What you need to know about cold chain monitoring and how SpotSee ColdChain Complete can help
Key Takeaways
- Understanding why cold chain monitoring is important with international logistics.
- Knowing the challenges of international cold chain monitoring
- Seeing how SpotSee ColdChain Complete provides a comprehensive, effective solution to your cold chain needs.
Tightly controlling and maintaining temperatures in a supply chain can be the difference between profit and waste. Failure to keep products requiring cooler temperatures stable (cold chain) will compromise the safety and quality of the goods. Unless you monitor the cold chain, you will have no way of knowing you kept its integrity.
Cold chain monitoring is crucial to ensure goods that rely on stable temperatures, such as foods, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals, don’t get spoiled, especially when shipping internationally. By monitoring the cold chain, you can also:
- Reduce the chance of financial loss and waste from spoiled goods.
- Better comply with international, national, and regional standards from keeping and monitoring cool temperatures.
- Increase customer satisfaction because of fresh products from a well-kept cold chain.
Looking at the international challenges for cold chain monitoring
If you’re going to ship vital goods internationally, then having thorough cold chain monitoring is essential. However, you need to consider the following challenges:
- No universal standard for regulatory compliance exists
- Difficult in keeping consistent temperatures
- Language barriers
- Possible border and customer delays
- Infrastructure issues
- Safety and integrity issues
- Different data formats to share and manage data
- Financial burden on poorer countries
No universal standard for regulatory compliance
Navigating the diverse regulatory landscape across countries poses challenges in determining the optimal temperature thresholds for ensuring the safety of perishable goods. Each nation establishes its own set of standards regarding what constitutes safe cold temperatures. Reconciling these varied standards and interpreting them accurately becomes a complex task, particularly when comparing temperature requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Difficulty with keeping consistent temperatures
Keeping consistent temperatures for the goods along the international supply chain is difficult. Shippers must deal with differing regulations and varying climates—for example, shipping milk or frozen foods to hot climates. Another difficulty is multi-modal transport like going from air to rail.
Language Barriers
Communicating information, like temperature data, is imperative to cold chain management. The potential for miscommunication is high along the supply route, especially if you’re dealing with differing regulations in other countries.
Possible border and customs delays
Transporting goods across international borders adds additional complexity. Goods may be held up because of lengthy border checks or customs processes. These delays can affect the cold chain, compromising integrity.
Infrastructure problems
Some countries, especially in developing or poorer areas, might not have the infrastructure to properly maintain and monitor the cold chain. For example, transportation networks might be lacking or insufficient. Or, there may not be sufficient power supplies to maintain the refrigeration containers needed for the goods you’re transporting.
Safety, security, and integrity issues
When transporting goods into regions characterized by safety concerns or instability, the integrity of cold chain-dependent products may be jeopardized. Consider the following scenarios:
- In areas plagued by rampant theft, the unauthorized handling of goods and potential exposure to unfavorable environmental conditions pose a significant threat to the quality and viability of temperature-sensitive products, undermining their overall integrity and market value.
- Regions experiencing civil unrest or conflict may encounter disrupted supply chains, which can impede the timely delivery of goods and lead to breaches in the cold chain endangering product integrity.
- Unforeseen circumstances such as accidents, strikes, or political unrest can disrupt transportation routes and cause delays in the cold chain, posing a threat to the stability of temperature-sensitive goods. Failure of corrupt officials to adhere to prescribed temperature safety standards further exacerbates this risk, undermining the integrity of the cold chain where monitoring capabilities are compromised.
Challenges extend beyond operational hurdles to include
Divergent data formats across different countries impede the seamless collection and real-time sharing of critical information vital for cold chain monitoring.
Economic constraints in developing or impoverished nations hinder the establishment and maintenance of robust cold chain monitoring systems, exacerbating the vulnerability of perishable goods to temperature deviations.
Addressing these multifaceted challenges requires a comprehensive approach encompassing strategic planning, technological innovation, and collaborative efforts across stakeholders to uphold the integrity of the cold chain and ensure the safe transport of temperature-sensitive commodities.
SpotSee ColdChain Complete answers these challenges
With these challenges, how can you be sure that you’re effectively monitoring the cold chain? The SpotSee ColdChain Complete will provide a comprehensive solution to these cold chain monitoring challenges with international logistics.
ColdChain Complete is a single-use visual indicator to help you monitor cold and hot temperatures by giving accurate and definitive evidence for both instances. The following shows you ColdChain Complete’s key features and benefits.
ColdChain Complete key features/benefits
- Helps protect cold chain packaging from unexpected changes during transit.
- Gives hard evidence if the goods were exposed to unacceptable temperature conditions.
- Uses time over temperature monitoring to validate your cold chain and ensure product efficacy.
- Has upper and lower temperature thresholds for temperature-sensitive products.
- Simple visual indicator, so there’s no need for software or any other technology to view temperature excursions.
- No arming method for freeze indicators.
- Simple arming method for warm indicators by just pulling the tab.
- Simple mounting method enables placement near the product.
- Has two visual indicator sizes: Standard and XS (compact size).
Also, interpreting temperature excursions for SpotSee ColdChain Complete is easy. Here’s how:
Interpreting Freeze Indicator
The freeze indicator on the ColdChain Complete has two dot indicators. The larger dot changes color to show whether the goods you’re transporting fall below the acceptable temperature threshold. The smaller dot stays the same color (red) because it’s a reference point. The more the temperature falls below the threshold, the darker red the larger dot gets.
Compare this dot with the reference dot to see how far below the temperature the goods are from the acceptable threshold.
If the large dot is light magenta or lighter, there was a brief exposure to temperature below the acceptable threshold.
The freeze indicator activates when the temperature falls below) the threshold for the unit.
Interpreting Warm Indicator
After pulling the tab on the ColdChain Complete, the indicator window will turn red if the temperature goes above the acceptable threshold.
The warm indicator activates when temperatures exceed) the unit’s threshold.
Addressing global regulation needs
Since global regulations and compliance vary for cold chain logistics, the SpotSee ColdChain Complete monitors a wide range of temperatures to cover most situations. Depending on your needs, the ColdChain Complete line can cover temperatures from 0° to 25°C (32°F 77°F).
ColdChain Complete Best Practices
Here are a few tips to help you best use the SpotSee ColdChain Complete.
ColdChain Complete XS
For tracking goods in more confined spaces requiring a cost-effective solution, go with the ColdChain Complete XS. This is a compact version of ColdChain Complete. There’s also self-adhesive backing, so you can easily mount it. Also, try to place the ColdChain Complete XS as close to the goods you’re shipping as possible. If you’re using the warm indicator, place the ColdChain Complete XS in the shipping environment at least 5°C (9°F) below its warm threshold temperature.
Standard ColdChain Complete
If you have larger spaces to ship goods, go with the standard ColdChain Complete. Try to place the ColdChain Complete XS as close as possible to the goods you’re shipping. You can even stick the ColdChain Complete in a shipping box. If you’re using the warm indicator, place the ColdChain Complete in the shipping environment at least 5°C (9°F) below its warm threshold temperature.
Use Spotsee’s ColdChain Complete as the solution for your cold chain monitoring
Understanding the challenges inherent in international logistics, particularly within cold chain management, is paramount. SpotSee ColdChain Complete—is a comprehensive solution designed to address these concerns. With its capacity to work within a wide temperature range and intuitive visual indicators, this cutting-edge tool requires no intricate technology to operate effectively. It ensures the utmost integrity of goods throughout their journey to their destination.
