In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) deals with a system of procurement, operations management, logistics and marketing channels, through which raw materials can be developed into finished products and delivered to their end customers. A more narrow definition of supply chain management is the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronising supply with demand and measuring performance globally". This can include the movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, finished goods, and end to end order fulfilment from the point of origin to the point of consumption. Interconnected, interrelated or interlinked networks, channels and node businesses combine in the provision of products and services required by end customers in a supply chain.
Logistics is a part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logistics management is a component that holds the supply chain together. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items.
A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, towns, or villages.
Cross-docking is a logistical practice of Just-In-Time Scheduling where materials are delivered directly from a manufacturer or a mode of transportation to a customer or another mode of transportation. Cross-docking often aims to minimise overheads related to storing goods between shipments or while awaiting a customer's order. This may be done to change the type of conveyance, to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins into transport vehicles with the same or similar destinations.
Cold chain is defined as the series of actions and equipment applied to maintain a product within a specified low-temperature range from harvest/production to consumption. An unbroken cold chain is an uninterrupted sequence of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities, along with associated equipment and logistics, which maintain a desired low-temperature interval to keep the safety and quality of perishable or sensitive products, such as foods and medicines. In other words, the term denotes a low temperature-controlled supply chain network used to ensure and extend the shelf life of products, e.g. fresh agricultural produce, seafood, frozen food, photographic film, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products. Such products, during transport and end-use when in transient storage, are sometimes called cool cargo. Unlike other goods or merchandise, cold chain goods are perishable and always en-route towards end use or destination, even when held temporarily in cold stores and hence commonly referred to as "cargo" during its entire logistics cycle. Adequate cold storage, in particular, can be crucial to prevent quantitative and qualitative food losses.
VersaCold is Canada’s largest supply chain company focused exclusively on the handling of temperature sensitive products.
Retailing in India is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for about 10 percent of its GDP. The Indian retail market is estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion as of 2022. India is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world, with 1.4 billion people.
Total Logistic Control is a supply chain company started around 1902 by George K. Taylor. The company began as a regional distributor of frozen products known as Taylor Cold Storage. They operated frozen warehouse operations for other regional food companies in Great Lakes region. Around 1930, they merged with Wisconsin Cold Storage. In 1958, Taylor became the first public refrigerated warehouse to offer consolidated LTL distribution to its customers. In the 1960s, their total freezer capacity hit 10,000,000 cu ft (280,000 m3). Taylor introduced TINMAN, the Total INformation MANagement system, in 1976, becoming the first firm in the industry to offer on-line inventory management.
Codeworks, LLC is a privately held U.S. software company that specializes in warehouse management systems and transportation management system software for the third-party logistics industry.
The International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR), is an independent intergovernmental science and technology-based organization which promotes knowledge of refrigeration and associated technologies and applications on a global scale that improve quality of life in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner, including:
Third-party logistics is an organization's long term commitment of outsourcing its distribution services to third-party logistics businesses.
Urban freight distribution is the system and process by which goods are collected, transported, and distributed within urban environments. The urban freight system can include seaports, airports, manufacturing facilities, and warehouse/distribution centers that are connected by a network of railroads, rail yards, pipelines, highways, and roadways that enable goods to get to their destinations.
The National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD) is an autonomous think tank body established by the Government of India with an agenda to positively impact and promote the development of the cold-chain sector in the country. NCCD was registered under the Society Registration Act, 1860 and given sanction by the Union Cabinet of India on 9 February 2012 in a session chaired by the country's Prime Minister.
Pawanexh Kohli is the founding Chief Executive of India's National Centre for Cold-chain Development (NCCD), the premier think-tank in agri-logistics set up in public-private-partnership mode in 2012, and from 2012 to 2020 was the Chief Advisor to Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.
Flagler Global Logistics is a Coral Gables, Florida-based company that offers integrated third-party logistics, supply chain management solutions, and is the state's largest developer of industrial real estate.
Congebec Logistics is a Quebec City, Quebec based company that provides cold and multi-temperature storage, warehousing and distribution services. It is the second largest refrigerated logistics services provider in Canada. Congebec is considered the 11th largest refrigerated storage company in North America and 18th largest in the world by the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW).
Americold Realty Trust, Inc. is an American temperature controlled warehousing and transportation company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is in the business of modern commercialized temperature controlled warehousing for the storage of perishable goods, one of the forms of food preservation. Americold is the largest largest temperature-controlled warehousing and distribution services provider in the world.
Kenco Group, or Kenco, is a privately held Chattanooga, TN-based company that provides logistics services. Kenco specializes in distribution and fulfillment, transportation management, material handling services, and warehouse real estate management. The company is known for being the largest woman-owned third party logistics company in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
2800 Polar Way is a cold storage facility located in Richland, Washington, United States, where it dominates the northern landscape. It is both the largest refrigerated warehouse and the largest automated freezer on Earth. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler (HFF) financed the build-to-suit refrigerated warehouse for tenant Preferred Freezer Services. The project broke ground on May 12, 2014, and opened in late July 2015.
Lineage Logistics is an international warehousing and logistics management company and an industrial real estate investment trust (REIT) owned by Bay Grove, LLC. Entering international markets in 2017, it grew into the world's largest refrigerated warehousing company, acquiring, by 2021, 72 other cold-chain storage companies and handling more than eight percent of the global food supply. Lineage operates over 350 facilities with over 17,000 employees in 15 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
