Running on Ice: Georgia expanding cold storage capacity

Temperature checks

Big things are coming to the retail grocery industry. Warehouse automation provider stow Robotics has formed an alliance with Phononic, a solid-state cooling tech provider. This alliance gives the power back to the grocery retailers to get automated solutions for some of the more common problems plaguing grocery fulfillment centers. The best part of this is that Phononic’s solid-state cooling uses a safe and sustainable refrigerant. According to a Progressive Grocer article, Phononic’s method behind the solid-state cooling tech produces the safest and lowest global-warming potential in the industry. 

As labor issues continue to be front and center this year, the ability to do more with the resources you have means that more and more automation will be crucial to warehousing and fulfillment operations running efficiently.

Brian Keiger, director of business development and marketing at stow Robotics, said, “We have a unique technology that fits nicely in the gap between other automation solutions in the market for customers at a specific point in their journey, and our strict adherence to standard components and modular deployments allows our innovative e.Scala solution to be installed and commissioned quickly, resulting in an accelerated return on investment.”

Food and drugs

Amazon is in the news again. This time it’s with Amazon Fresh. Amazon’s take on grocery stores has temporarily been paused until it gets the right plan for moving forward. This division of Amazon has been a little less than profitable. The all-in approach didn’t pan out as it previously abandoned the Amazon bookstores to focus on groceries.    

Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, said, “Retail is a tough business. They are flushing money down a toilet pursuing Amazon Fresh stores” and thinking “they can brand a new concept and capture share from retailers who have been successful for decades.”

The future of grocery isn’t just a box store anymore. The rise of grocery delivery, online ordering and consumer preferences has changed the grocery store landscape as we know it. 

Cold chain lanes

The northern half of the country may be used to cold weather, but Dallas is not one of those places. The beginning of the week brought the mother of all ice storms to Dallas, essentially shutting down the city and freight for a few days. As a result, outbound tender rejections have risen nearly 2% week over week and show no sign of stopping. Some carriers might have found themselves trapped with the sudden ice storm, whereas others have just chosen to avoid it altogether. Rates will be a little unpredictable in this market as it corrects from missing the first half of the week. Outbound tender rejections are likely to fall in the beginning of next week as the market corrects.

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Shelf life

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OK with the change in management? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@www.freightwaves.com.

See you on the internet.

Mary

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