Cold Link Africa Jan/Feb 2017 | Page 15

EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS

INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

Continued from page 13

distributors and even body builders like African Bodies .

motivating factors for optimising cold chain operations . The group broke into smaller sub-groups to share ideas and discuss before feeding back to the greater workshop what the ‘ team ’ had

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Challenges in the industry

come up with .

The group discussed various challenges

The list was long , including everything

facing the cold chain logistics industry in

from customer satisfaction and cost

South Africa , including the issue that the

savings to environmental responsibility and

industry needs to take responsibility for

energy saving .

regulation , as it won ’ t be driven by the

The issue was raised that in South

government .

Africa ( like most of Africa ) we ’ re still just

The issue of education was raised and

hoping to get the product there and on

emphasised the need for a cold chain

temperature ; we haven ’ t reached the

module at university level .

stage where we try to optimise — our

The group also discussed the use of

problems are much bigger still .

telematics : is the market ready for new

The groups presented solutions for

and sophisticated solutions ? Not everyone was convinced . We have the technology available , but there seems to be a lot of resistance in the local market to this , mostly because of price and the fact that people aren ’ t skilled enough to use it .

Optimising cold chain operations The discussion then moved on to

optimisation , such as addressing the shortage of skills by improving education possibilities , and working with regulators to raise the bar with regard to body manufacturing and standards . But the issue isn ’ t just educating the industry — there is a need for the end-user to start insisting on better quality , driving the change and demanding value for money .

After the afternoon break , talks moved to outsourcing partners and opportunities for vertical and horizontal co-operation , with the groups discussing possible examples of these .

Durban and Cape Town The Durban workshop followed the next day at the Garden Court South

as current operations of service providers , retailers and suppliers . Thank you for this experience !”

GIZ has promised to follow up on some of the discussion items , such as driver training and certification , and will give feedback during its next project steering committee .

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Process distribution Before lunch , the discussion moved towards core process management and the importance thereof . The trainers ’ advice : start simple .

After an enjoyable lunch where everyone was eager to receive advice from their German guests , all returned to the conference room to continue the discussion on process distribution , using Burger King as an example .

The trainers shared examples of how they do things in Germany and what works there . There they even have their drivers do the offloading ! A definite nono here because of safety and labour relations .

Beach , with Cape Town on 7 October at Lagoon Beach Hotel , Milnerton . The workshops followed the same format as in Johannesburg , and the industry put their heads together in an attempt to improve cold chain efficiencies across the board .

From GIZ “ We have very much enjoyed the positive atmosphere , lively discussion , and exchange of thoughts and ideas on operations in the cold chain sector ,” said Schuster afterwards . “ During the workshops and when visiting some of your companies , the trainers had a great chance for insights to South Africa ’ s cold chain community , the challenges , as well

R290 The field trial of the joint venture between Transfrig and GIZ on the R290 prototype successfully kicked off on 29 November last year at Transfrig ’ s premises in Linbro Park , Johannesburg .

“ I ’ d like to thank everyone involved for their valuable contributions ,” said Schuster .

The next step is for Transfrig and GIZ to approach suitable customers for an extended field trial with 10 units in January / February 2017 .

Test chamber update The testing facility to measure the thermal performance of refrigerated vehicles in South Africa at the SABS has been built

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and is in commissioning phase . SANS 1744 has been drafted to

standardise the testing of refrigerated

vehicles in South Africa and be similar to

that of the ATP agreement . It is currently

out for public comment and will hopefully

be published soon .

The official launch event has been

earmarked for 2017 ( presumably early

April ), but we will keep you posted .

CLA

1 . The R290 trial unit .

2 . The group who attended the Cape Town workshop .

3 . The trainers during their Johannesburg session : Konstantin Schüssler ( left ) and Prof . Dr Michael Huth .