What is last mile delivery? Well, a delivery is only complete once it’s last mile is! From the warehouse to the end user- be it a restaurant, a retail store or a home, last mile deliveries are the final leg of the supply chain process, and most often, the most important.
With the pandemic having given rise to ecommerce deliveries, and brands shifting to ecommerce platforms to provide their clients with fresh foods, last mile deliveries have become the most important part of the delivery chain.
When it comes to meat, statistics say in India, around 71% of people over the age of 15 are non-vegetarians, making the annual consumption of poultry meat rise to more than 3.9 Mn metric tonnes in 2020! These are huge numbers which means the demand for meat also increases.
With this in mind, we would assume that the distribution chain needs to be absolutely efficient! When we say efficient, we also mean sustainable. Sustainability in the last mile delivery is crucial considering it is so much more in demand with huge deliveries going out on a daily basis. With deliveries involving frozen meat, the temperature needs to be maintained at 100% as even a small dip can lead to the meat quality deteriorating. This can be harmful both for the end user and the distributor. For the distributor, it can lead to a loss in revenue and for the end user, if unfortunately not detected in time, can lead to poisoning.
For frozen meat, using solutions which are fuel and engine dependable can be dangerous. If the engine goes off for even a small second, the refrigerator which runs through the engine will stop working. This would mean that the transportation vehicle will lose its temperature and the consignment will get completely damaged. This would mean a loss of revenue for the distributor and food wastage accounting to a high increase in greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
Taking into account Indian ambient conditions, the vehicle being used must be prepared for multiple drops, due to high demand, opening and closing of the bag/truck, and should be able to withstand the temperature change and humidity. Packaging of these products must also be thorough and should not be affected by these variables.
Tessol has been running a very successful last mile delivery process with its sustainable, cost effective and reliable solutions. Tessol uses PCM technology, by which cartridges are charged in the warehouse at the required temperature, be it frozen of -20C and below, chilled of 0-4C and ambient of 2-8C, before lining it inside our last mile delivery bags, specially designed for temperature sensitive items. These PCM cartridges ensure the temperature does not get affected and stays the same throughout the delivery process. Our last mile delivery solutions are engine and fuel independent, and can maintain temperatures for up to 8-10 hours with multiple drops! They even come with real time monitoring devices, by which any change can be detected, and corrected in time.
