India is the world’s largest producer of milk, the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables, and a significant producer of seafood, meat and poultry products. However, about one-third of the total food produced in the country is lost owing to the poor cold chain conditions.
India’s pharma industry, among the world’s largest manufacturers of generic drugs and vaccines, also depends on the cold supply chain network. An error in a cold chain can easily spoil a vaccine, which would then need to be discarded. COVID-19 further recognised India as one of the world’s major vaccine manufacturers. In a scenario like COVID, when vaccinating people to save lives was of utmost importance, problems in the cold chain process could have led to losses worth billions and countless human lives.
The big question
The country’s growth story raises an important question: Can India’s cold chain logistics infrastructure support its fast-growing industries?
Notably, the Indian cold chain logistics market was valued at $16 million in 2021 and is forecasted to reach $36 million by 2027. The booming market, however, needs a robust cold chain infrastructure, including temperature-controlled vehicles, storage, and packaging, among others.
To understand what we mean by an efficient cold chain infrastructure, let us first delve into what cold chain fleet management is. This generally is the movement of temperature-sensitive goods from one place to another within the required timeline. A successful cold chain requires a stable chain of refrigerated manufacturing, production, storage, packaging, tracking, transportation, management, and safe and secure delivery and distribution.
This entire process is cumbersome and heavily relies on technology in cold chain management for temperature maintenance, product efficiency, logistics, and delivery, among others.
CCC: Cold chain challenges
Despite being such a crucial aspect of the country’s economy, India’s cold chain faces several challenges, among the most important ones being establishing the kind of infrastructure required for effective integration at various stages of the chain.
Other problems include transportation, the unavailability of proper equipment, frequent power shortages, and a deficit of skilled staff.
Besides, India experiences an annual average temperature of 30°C, with even higher temperatures in summer. Adding to this, its geographical terrain and complexity and the compromising logistics infrastructure lead to most of the temperature-sensitive products in the country arriving damaged or degraded because of broken or insufficient cold chains.
Furthermore, equipment failure is another barrier causing losses in the cold chain. Trucks being complex electromagnetic machines, their breakdowns lead to risks in transporting temperature-sensitive cargo. Another important point is that of temperature fluctuations. Even small aspects, such as the frequent opening and closing of doors, can lead to exposure of goods to ambient temperatures, which may be higher than the temperatures required. Hence, real-time temperature monitoring is crucial for cold chain transport to ensure that the quality of products is maintained.
Poorly designed packaging can also lead to damaged goods, even if the goods are in a temperature-controlled environment. For this, aspects such as heat transmission from products through the package, carton, and pallet stack must be considered.
Besides, vehicle breakdowns due to untimely maintenance can be another huge problem when delivering temperature-sensitive packaged goods due to their low shelf lives.
Designing a robust cold chain infrastructure
To simply say that cold chain fleet management is important is underrated!
A few components that need to be developed include mobile infrastructure such as that reefer trucks and containers, freezer trucks and containers, carriers, and the right equipment and fleet. Additionally, power supply and infrastructure for power backup are needed in case of power outages or electricity fluctuations, which can cause the breakdown of powered cooling systems. Static infrastructure is another need, such as those at farm-gate, such as modern-pack houses with pre-coolers, bulk cold warehouses, and cold distribution hubs.
This apart, there is also a need to develop standards and protocols along with skilled human resources to avoid human errors. Managing cold chain logistics requires trained professionals who are well-versed in the processes and protocols and have practical experience operating cold storage and transportation equipment.
The unorganized and fragmented industry is another huge challenge. Notably, 92% of India’s cold chain facilities are reportedly owned and operated by the private sector. However, efforts are being made to develop the country’s cold chain industry. One such effort is that of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, which had started a scheme on cold chain, value addition, and preservation infrastructure.
The adoption of technology is topping the list when it comes to designing a robust cold chain infrastructure. Thankfully, the industry has begun recognising its importance in tackling cold chain challenges.
Technology at the helm
Cold chain is among the most promising industries in India’s growing economy, with investments in the country’s supply chain infrastructure likely to increase year-on-year. At the helm of it all is the adoption of technology in creating a robust cold chain infrastructure.
The Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, radio frequency identification (RFID), and a wide range of tech evolutions in logistics are here to make a mark on the cold chain industry. RFID tags can store an EPC for logistics management purposes and a limited number of temperature readings if equipped with the appropriate sensor and battery power. By implementing IoT solutions in the cold chain, companies can seamlessly connect to every step of the logistics process, can monitor and change temperature settings when necessary, can react to local climate change, product damage, unexpected delays, and even human error.
Furthermore, a popular feature nowadays is the constant tracking of reefer trucks through real-time truck GPS tracking systems and temperature data loggers to help with cold chain monitoring and enable solutions in case of long stalls or breakdowns. There are also IoT devices specially made for cold chain monitoring.
Sensor monitoring is another essential technology, wherein temperature sensors help monitor the constantly changing temperatures inside the trucks along with the humidity and moisture and they send alerts to managers in case the temperatures are not as per the requirement.
The door sensor is another; these send alerts about the constant opening and closing of doors inside a reefer truck, a small detail that can greatly impact the safe delivery of temperature-sensitive goods. Installing a fleet management system with a temperature sensor for cargo and door-opening sensors can help prevent cargo loss with temperature control alarm monitoring and completely eliminate the unauthorised opening of doors, besides helping avoid cargo theft.
Some other notable transportation technologies include autonomous vehicles and fleets, hyperloop, delivery through drones, Big Data, robotics technology, packaging innovation, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), among others.
In conclusion
Cold chain is the need of the hour, as it is time the economy curbs the huge losses of perishable foods and medicines that are borne and initiates a robust and efficient cold chain infrastructure. And undoubtedly, the future of the cold chain industry is marked by innovation and industry collaboration.
Indeed, the way forward for India’s complex cold chain infrastructure is a seamless one powered by innovation!