At the beginning of June 2022, all the major players in industrial logistics gathered in Stuttgart in Germany for a three-day trade fair. At the heart of the discussions: warehouse robotics.
How can cold logistics meet these expectations and keep up with developments in the sector? How can it reconcile performance, productivity, technology and support for customers?
From storage to the organisation of the transportation of temperature-sensitive goods, automation can come into play at several stages depending on the customer’s business model.
Automating cold logistics processes in the warehouse remains a complex matter. Workforce and productivity, energy footprint and environmental concerns, sustainability of the system are just some of the factors that could be arguments in favour of using robots, shuttle systems, artificial intelligence and smart facilitating solutions.
Inventory shrinkage and profitability:
Implementing an automated picking system based on the goods-to-person principle can considerably reduce human error and its consequences: damage caused by incorrect use of forklift trucks or haphazard control of the cold chain. Using an automated solution can therefore minimise shrinkage and optimise warehouse cost-effectiveness.
Working in a cold chamber at -26°C can be off-putting when it comes to recruiting qualified, long-term committed staff. A hostile work environment of this kind requires specially adapted working practices: 90 minutes of work followed by 30-minute breaks, which necessarily has an impact on productivity (work rate management) and profitability.
At the same time, human intervention is often justified and preferred in ambient goods reception and shipping areas.
Automating a warehouse can double productivity as well as significantly improving organisational processes.
And are there systems that can facilitate cold logistics in the goods transit phase? Are there more efficient and flexible alternatives to the classic refrigerated lorry ?
Today the insulated container remains the most competitive alternative. This easy-to-use, flexible solution is widely recognised as ideal by food distribution operators. Whether they distribute chilled or frozen goods.
Today there are two innovative, patented solutions on the market: SIBER SYSTEM and MiniCryo/SnowDrop.
Each is suited to a specific mode of distribution, warehouse distribution for one, last mile deliveries for the other. In both cases the technology is based on passive cooling using dry ice snow.
This form of automated cold logistics rests on a simple principle: cold on demand. This no waste system is characterised by cooling calibrated to the temperature to be maintained for a specific length of time. Just the right amount of cooling is injected to achieve optimum cost-effectiveness: only the cooling actually needed and consumed is injected, no more, no less. Cost-effectiveness is boosted by two factors: optimisation of the volume to be cooled for transport + flexibility in the management of volumes and types of goods to be transported.
Choosing an insulated solution and automation means acquiring a genuinely productivity-generating tool. With injection times varying between 15 and 60 seconds, this technology allows you to maintain a high level of efficiency in your order handling. Cold source supply, management of insulation technologies, injection, verification, loading: all these different steps can be automated to fit in with the customer’s infrastructure and organisation.
No need to plan the management of your cold sources: no preparation, no loading or unloading, and therefore less handling and a less labour-intensive system of managing cooling.
In addition, the wide variety of insulated containers available allows for flexibility in your mobility choices: cargo bike, car, delivery van or lorry, there’s an ideal solution for every type of transport.
Preserving and storing perishable foodstuffs is one thing, transporting them is another and requires increased vigilance. Because any break in the cold chain can have dramatic consequences.
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