Case Study – À-la-Carte Solutions Innovation

À-la-Carte Solutions Innovation : Outbound Delivery Through Multi-temperature Vehicles


Situation

Stores were delivered Frozen, Chilled and Dry goods in separate vehicles. This resulted in higher transportation cost, more manpower in loading/ unloading/ delivery, and inconvenience to McDonald’s stores which were receiving multiple deliveries and multiple documents.

There was a need for a supply chain solutions system through which all the three types of goods i.e. Frozen / Chilled / Dry could be delivered together at a time, without compromising on the integrity of the food product.

Solutions Strategy

Against the conventional single temperature trucks, need of a truck carrying multiple temperature products was felt. To make it happen, the following was done:

  • A multi-temperature refrigeration unit was installed in the trucks. These units have two evaporators which enable temperature setting for Frozen and Chilled products at the same time. These units were imported.
  • Customized partitions were made. These partitions are used as separator walls between two temperature zones. This was developed in-house by RK Foodland.
  • Truck containers were made with two side doors in addition to the rear door. The side doors are used to unload products without disturbing the products carried in other temperature zones.
  • Since the technical know-how on repairing the multi-temperature reefer units was limited in the country, the down time of such trucks was very high. Thus, RK Foodland came out with a truck which has two single units, fixed in such a way that the truck can have two temperature sensitive compartments and one ambient section. Consequently, the down time reduced, as we already had the experience of maintaining single temperature units.

Results

  • Consolidated delivery of Frozen / Chilled / Dry at the same time.
  • Cost saving in transportation and manpower; against carrying approximately 150 cases per truck, the multi-temperature trucks carried 500 cases per truck with a mix of Frozen, Chilled and Ambient products.
  • Convenient for the McDonald’s store to receive all the goods at a single time window.
  • One order, one invoice and one delivery.