Cold-Chain Management for Safety, Profitability, or Both?

Nov. 10, 2014

It’s been an interesting year for CLS, closely approaching our one year anniversary and dozens of great projects completed. That said, there is one we are still struggling to fully comprehend: Cold-Chain Management.

We've been working with the industry’s largest OEMs and some of the nation’s largest refrigerated fleets to try and find the ideal balance between optimal control (AKA: expensive as hell) vs. return on investment. The truth is, our research shows varying degrees of opportunity to improve food safety from farm to fork. When CLS constructed the value-chain for the typical food distributor we found that a significant amount of the risk happens after the food leaves the truck, at the customer’s location. We are working towards the ability to have a truly integrated end-to-end cold-chain program. The struggle is not the availability of technology but who is going to pay for it. We believe the opportunity for a major shift in this technology category exists.  

The way I see it is, who ultimately wants this information of food temperatures while in transit and storage... It’s the consumer. CLS is working toward a foodLabs program that will allow the typical restaurant patron to track the food they are buying before they eat it. Imagine if when you walked into the new steakhouse up the street that each item on the menu had a QR code (or an even cooler NFC tag) that you could scan and get information about the food you’re eating, along with when it was produced, when it was transported, at what temperatures it was kept, along with the typical nutrition information that we both love and hate to see. We call it "My Food Chain,” and we believe it will change the way America thinks about food safety. The costs in this model shift from hardware and subscriptions to Big Data, meaning, what can the information be used for? Advertising, health insurance, marketing... anything.  

The concept is new, but we believe the value is highest for those who ultimately benefit the most. YOU.

Stay tuned for more news on "My Food Chain.”

About the Author

Christian Schenk 1 | President

Christian Schenk is president of CLS LLC, the premier technology consulting group for the transportation industry. With more than a decade of experience in telematics and fleet management, Schenk founded CLS LLC in 2013 to help transportation companies transition into the mobile era.

As an active member of many associations both in the wireless and transportation verticals, he has the benefit of interacting with some of the world’s most influential executives from worldwide technology leaders such as Google, Yahoo, Samsung, Motorola, LinkedIn, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

Prior to launching CLS LLC, Christian spent several years working for transportation technology leader, XRS Corporation. Through a variety of positions with XRS, Christian managed product marketing, marketing, business development and business strategy teams, and also drove the design and launch of the innovative XRS mobile optimization platform for the company.

Schenk is known in the industry for his extensive knowledge and in-depth, hands-on experience in process management, business development and transportation logistics. He is an active member and advisor for Samsung Telecommunications, Motorola Solutions and CTIA—The Wireless Association. He is also a member of many trucking-related associations, including the American Trucking Association, the National Private Truck Council and the International Foodservice Distributors Association.

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