Warehouses, cold storage and distribution
Logistics & warehousing
Warehouses are increasingly automated but rarely well instrumented. Conveyors, sorters and material handling equipment produce useful data that is almost never captured, and cold storage carries a continuous compliance obligation that is often met with a clipboard.
What goes wrong
Typical problems in logistics & warehousing
If more than two of these are familiar, there is a first project here worth doing.
- 01
Conveyor and sortation stoppages are frequent and unrecorded
- 02
Cold storage temperature is checked on rounds, not monitored
- 03
Throughput is known daily but not by hour or by zone
- 04
Equipment faults are reported verbally and response is unmeasured
- 05
Energy use in refrigeration is a major cost with no attribution
What we build
Solutions for logistics & warehousing
- 01
Material handling equipment monitoring
State, throughput, jam and fault capture across conveyors, sorters and lifts, with the true constraint made visible.
- 02
Cold chain monitoring
Continuous temperature and humidity logging across chambers, docks and vehicles, with alerting and an auditable record.
- 03
Throughput and zone analytics
Volume by hour, zone and shift, so labour planning is based on measurement rather than on the previous week's impression.
- 04
Refrigeration monitoring
Compressor and plant room monitoring with energy attribution and condition-based maintenance.
- 05
Maintenance workflow
Automatic fault alerting with escalation and measured response, replacing verbal reporting.
Technology
What is typically involved
- PLC reads from conveyor and sortation controllers
- Wireless temperature and humidity sensors for chambers
- Energy meters on refrigeration plant
- Barcode and RFID integration where present
- Mobile alerting for maintenance teams
- Dashboards by zone, hour and shift
Outcomes
What changes
Described rather than quantified — we do not publish numbers we have not measured for you.
- Equipment downtime measured rather than estimated
- Cold chain evidenced continuously
- Throughput visible by hour and zone
- Refrigeration energy attributable and reducible
- Fault response time measured
Capabilities
Most relevant here
- Machine MonitoringReal-time machine, production and downtime monitoring with OEE.
- Industrial IoTGet data off your machines — existing PLCs, new sensors, or both.
- Mobile ApplicationsPlant apps for operators, maintenance teams and management.
- Industrial DashboardsReal-time plant dashboards for the floor, the office and the phone.
- System IntegrationConnecting plant systems to ERP, MES and the rest of the business.
Questions
Logistics & Warehousing — common questions
Can you monitor temperature in vehicles as well as chambers?
Yes, using cellular loggers with local storage that report on a schedule and back-fill when a connection is available. The record is continuous even where coverage is not, which is what a compliance record requires.
Our conveyor system is from a single supplier who controls the software. Can we still get data?
Usually yes, by reading from the controller rather than the supplier's application, or through whatever interface the system exposes. We approach this with the supplier where possible, since an integration they know about is one they will not break at the next update.
Tell us about your logistics & warehousing plant
What runs on your floor, and what you cannot currently answer. We will tell you what is readable today and what a first phase would involve.