The success of old storage facilities requires navigating a broken supply chain and delivering products efficiently and quality to end users.
FREMONT, CA: The cold storage industry faces many challenges owing to ongoing supply chain disruptions that are still hard to dissolve. For a while, retailers encountered multiple challenges: the altered time model did not function, supply chain issues were severe, and keeping up with demand became much more difficult. Distributors realized they needed to fine-tune their predictions to have more on hand. Key market participants set out to rethink and reorganize their strategy. More importantly, everyone in the market recognized that the United States required more cold storage space—and more efficient cold storage space at that.
Demand is still changing shape now. E-grocery services are growing in popularity, trucking businesses are transporting more chilled goods than ever, and the FDA is exacting increasingly severe regulations for preserving perishables. In brief, the cold storage market is increasing, and clients and distributors are looking for partners who understand how to construct cold storage space.
However, there is one caveat: these facilities are far more complex than their dry warehouse counterparts. They require a systematic building approach to ensure efficiency, quality, and flexibility.
Challenges: Almost every aspect of a cold storage facility differs significantly from that of a normal warehouse. Temperature and power are important factors, but the slab, structural fill, and structural panels all demand a unique method. Slabs must be constructed, poured, and covered to endure variable temperatures (and avoid heaving), humidity, and forklifts while fulfilling tight flatness criteria. Of course, all of this is merely the tip of the iceberg. Many end-users want flexibility or the ability to convert facilities based on their needs. A subzero temperature may be required for one use, whereas a higher temperature may be required for another.
The structure becomes even more complicated when the design incorporates fluctuating temperature conditions. As a result, cold storage and its complicated systems necessitate a distinct skill set from a trade aspect. The same can often be said of delivery. That is, design-build. Everything from the early concept and planning through the building creates challenges.
Smoothening the process: Working in an existing building and handling supply chain difficulties meant that early cooperation over sequencing was essential. In addition to supply chain challenges affecting projects across the country, planning the work ahead of time can prove critical. Specifying details to the letter and holding those early meetings can be critical to any project's success, whether asking the proper questions or working backward for early release items. Given the backup on critical components and materials, everything else has to be squared away to provide some cushion for the success of a project. Some factors are the unknowns that must be addressed right away. As a result, when materials arrive and installation time arrives, no one has to wait, and the changeover can be smooth.
