How the Global Cold Chain Impacts Local Foods

For many of us, eating fresh means consuming more locally produced foods. Ever wondered what happens to those foods once they leave the farm? Do you care about how they are preserved and transported? 

Food distribution is always an important topic of conversation when looking at how supply chains work and how the population gets fed. In today's world, most food goes through the supply chain in some form or fashion. Unless you are someone who grows all of your own food, you will be interfacing with a food distribution company. This is why we wanted to look at what Interstate Cold Storage does day-to-day. 

Truck turnaround rate, or average wait time, is a reflection of a company’s loading and unloading efficiency. Keeping the drivers moving should be a key performance indicator (KPI) of any 3PL cold storage company.

Interstate Cold Storage (ICS), a leader in frozen warehousing, shipping, and distribution, announces the appointment of John Jacobs to the position of warehouse manager at its Fort Wayne West facility.  

Interstate Cold Storage understands that food safety is a major concern in today’s supply chain and it’s something we take very seriously. Our facilities are monitored with an IP-based surveillance system and can be accessed by authorized staff from anywhere in the world. All Interstate warehouse locations are also monitored by a third-party agency for burglary, temperature sustainment, ammonia, and fire.

ICS location spotlight: Fort Wayne East. As a premier cold storage warehousing company with 22 million cubic feet of refrigerated space, Interstate Cold Storage has been a leader in storing and distributing food items throughout the Midwest. We specialize in storing perishable food items at our facilities that eventually go to your local grocery store. As a family-owned business, we recognize our success and continued growth are due to our commitment to both our customers and our employees.

In the fourth of our multipart series, we will continue discussing the impacts of the pandemic from a 3PL cold storage company’s vantage point. In this post, we will be covering post-pandemic suggestions and strategies for the limited labor supply.      

Warehouses have traditionally supported the carrier market by taking in loads for short-term storage (due to a missed inbound appointment elsewhere), restacking shifted loads, and cross-docking products where a driver is running out of hours and another driver will complete the route. However, these services became more challenging to perform in recent years.

Whenever the movement of temperature-sensitive products takes place from warehouse to warehouse or warehouse to retailer, several elements along the chain must be perfectly dialed in to reduce the odds of lost product. Handling different items can be tricky, as certain products must remain cold but not freeze, while others may have to stay precisely around freezing.

In the third of our multipart series, we will continue discussing the impacts of the pandemic from a 3PL cold storage company’s vantage point. In this post, we will be covering the pandemic and safety changes in the 3PL cold storage industry.