Imagine a cavernous hangar of towering racks, full pallets and a dock temperature in the upper 30s F. That’s the non-freezer section of Classic Warehousing’s 2.35 million cubic feet of cold storage warehousing space.
You come to the freezers as you wend your way through the labyrinth of pallets, all stored precisely where they’re supposed to be. That’s where you meet the Warehouse Manager, Ben Eilerman.
Ben runs a tight, LEAN-focused ship, ensuring the cold-storage rooms stay at optimal temperatures, the pallet tags are correct, and the product can be case picked when ready.
There’s a lot to do as the warehouse manager of a state-of-the-art cold-storage facility, so let’s find out what Ben says about managing one of the largest in the state.
Temperature Stratification for Optimal Cold-Storage Solutions
The cutting-edge freezer capacity at Classic Warehousing is set up in different temperature zones based on the product’s requirements (there is a separate dry facility for products not needing temperature control). Requiring different temperatures means you want cold storage with a freezer and a chilled room – much like a refrigerator freezer in your kitchen. The warehousing consists of:
- Deep Freezer Room: -22 to -13 degrees Fahrenheit for seafood and ice cream.
- Freezer Room: -4 to -14 degrees Fahrenheit for frozen beef, poultry, pork, cakes, and bread.
- Chill Room: 34 degrees Fahrenheit for products requiring refrigeration only, like tanning oils.
- Dock Area: 35-39 degrees Fahrenheit, regulated and maintained to ensure incoming and outbound products remain at temperature.
- Pharmaceutical Section: 35-46 degrees Fahrenheit for a variety of pharmaceuticals.
- Dry Storage: not temperature controlled for products NOT requiring refrigeration
Classic maintains a clean working environment with the Department of Agriculture that provides FDA inspections. Storage is simple and requires no special certifications since the facility has no exposed food.
Keeping Track of It All
Classic Warehousing uses the latest Camelot Excalibur Warehouse Management System for inventory control. Hand-held barcode scanners and pallet tags allow for fast receipt and storage of full pallets, thus eliminating spoilage and mistakes. Orders for full pallets – called case picking – that require no need to open boxes by hand.
Unloading a semi-trailer takes only 75 minutes, and order picking time is less than two hours. Utilizing standard and stand-up pallet jacks with extensions up to 50 feet means that storage is fast and labor-saving.
Such rapid turnaround ensures timely deliveries, safe and protected products and maximizes the warehouse’s throughput. Ben says they average 8-10 semis daily, bringing product in and loading 5-10 going out.
Classic Warehousing Cold Storage: A Hub for Your Supply Chain
Located in the I-75 to I-70 corridor allows trucks to get back on the road fast and keep America’s supply chain humming. Maintaining a well-oiled warehouse frees companies to schedule different routes while their product is safely stored.
A few extra features Classic Warehousing offers its customers is its Carrier and 3PL services. If they can’t get the product out on their trucks, they’ll locate a carrier that can. This cold chain storage facility's dedication to its customer base and care for the items in cold storage helps set them apart from the competition. In addition, LTL orders are accepted – not something you’ll find with some of the bigger trucking companies.
Related Article: Compare National vs Local Refrigerated Carriers
Making Your Job Easier
Supply chain management is a demanding career, but Ben handles it with aplomb. When he’s not moving pallets and scanning tags, he’s talking with drivers and routing them correctly. It’s folks like him who make Classic Warehousing and its sister companies, Classic Carriers and Classic Logistics, a full-service logistics company.
Ben wanted to leave us with one last word: “Our job is to make your job easier.”
