Case Study: Consolidating Frozen Storage to Optimize Growth and Logistics

Advertisement Power PR Coloma Frozen Foods needed to consolidate its frozen storage capacity.  As a food industry provider of quality frozen fruits, vegetables, juices and cherry juice concentrates, the company had previously outsourced or leased its frozen storage to four commercial facilities spread out over a 20-mile radius in southwest Michigan. “Transferring product between four inter-company locations for production, frozen storage, and repacking was costly and inefficient,” said Brad Wendzel, President of Coloma Frozen Foods. “One of the leased freezer facilities had aged beyond its useful life, and much of the racking was too low, requiring inefficient pallet unstacking and restacking before shipping.” To optimize its growth and logistics, Coloma Frozen Foods chose to build 90,000 square feet of new freezer space, including 75,000 square feet of racked freezer space in a new centralized campus facility. Looking to maximize frozen storage efficiency and repacking capability, Wendzel turned to Southwest Docking and Handling, a material handling and automated systems distributor, and Steel King Industries, a storage system and pallet rack manufacturer. The companies suggested a drive-in rack for its cost-effective, high-density storage capacity that requires fewer aisles and provides better cube utilization than selective racking. A drive-in rack enables storing up to 75 percent more pallets than selective racking and is ideal for high-traffic and cooler/freezer installations. “We expect to save about $150,000 to $200,000 a year in reduced labor, management, transportation, energy, and maintenance costs using the drive-in rack at our campus facility,” said Wendzel. “Our growth potential is substantial, and we expect ROI in under two years.” With drive-in rack, forklifts drive directly into the rack to allow storage of two or more pallets deep. But because forklifts drive directly into the rack, they tend to take more abuse than other rack structures. “In freezer applications, the rack […]