risk puts requirements of the supply chain. Overall, for cold chain, the SCM has to be elevated beyond non-unique products. This upraising should be done around the supply chain structure—process, technology, organization. And that structure should mirror the company.

The design of your supply chain and its operation should draw on lessons learned from the pandemic.  And that means resilience—both inside your four walls and outside.  Increased resilience means reduced risk.  A centerpiece of becoming resilient is your supply chain structure. 

First, though, there is no universal agreement or standard for the temperature range for the cold chain.  This reflects that the protection need depends on and varies by product.  Different products; different temperature range. From chill to cryogenic.

Managing the cold chain, end-to-end, is a challenge.  It is preferable to finding out at delivery that a shipment went bad.  The longer the transit both as to time and distance, the more parties and movement stops involved, the greater the risk.  The end-to-end challenge can then be defined as risk mitigation.

This special supply chain, especially for export/import, presents criticality and has requirements that must be recognized.  These demands meld and include:

·       Maintain end-to-end temperature. It is not an option.  Reality is where a company sits in the end-to-end cold chain affects how it handles it--from manufacturing through to local distribution.

There is a range of activities from production/preparation to "consumption" by the end-user.  With it goes important temperature integrity. Failures create product problems and even peril for end-users.  Be aware too of regulations that may apply.

There are two parts here. The logistics/transport segment will be highlighted below. The other is about your company and its product.

You sell the refrigerated product.  So you may view your role here as done.  And it is.  But they have to remember that it is your product, your company, and your brand image if something negative happens to the product. So the challenge escalates with changes in product ownership that may occur.  Be aware of the big picture here.

·       Understand the end-to-end logistics providers and infrastructure. This is the transportation and logistics.  Different modes and different roles. And warehouse/storage. Your issue, as always, is that the temperature is controlled.  

As with above, there are two parts.  The logistics infrastructure.  The refrigerated container or trailer and the warehouse.  And, the transport/logistics service providers who move these products. These two parts are what have permitted this market segment to significantly increase worldwide.  Selecting the right transport and logistics providers is underpins your success here.

This also is important when part of the logistics are outsourced. Be aware that the benefits an outside provider brings may also be offset because of possible risk with an outsider and how it fits into the supply chain operation.

Be aware of the providers that you may not see, that you do not select, or do not directly pay the charges.  For example, think of all the movements and places your export shipment goes through from your door to be safely placed on a ship. Think of potential delivery delays.  It is all to protect your shipment.

·       Integrate the logistics activities and their continuous movement.  This means coordination, collaboration, planning, and more. Not every step is providing some type of temperature control, but where there is activity, nothing must go wrong.  This can include temperature fluctuations.  Think of the times where, for example, a trucker moves a refrigerated container or trailer. Or it is an export move, and all the players must make sure the container moves, is plugged in, and other attention that is needed. The interim steps and players cannot be excluded. Think the same with delivery and stops on the route.

·       Assess and validate the process (not procedure).  Follow the product and the activities. Understand what participants say happens.  Then examine it with tracing and tracking customer orders or purchase orders.  Do you find gaps that slow down the process or redundancies along the process which are made because of gaps?  Think of holes in the process as potential temperature protection failures--risks to your product's integrity. Reducing process time can improve process control and product integrity.  Think time and temperature.

·       Utilize technology. It is not optional.  You need to know if doors on the trailer were left open or how long a container sat unprotected.  That is an application for technology to monitor and maintain. This is both for storage and for transport.

Visibility, which is more than track and trace. Blockchain, add blocks and build the chain for visibility. It also aids with the chain of custody that is important for many.

You also want technology at a granular level—the case and pallet.  This tech application is increasing.  Bots.  Sensors. Chips. Temperature trackers.  Sensors. Time-temperature indicators (TTI) that change color. Data logging monitor.  RFID (radio frequency identification) tags.  GS1-128 bar codes and labels for international shipments.  

·       Organization.  While cold logistics is a vital part of the supply chain, its role should be defined.  This differs from the more traditional of fitting the supply chain into the logistics. This difference is not subtle. 

than delineating by logistics and transportation, the organization should upstream and downstream. That also aligns with how the company does things.  Upstream would be sourcing and manufacturing (or for sea and agriculture, it would be close to those activities). Downstream would reflect more as to sales.

The particulars of your product will affect your efforts above.  It also comes into play as to trailer specifications and how you load the shipment.  The devil is in the details.

 When your high-stakes cold chain supply chain operation is designed and operates well, then chill.