This is a well-made video from Andrea Miller of CNBC. The video outlines the importance of the cold chain on the ability of consumers to purchase and eat frozen foods, and the challenge of managing products.
The purpose of a supply chain is to do one thing – enable growth. Mastering the supply chain is a must-have for companies.
There are a few companies in the video that I want to recognize:
Phononic Inc., led by co-founder and CEO Tony Atti, Ph.D., arguably provides the most advanced technology to revolutionize cooling and heating leveraging solid state chips that are smaller, quieter, sustainable, reliable, and more economical than any other cooling technology. I especially like Phononic’s e-commerce ecosystem whereby perishable and frozen products can be delivered to customers anywhere while protecting the integrity of the food being delivered. Watch the video located at this website to learn more.
Lineage Logistics, led by President and CEO Greg Lehmkuhl, has been in business since 1880, is one of the leading temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions providers worldwide. It has a global network of over 400 strategically located facilities totaling over 2 billion cubic feet of capacity which spans 20 countries across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Lineage was listed as No. 3 in the 2022 CNBC Disruptor 50 list, named a Deloitte US Best Managed Company in 2022, the No. 1 Data Science company, and 23rd overall, on Fast Company’s 2019 list of The World’s Most Innovative Companies, in addition to being included on Fortune’s Change the World list in 2020.
The importance of the cold chain is only going to increase as consumers increase their use of Buy Online, Pickup from Store to retrieve their groceries. Companies like Walmart, who want to increase e-commerce sales to be 30% of sales at their stores, are adding on average 60 additional pick-up spots to make it faster and easier for consumers to park and receive their groceries. Maintaining the cold chain is vital to ensure customers receive fresh fruits and vegetables and frozen products remain frozen.
I encourage all grocery retailers and Amazon to explore opportunities with Phononic to use their Next Gen refrigerated totes. Frankly, I’m surprised that Amazon hasn’t acquired Phononic. Amazon is at a disadvantage when it comes to delivering perishables and frozen products as Amazon doesn’t have many grocery stores. However, using a combination of micro-fulfillment centers powered by Instock.com (or other solutions) to automate the movement of totes within a facility, will provide Amazon with an option of opening MFCs closer to customers.
I also encourage retailers and logistics companies to explore supply chain and logistics software from Solvoyo and Kinaxis. Each company has created an end-to-end supply chain platform.
