Chris Vallis, founding partner of effecterra, says natural refrigerants are future-proof.
Meeting Needs
According to Charles Betts, national sales manager at Interstate Cold Storage, in Fort Wayne, Ind., a lack of sufficient cold storage in the market at the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth made things tough for vulnerable companies.
“Smaller customers are feeling the squeeze of labor issues, as cold storages are performing less case picking, less repacking, and rather focusing on streamlining the business to operate full with efficient door turn times,” says Betts.
Automation is expanding to meet the labor issue, both in terms of finding and developing workers, he notes, but even as cold-chain operations deal with that, they have to cope with rising electrical rates. Interstate Cold Storage is investing to improve efficiencies, upgrading the company’s ammonia system, evaporators and exterior siding to create the best possible seal at consistent temperatures.
Monitoring continues to be a critical function that Interstate Cold Storage has kept abreast of, notes Betts. “Both in-house and third-party monitoring were robust prior to the pandemic, including hi-def cameras, temp monitoring and engine room compression,” he observes.
At the same time, the marketplace, as it develops, has new needs it wants help addressing. “There has been a steady uptick in [business-to-consumer] fulfillment, but there are few facilities designed to efficiently pack and ship,” says Betts.
Meanwhile, Shannon Welch, managing partner at Jurupa Valley, Calif.-based West Coast Cold Storage, notes that the company assumes a specific place in the market.
“Our perspective is a little unique,” explains Welch. “There are several major cold-storage corporations that own most of the cold storage in the U.S. But like all major companies to work with them, you have to fit into their business model. We see cold chain evolving to help the mid-market companies that need higher levels of customer service, and maybe won’t meet the minimum financial requirements of those bigger corporations: the companies that are too big to do everything in house, but not so large that they have the financial and logistic resources required to work with the major cold-chain companies.”
The inland California location of West Coast Cold Storage means that it has a particular acquaintance with the produce industry, and Welch says that the influence of trends in that sector is affecting the cold chain and operators within it.
“The desire from the market to not move produce so far from where it has grown requires the ability to store that produce close to where it was grown,” she observes. “This requires more specialty cold-storage solutions, but smaller, for those resources.”
Power is of particular concern to West Coast Cold Storage. “This is always a challenge, especially in California with a struggling power grid,” says Welch. “One of the big investments we made was in thicker insulation panels.”
Less Energy Consumption
On the consumer-facing side, Cooler Management works with clients to install and oversee storage equipment, including branded cold fixtures. Cold-storage functionality in store settings requires consideration of energy efficiency, sustainability and aesthetics, according to Mark Inkrott, managing partner at Columbus, Ohio-based Cooler Management.
“The cold chain is certainly evolving to encompass more innovative equipment designs and technology, with an emphasis on reducing energy consumption,” says Inkrott. “Consumers drive demand, and they want sustainably produced products, which means following food and beverages throughout the supply chain is part of the narrative. Equipment today is more efficient than ever, and that is important to consumers. We are seeing cold-storage solutions that not only look beautiful aesthetically, but they also efficiently maintain temperatures, and engage shoppers at the point of sale with digital and branded creative. Additionally, retail real estate is more of a premium than ever; thus, we have seen an evolution with smaller footprints. Equipment that can easily be moved around a store has become popular with many new brands we are working with.”
Cooler Management has to face issues that correspond with those in the larger marketplace, including supply chain disruptions and finding qualified labor, especially from tradespeople such as plumbers and electricians.
“The biggest challenge we have seen in the past few years has been a lack of skilled labor in the field, coupled with long lead times on equipment,” notes Inkrott. “We are fortunate to work with great vendors; however, many times when a specialty skill is needed, we are scouring the entire country for installers, electricians, plumbers and other trades for things like walk-in coolers. To address these challenges, retailers and brands are looking to Cooler Management to manage these processes for them. We’ve worked hard over the years to streamline these processes and develop the necessary relationships for our customers, while putting an operations team in place to complete these tasks on our customers’ behalf.”
At the same time, he says, the market has prompted equipment manufacturers to innovate with clean energy and sustainable materials.
“As the ag and food industries implement carbon-reducing initiatives, the rest of the supply chain will need to evolve and develop equipment standards that match those initiatives,” observes Inkrott. “We are not only working with vendors who are creating technological advances in store equipment, but the industry is continuing to advance our knowledge centered around creating environments that ensure equipment runs with the lowest possible energy footprint.”