Cold chain market is growing rapidly with continuous technological advancements to increase the longevity and preservation of perishable goods and raw materials. The surge in demand and sales require industries to take quantitative measures to improve the productivity of their business. Adequate and efficient cold chain infrastructure from farm gate to consumers is required to detect the huge losses in the supply chain of perishables.
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) 4.0 in the cold chain is crucial to maintain a level of temperature in the equipment and monitor real time maintenance of the storage units to cut down on overhead costs. The cold storage units contain heavy machinery and perishable goods such as food, medicinal drugs which can deteriorate if the quality of goods is not preserved efficiently. Thus it is essential for cold chain industries to streamline their services in order to meet the industrial demand.
Challenges in cold storage:
- Periodic power supply: Cold storages require balanced power supply to maintain ideal temperature across various storage units. With the rapid rise in industrialization, consumption of energy has doubled up due to which there is wastage in power supply and impact on the operational flexibility of temperature controlled warehouses.
- Skilled labour: Cold chain industries are lagging because of limited availability of trained/skilled manpower due to which there is a negative impact in meeting the changing market.
- Handling of perishable goods: The quality of the goods in the warehouses can deteriorate if the proper temperature is not maintained for sensitive products such as medicinal drugs. It results in loss of resources- not only wasted energy consumption as well as loss of product, making it unusable.
- Supply chain management: Proper cold chain management is critical to maintaining the quality and safety of foods and medicinal drugs as it prevents microbiological combination by taking quality temperature measurements and keeping accurate temperature records. In order to maintain the quality and cut down on energy consumption, industries are burdened with overhead costs.
- Lack of resources: Cold chain industries in India have limited availability of modern and equipped resources to maintain the standards of refrigeration and temperature controlled systems that would help them in increasing their efficiency. Many cold storage facilities are following old technologies based on conventional energy processes resulting in poor shelf life and poor quality of perishable commodities.
- Machine monitoring: Cold storage units consist of heavy machinery and motors/HVAC which consume a lot of energy. There is no traceability on the touch points where energy can be consumed and where the demand is.
Why IIoT in cold storage?
The production cycle involved in maintaining the standards of goods and services in the cold chain units is a lengthy process. Maintenance of highly integrated equipment, labour management, power consumption and reduction in overall costs with real time accurate data analytics is possible through IIoT solutions. In the emerging market era, there is an increasing need for maintaining better consumer supplier relationships and meeting the growing market demand. IIoT platforms can help bridge the gap to help cold chain industries grow fivefold and optimize performance.
Benefits of IIoT in cold storage:
- Real time data analytics: Monitoring each equipment across various remote locations and for each specific product is a time consuming process. Perishable goods need to be monitored timely to avoid increased operational costs. Our IIoT services can help with accurate records, data logging and providing real time machinery updates to detect errors in a timely manner.
- Improvised energy efficiency: Managing power consumption in warehouses is a concern due to large industrial areas, heavy technological equipment and highly integrated HVAC controls. Our IIoT services can help measure temperature parameters at different zones, provide round the clock monitoring and track refrigerated cargo containers.
- Faults/glitches management: Tracing each device, containers and machinery would require well equipped solutions to detect timely errors and avoid excess operational cost. Industrial equipment in cold chains cost tons and timely managing all data with instant alerts and notification would increase efficiency and cut down on costs. Our IIoT services can help to enable smart energy meter solutions at different levels of escalations and identify major/minor issues by setting alert systems.
At Melody Innovations, we believe “Not One Size Fits All” industries. With proper monitoring of real-time data, it can immediately boost productivity simply because it helps the team stay accountable and ensure that any problems are addressed quickly. Furthermore, by connecting your equipment, we can continuously drive value with other uses – whether it is supporting maintenance, quality, planning or any other segment of operation.
We thrive to understand your specific business goals and needs of your consumers. Our customized IIoT services are aligned with your business needs and provide tangible benefits by tailoring it with your same brand value.
Contact us to know more about IIoT solutions.