do you have tools built for the cold chain?

3 Ways You Can Protect the Cold Chain from Overstocks

Oct 20, 2022

When managing multiple perishable SKUs, cold storage management becomes crucial to avoid spoilage and recalls. However, due to sudden demands and shortages, businesses have also had to prevent overstocking from impacting profits. Last year, consumer demands across industries were so high businesses bought as much inventory as possible, which led to overstocks once demands slowed. Industries such as the cold chain suffer from these rapid shifts in consumer expectations since having too many perishable products can lead to challenges such as:

 

 

  • Contamination
  • Incomplete inventory visibility
  • Improper asset management
  • Damaged goods during delivery

Studies show that about 30-40% of the US food supply gets discarded and we waste about 1.4 billion tons of food every year globally. Additionally, the global food industry estimates that about $750 billion of supply chain revenue is lost due to improper facilities, handling procedures, and personnel training in the cold chain. Improper handling procedures and facilities reduce quality, slow delivery timelines, and ultimately lead to unhappy customers. To reduce food waste and enhance revenue, experts encourage food distributors expand cold chain visibility with solutions that:

  1. Come equipped with specific features built for the cold chain - Up to 30% of perishable and high-value goods don’t arrive as intended, which makes protecting the cold chain from improper management more important. Superior cold chain management solutions transport goods across great distances and through diverse climates to ensure freshness and eliminate spoilage. Features like simplified track and trace reduce spoilage and increase quality. When you know more about your assets and can control costs, it protects operations from supply chain challenges like overstocking.
  2. Ensure dependable performance with tougher designs - Built-in, tougher features like IP66 sealing, true frost, and integrated heaters help protect against extreme cold chain conditions. Purpose-built hardware technology solutions help workers maintain productivity when traveling between warm and cold environments. Heartland has expert solutions specifically designed to help you meet regulatory requirements, document chain of custody, satisfy customers, and keep costs down.
  3. Boost accuracy with enhanced data capture and expanded scanning range - When your cold chain workers get reliable data capture, it empowers real-time visibility. Heartland’s barcode solutions empower complete cold chain visibility with expanded read ranges and faster capture of 1D and 2D barcodes.

Improper management and stocking in the cold chain can lead to incomplete visibility and asset contamination. To learn more about how you can protect your cold chain from other supply chain challenges, contact Heartland for a careful assessment of your own workflows