Lineage Logistics has taken long, sure strides by applying IoT to the group's management system. Applying the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has let the group turn the electricity bill in its warehousing from a cost center into a profit center while still keeping products well protected.
An overview of Lineage Logistics
Founded in 2012, Lineage Logistics is an international warehousing and logistics company backed by the venture capital fund Bay Grove Capital. Lineage is currently the world's largest provider of temperature-controlled logistics services. It now has more than 300 facilities in total, with about 53 million cubic units of cold storage in 12 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Lineage is the world's largest provider of temperature-controlled logistics services
Over the course of its development, the group has gradually acquired other providers in the same field, such as The Yearsley Group, Seattle Cold Storage and Emergent Cold..., expanding further across continents. As part of this, Emergent Cold Vietnam and Preferred Freezer merged into Lineage Logistics. Other Vietnamese businesses are also grappling with competing against foreign players: how to avoid being “swallowed” and win a place in the global logistics chain.
Lineage Logistics' difficulties in managing cold storage
Over the past decade, Lineage Logistics has stored and transported billions of pounds of food to most large and small supermarkets and store chains in the United States, so ensuring product quality always has to come first. To ensure product quality, most locations in the warehouse must be kept at 0℃. Some special products require storage temperatures as low as -20℃. This makes cold storage far more energy-intensive.
Cold storage requires Lineage to consume a great deal of energy
Previously, Lineage had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each month on each warehouse. The electricity bill for the company's largest facility alone reached $450,000 in peak months. Energy consumption during this period was around 9.5 MW, roughly equivalent to the electricity use of a small city.
Lineage's vice president, Elliott Wolf, once shared that the group's storage facilities are located in places with large differences in electricity prices at different times of day, so he wanted to schedule power consumption precisely to take advantage of this. However, as all of Lineage Logistics' managers understand, ensuring the quality of the billions of dollars' worth of food each warehouse stores must come first. So the group's biggest goal is to protect products in the most energy-efficient way possible.
Lineage Logistics' success after applying IoT
How does IoT help Lineage Logistics?
To solve the energy-saving problem, Lineage Logistics applied IoT in its operations. Specifically:
Temperature sensors placed throughout all areas: IoT was applied in cold storage by setting up a system of 1,000 sensors that alert the management system when temperature changes are detected. Operators can then monitor and adjust local temperatures and airflow to keep every part of the warehouse at the desired temperature.
IoT temperature sensors alert the management system to temperature changes
Vibration sensors on equipment: applying IoT to vibration sensors helps detect and prevent problems in the refrigeration system, so staff can catch and resolve issues before compressors fail and keep repair costs to a minimum.
A central control system in the cloud: IoT collects data and sends it automatically to Amazon Web Services' cloud computing system to process the figures and create temperature maps. The temperature monitoring system for Lineage's warehouses is pushed to the web so senior managers can access the information anytime, anywhere.
What has Lineage Logistics achieved after applying IoT?
According to internal statistics, since 2014 annual energy costs at Lineage's 78 warehouses have fallen by 8% after applying IoT. At the same time, storage and handling capacity at these facilities has increased significantly. As a result, the electricity cost per food item has fallen by 34%.
Lineage Logistics has achieved real success after applying IoT
Another impressive example of IoT success at Lineage Logistics: at the peak of strawberry season, Lineage freezes 4-6 million pounds of fruit a day. This process normally consumes a lot of energy. So Lineage added sensors to the freezers and created a custom dashboard to monitor the freezing process. Measurements showed that Lineage Logistics cut average strawberry freezing time from nearly 100 hours to 50 hours, using only 50% of the energy.
Lineage Logistics' IoT story has become the clearest proof of the impact of the digital revolution on every business, typified here by the warehousing sector. In short, to make big strides in the marketplace, businesses must not only focus on product quality but also continuously absorb, innovate and apply the latest scientific achievements. If your business is still unsure or unclear about these technologies, please contact Sbiz.vn for timely, effective advice and answers.