Supply Chain Digital Transformation | Cold Chain Case Study

Revolutionizing cold-chain Logistics
through data science transformation

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Challenge

Conventional reporting methods were coming in the way of achieving high operational efficiency

Approach

Developing data science capabilities across the organization enabling real-time decision-making

Outcome

Achieved 16% improvement in warehouse dwell times and $300,000 savings in detention charges

About United States Cold Storage

United States Cold Storage, Inc. (USCS) is a leading name in public refrigerated warehousing (PRW) and related logistics services in the USA.

The company’s origins date back to 1899. Since then, USCS has effectively served a diverse customer base with requirements that range from primary storage to fully integrated third-party logistics. USCS offers more than 330 million cubic feet of state-of-the-art temperature-controlled warehouse and distribution space in about 43 warehouses that are set up across 13 states in the USA. The company is the 3rd largest provider of PRW Logistics in the North Americas.

Partnership - USCS & Gramener join hands

USCS partnered with Gramener to enhance its digital prowess across the value chain. Gramener has played a pivotal role in creating custom data and AI solutions for over 120 clients helping them improve their operations and business impact. The solutions are built using its low-code platform Gramex.

Gramener helped USCS achieve its data science goals with a thorough ‘advisory-to-implementation’ approach in data analytics and storytelling.

US cold storage is leading america’s cold chain revolution

US Cold Storage wanted to provide a great customer experience to all its clients and the carrier community at large. To further this cause, they focused on creating a digitization revolution across America’s food chain with a strong digital infrastructure.

But its MIS (Management Information System) reports and dashboards provided a descriptive and backward-focused view of the business. There was a need for a smarter way to achieve predictive insights that empower USCS with real-time decision-making capabilities to improve customer experience.

Built on Gramex low-code app builder

All the applications were built on Gramex, Gramener’s proprietary low-code app builder. Gramex is a PaaS data platform that can rapidly build customized data and AI applications by using over 200 pre-built components and microservices. The platform is easy-to-use making it ideal for citizen developers. It has a zero-learning curve because of its easy drag-and-drop visual features. All of this enables both professional developers and data enthusiasts to create enterprise-grade data applications quickly and efficiently.

THE APPROACH

Gramener’s advisory team helped USCS breakdown the challenge and tackled it in the following way:

Create a roadmap of USCS’s high-impact initiatives

With Gramener, USCS utilized the ‘Data-to-Value’ RADAR methodology and toolkits. This is a 5-step approach to identify the strategic data science initiatives that could help USCS achieve its business objectives by moving forward as a data mature organization.

Take initiatives through rapid experimentations

The chosen initiatives at USCS were taken through a series of rapid data science experimentations. These were based on Gramener’s ‘innovation funnel’ approach. Piloted at USCS’s warehouses, the qualified initiatives that garnered good business impact were moved to production.

Gramener worked with USCS technology team to create the right data science processes, onboard the skilled personnel, and deploy production-ready solutions. This has led to 3 data science applications.

Moving ML solutions to the production stage

Based on the results, 3 data science applications were rolled out across 40+ warehouses. The first solution to be rolled out was the intelligent appointment scheduler. This predictive AI solution helped USCS warehouse teams to identify ideal appointment slots every day to keep the warehouse optimally staffed and achieve the best turn times on warehouse pickups. With a 16% improvement in turn times, the experimentation was picked for large scale deployment.

Constant monitoring and measuring ROI

With support from USCS leadership, its technology teams integrated the solutions with business processes. This helped in the widespread adoption of the solutions. In fact, Q2 2021 saw over 80% adoption in a few of the largest USCS warehouses.

Gramener enabled the adoption of data science solutions by sharing industry best practices, educating the users, improving the ease of use and building ground-level support. The business value generated was tracked and quantified using an ROI framework.

Setting up for the next phase of transformation

Gramener has assisted USCS in setting up a governance committee with institutionalized processes in place. This could help achieve repeatable outcomes from the data science transformation being carried out at USCS.

The organization continues to scope out data science initiatives. The leadership team drives the initiatives by storytelling the vision and highlighting its importance across the organization.

In a phase-wise manner, USCS is extending this partnership with Gramener in three major areas – transportation, automation, and digitization.