The demand for refrigerated food distribution has changed dramatically over the past several years, in turn adding the complexities of shelf-life, perishability and refrigeration requirements to the logistics of food transportation. With industry sources reporting record high rates for the refrigerated trucking market, as referenced recently by Food Logistics, carriers are looking to capitalize on the strong demand and tight capacity for refrigerated trucks. Many carriers employ the use of multi-temperature trailers to meet the needs of customers and ensure product integrity.

Growing demand for perishable foods is combined with increased safety regulations for maintaining temperature control, making it more important than ever for carriers to both maximize the use of multi-temperature compartments and plan routes efficiently. In the past several years, new regulations have been put into place for both temperature requirements and providing documentation. Supply chain optimization and transparency is essential to work with the highly complex challenge of limited capacity, multiple temperature requirements and strict regulations.

Dot Transportation Inc. (DTI), the logistics affiliate of the largest food redistributor in North America, Dot Foods, delivers less than truckload (LTL) quantities to numerous customers who require smaller, multi-temperature shipments. Maintaining temperature integrity requires accurate trailer configurations. DTI chose to use DELMIA Quintiq to optimize planning of nearly 100 different trailer configurations and also to create, efficient, optimized routes. DELMIA Quintiq provides a 100%-fit solution to all of its customers’ unique planning challenges, taking into account KPIs, constraints and disruption response. Particularly in the food logistics industry, organizations must be prepared for changing demands and strict regulations and ensure they are making use of technologies that keep them competitive.