Instead of the racking height of a mere six levels, cold chain automation can upgrade up to 20 levels, storing more frozen products in the same given footprint.
THERE has been a significant shift in the way we make our food purchases.
Over the past two years, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have increased demand for necessities – especially when it comes to our food and other perishable items. Freezing or chilling would extend the shelf life of fresh food items, making it perfect for our grocery buying needs.
Most of us would still remember the days leading to the first movement control order where many rushed to secure food purchases. Most popular food items to store were frozen and canned food, which we can store longer.
Which is not a far stretch from Emergen Research’s global food cold chain market projection to grow more than 155% from USD 206bil in 2017 to reach US$526bil in 2027, when changing customer lifestyle and dietary needs are driving frozen food demands.
Which then begs the question – how can we benefit further and to prepare the cold chain industry especially when it comes to essentials such as food?
Malaysia currently secures the 39th place and is second to Singapore in South-East Asia on the Global Food Security Index.
According to Swisslog Cold Chain specialist Sky Lee, cold chain automation can assist with Malaysia’s food security index.
“It can increase the shelf life of a product. If you freeze fresh meat like chicken right after (butchering), it can prolong the shelf life between six and 12 months,” he said, adding that freshly cut meat will need to be cooked within four hours before it is unsuitable for consumption.
“Meat can be frozen for storage during low demand or abundant stocks and increase the supply during festival period or shortage of supply, Hence, it can balance the supply and demand.”
This is in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob statement that the government also decided to create a chicken stockpile and to optimise the existing cold room storage facility owned by the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry and agencies.
“Transporting live produce will take up more space than say cut and frozen meat. Suppliers can move more product (food) over a longer distance. Moreover, some live produce might not make it through long journeys, which means less food (to circulate in the market).
“It can reduce food wastage for vegetables too. Using our typical metric, some 30% of vegetables are damaged along transportation such as from Cameron Highlands to Johor Bahru for instance,” he said.
However, he opined that the cold chain industry is active in urban areas like Klang Valley where land is scarce and food demand is high for the eight million population there.
Automation can help with limited spaces in urban areas by storing more within a given footprint. Instead of the racking height of a mere six levels, automation can upgrade up to 20 levels, storing more products in the same given footprint.
A cold storage warehouse optimum temperature can range from 0°C to 5°C for chilled food or even less than -18°C for frozen food. It is hard for operators to work in such harsh environments for a long period of time and maintain their productivity level, further intensifying an already labour crunch in the industry. Locals tend to shunt 3D works like this.
“Many local cold rooms are run on traditional systems that are paper-based. Therefore if we automate the system, (companies) can reduce their labour dependencies up to 300%.
“Automation helps by bringing the product to the operator instead of the operator doing it manually which increases productivity by 200% – as typically 50% of time is wasted on walking around the frozen warehouse looking for the product,” he said, adding that automation will be able to transport the products from less than -18°C conditions to more conducive 5°C temperatures for operators.
He opined that instead of having low-skilled workers, companies can transition to hire higher skilled workers to manage the system. By automating, companies can also attract more workers to join them.
Goods to Person Workstation for cold room where picking is done in more conducive environment.
In Malaysia, Swisslog have worked together with a Malaysia small and medium enterprises (SMEs) client in Subang Jaya to automate frozen and chilled meat distribution facilities some two-and-a-half years ago – when Covid-19 pandemic began. The cold chain warehouse has more than 12,000 pallet storage locations, multi-level operations and reduces the energy consumption by up to 30%.
“Swisslog, a leading global warehouse automation provider with its Southeast Asian headquarters in Petaling Jaya, would partner with Malaysian companies on their cold chain automation journey with our strong experience.
“We can start with a basic automation system with lower investments, and then upgrade to fourth generation fully automated warehouse and future proof to fifth generation “lights-out” robotics and data drive warehouses as in Europe and the US,” he said.
