Transporting ice-cream and chocolates, both very high value-for-weight products has always been challenging. The smallest deviation in temperature during storage or transport alters the flavour, texture, feel and shape and directly impacts the sellability of these products.

While ice-cream producers are sensitive to temperature discipline, chocolatiers rarely pay attention to their supply chains. As any ice-cream marketeer would be happy to tell them, a melted or softened and re-formed product loses its shape, texture and taste; also the customer. We already know that bad taste, texture and feel directly translate to a bad brand image!

The Cold Chain that gets information and makes decisions from collected or collated data is an ancient, pre-historic relic! Data logging or just periodic transmission of data simply does not work – it’s all post mortem. 

Managers who skimp on a 360 degree Supply Chain Visibility system cause their companies to lose millions every year in rejected and unsold goods and lost customers.

No one likes to eat melted and re-solidified chocolate or ice-cream – it simply tastes off. The temperature of the product needs to be monitored at a minimum 2-minute resolution throughout its post-production storage, transport and distribution. In fact, the monitoring must be extended to all the retail points-of-purchase to fully capture the delivery of the targetted ‘taste and texture’ customer-experience.

Some Cold Chain teams seem to believe that if the product crosses their threshold, it becomes someone else’s problem. Some managers tend to justify this poor show with various excuses like lack of corporate commitment, or one says that if the ice-cream doesn’t melt when its carried home from the store, why would it matter if the temperature spiked for some time during shipment or storage.

On the contrary, it matters – and in fact, the company’s leadership KRAs are directly linked to the performance of its Cold Chain.

The key to risk mitigation and minimal losses is to implement a single window, Enterprise-Wide, Cold Chain Measurement and Monitoring System – a Control Tower.

Such a system would typically include:

1. Dashboards for a single, high-level view
2. Rule-based alerts and alarms
3. Escalation matrices for unattended alarms
4. Drill-down granular reports to sensor and minute levels
5. Contractor, trip and delivery SLA management
6. Integration with your SAP/ JDE/ ERP
7. Hi frequency, live temperature data

A reliable and effective choice of a Cold Chain Technology Service Provider would be based on:

1. 5 Years in the same business
2. Market References (Of course!)
3. In-house technology (avoid system integrators)
4. 2-minute resolution for LIVE temperature sensor data
5. Control Tower Reports and Dashboards

A great Cold Chain Visibility solution will save many man-years of management time as well as millions in saved cargo and retained customers. You need lead indicators that let you take actions to mitigate adverse situations.

If you are fed-up with rejections at the delivery end, if your data loggers give you information that is too little, too late, and if your write-offs are approaching dangerous levels, then

You need a system that alerts you before the problem, tells you what’s about to happen that shouldn’t, and what’s not happening that should!

A great Cold Chain Visibility solution will save many man-years of management time as well as millions in saved cargo and retained customers. It will give your brand consistent quality in terms of customer experience, especially in the one that matters – great taste!

Covid-19 has brought with it a significant change to the way people have lived in the past. You would be frightened to see someone not wearing a mask or using a hand-sanitizer. A lot of money is being spent to desperately find a vaccine.

Just around a week or so ago, two cities in China found traces of the new coronavirus in cargoes of imported frozen food, Shenzhen local authorities said on 13th August in a briefing, although the World Health Organization downplayed the risk of the virus entering the food chain. The risk and uncertainty still remain whether Coronavirus can be spread through and into the food chain too.

It’s debatable whether coronavirus can be spread through frozen foods or not but there are few other viruses that do get spread and remain in the frozen foods. Viruses can survive up to two years at temperatures of -20C, directly affecting your Cold Chain.

There is one other microorganism that needs attention and most definitely spreads through the Cold Chain – Salmonella!

• Salmonella is part of a group of bacteria causing salmonellosis. Commonly found infecting frozen meats, it is also very prevalent in eggs.
• Salmonella contaminates frozen foods in the supply chain when there is a rise in the temperature during storage or transport.
• Warmer weather and unrefrigerated foods create ideal conditions for Salmonella to grow. Symptoms of Salmonella usually appear 6 hours to 6 days after consuming contaminated food – diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. 

The other microorganism that you need to be worried about which can cause problems for you in the supply chain is Norovirus.

• Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Food, drinks, and surfaces can become contaminated with Norovirus.
• Norovirus contaminates fresh produce, shellfish, ice, fruit, and ready-to-eat foods.
• Anybody can be sick from this virus but the illness can be really severe for young children and older adults.

The slightest rise in temperature can make your entire shipment suspect – you simply cannot afford that! You need to track your temperature every minute.

The Fleetview Control Tower covers your imperative, non-negotiable needs to manage your Cold Chain effectively:

• A control tower to alert you to possible vulnerable situations, with alarms and dashboards
• Monitor temperature minute-by-minute across your supply chain
• Complete incident management and response platform
• Full compliance and process audit trails

In today’s environment, you need to not only comply with FDA regulations, you need to demonstrate that you have done so!

An end-to-end visibility solution like FleetView gives you complete control over your Cold Chain – a tool that is indispensable for effective operations today.