Sensors for Cold Storage Management in Manufacturing

Proper storage of products within the food and beverage industry is paramount in keeping customers and the public at large safe and healthy. It’s also critical to ensuring that manufacturers minimize loss and spoilage and reduce overall costs throughout the production process.

Sensor technology has continued to develop in sophistication and drop in overall price, making it an excellent addition to a food and beverage manufacturer’s arsenal of tools to accurately map cold storage areas and keep their products within safe and optimum ranges.

What Is Cold Storage Management?

Cold storage management can be a complex process as food and beverage manufacturers will want to ensure that products stay within the optimal temperature range while also managing the movement of products, the comfort of employees, and the change in temperature and humidity depending on location and surrounding equipment.

For example, the temperature and humidity will vary from the back corners of a space to the center area. The space near the cooling fans and other such equipment may see the coldest temperatures while the areas near the doors will be warmer.

The differences in refrigerator and freezer temperatures can add an even greater range to cold storage mapping.

Determining where and how long products can stay within particular areas is the key to a successful cold storage management program.

Reasons for Mapping Storage Temperatures

Although the main reason for accurately mapping cold storage temperatures revolves around preserving the safety and quality of food, beverage, and even medical or other temperature-sensitive products, there are other important purposes as well.

By ensuring that food and beverage products stay within the optimal temperature ranges from the moment of harvest throughout the production and distribution channels to the customer’s shopping cart, manufacturers can preserve the nutritional benefits, appearance, and safety of the items. In addition, food waste and environmental ramifications can also be minimized. 

Benefits of Cold Storage Management

Food and beverage manufacturers that establish a successful cold storage management program will reap many long-term benefits. Here are some main advantages:

• Consumer Safety. Perhaps the most important reason for good cold storage management is the safety of consumers. Food and beverages stored at inappropriate temperatures can foster microbial growth, lead to illness, and result in massive recalls.

• High-Quality. Today’s consumers expect the highest quality of food and beverages to be available in grocery stores, practically year-round. A manufacturer that can deliver high-quality products on a consistent basis will build a level of trust within its consumer base.

• Energy Efficiency. A great deal of energy can be used to ensure that food and beverages remain within the optimal storage ranges. By managing and mapping cold storage well, a manufacturer can reduce its overall energy consumption while still reaping the benefits of cold storage mapping.

• Environmentally Sound. Along the same lines, if better cold storage management reduces the amount of energy used, this translates to a more sustainable use of fuels and better management of carbon dioxide emissions. 

• Improved Productivity. Those food and beverage manufacturers that choose to incorporate sensor technology can significantly reduce preventive maintenance activities. Since sensors are essentially keeping a continuous eye on freezer and refrigerator temperatures, these no longer require manual inspections.

• Immediate Notification. Since sensors can be programmed to send an alert as soon as temperatures drop outside the acceptable range, management can be notified immediately of problems. This eliminates the concern of how long products were stored outside the proper temperature range.

• Brand Reputation. Food and beverage manufacturers that initiate recalls often lose a certain level of trust within the public, which can affect their long-term brand management. By ensuring you have a quality cold storage management program in place, you can be known as a trusted provider of safe and high-quality food and beverages.

How Sensors Are Used for Temperature Mapping

Today’s Internet of Things technology and wireless sensors make temperature mapping relatively easy to implement. Food and beverage manufacturers can purchase secure, battery-powered wireless sensors that are ready to be installed right out of the box. Signals from these sensors can then be sent through a gateway that securely transmits this information to the cloud. This information can then be communicated through a web-based dashboard where a facility manager can manage and monitor sensor data, set alerts, and initiate work orders.

The biggest challenge in using sensors to manage cold storage management is to find ways for the technology to differentiate between daily events that don’t affect product quality and safety, such as opening doors or an automatic defrost system, and those that do.

For example, once reliable sensors are selected and installed properly, a manufacturer may want to access pre-processing information such as the temperature of the actual product. The overall monitoring system may include not only acceptable ranges but how to specifically determine when anomalies need to be addressed in terms of number of events and severity.

Use Cases

Although food and beverage manufacturers require cold storage management and can benefit from sensor technology, other industries such as chemical and pharmaceutical companies face similar challenges. Here are some common use cases for cold storage management and sensor technology.

• Point of Harvest. As soon as farmers or other food growers harvest their crops, they need to move these products into either temporary storage or shipment containers as soon as possible. Cold storage processes may differ depending on whether the food will be sold fresh or processed for longer-term storage.

• Food and Beverage Manufacturers. For companies who process food by canning, freezing, or building ready-to-eat products, they need to ensure that all their raw ingredients stay at the optimal temperatures before they’re used in final products. Finished products also need to remain at ideal temperatures during storage, shipment, and distribution.

• Restaurants. Establishments that prepare meals for dine-in and take-out customers will need to store raw ingredients in freezers or refrigerators. Relying on sensor technology can help restaurants ensure that food doesn't spoil before final preparation and sale. 

• Grocery Stores. Similar to restaurants, grocery stores are responsible for keeping products safe and fresh in that last mile before reaching the customer’s homes. Ensuring that coolers and freezers are always in good working order will help guarantee that quality and safety.

Consequences of Poor Temperature Management

Food and beverage manufacturers and businesses may rely on more periodic maintenance inspections of refrigeration and freezer systems. Although this may catch some problems, this approach may also result in significant issues should food and beverage spoilage occur. Here are some common consequences of poor temperature management.

• Consumer Illness. If food spoilage occurs, and health officials trace an outbreak of illness to a specific food or beverage, this can trigger recalls and negative publicity for manufacturers.

• Food Recalls. We’ve all heard the massive food recalls that occasionally occur when contamination has been found. According to a study by the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the average cost of a food recall is $10M in direct costs alone.

• Public Distrust. Competition is fierce in the food and beverage industry, and if the public fails to trust that your organization is providing safe and high-quality products, it’s easy to lose market share.

• Rising Costs. The costs of poor temperature management can be varied and high, including inspections and maintenance, food losses and spoilage, regulatory fines and fees, and reputation management.

Conclusion

Investing in sensor technology can be a smart decision for food and beverage manufacturers who must keep raw ingredients as well as finished products within a tight temperature tolerance to ensure safety and freshness.

These tools, which can be easily implemented and programmed to send automatic alerts when problems arise, can serve as a round-the-clock set of electronic eyes on your most important equipment. As a result, you can address issues before they become major problems as well as reduce or even eliminate things like food recalls and related health and safety issues.