Southport Cold Chain Warehouse

The challenge

Before

Southport Cold Chain operates three freezer facilities across South-East Queensland with combined capacity for 17,000 pallets at temperatures from -26°C to +4°C. They were running an inbound WMS from one vendor and an outbound order management system from another, with a nightly batch sync that lost line-level detail. Picking errors averaged 1.8% — high for cold-chain — and temperature compliance audits required pulling data from four separate systems including the building management chillers.

• Two disconnected WMS systems with a lossy nightly batch sync
• 1.8% picking error rate — costly because returns to freezer are not always possible
• Temperature compliance audits requiring data from four separate systems
• No live view of dock door utilization across the three sites
• Forklift operators using paper pick lists laminated against frost damage
• Inbound ASN matched to PO manually by warehouse admin team
• Customer SLA reports compiled in Excel from exports across both systems
• No way to quote a new lane or customer without a manual cost build

The solution

What we built

We built a unified cold-chain WMS that owns the full inbound-to-outbound lifecycle plus temperature compliance. Forklift operators run the app on ruggedized handhelds rated for freezer operation — every move, pick, and putaway is recorded in real time against pallet license-plate codes. The system ingests live temperature readings from the BMS chiller stack on a 30-second poll and stamps every pallet movement with the corridor and zone temperature at that moment. Inbound ASNs auto-match against open POs with tolerance rules for short and over shipments. Customer SLA dashboards refresh continuously, so account managers can see at-risk shipments before the customer calls. We also built a quoting tool that takes lane, volume, temperature band, dwell time, and pick complexity as inputs and produces a margin-priced quote against the customer-specific tariff sheet in under ninety seconds.

How the system flows

1. ASN Receipt→PO Match→Dock Door Assignment→Inbound Inspection
2. Putaway Suggestion→Forklift Move→License Plate Confirmation→Slot Locked
3. Order Drop→Wave Build→Pick Assignment→Handheld Confirmation
4. Cross-Dock Move→Outbound Stage→Truck Load Plan→Departure Manifest
5. Temperature Sample→Zone Tag→Pallet Movement Stamp→Compliance Log
6. Cycle Count→Variance Investigation→Stock Adjustment→Audit Trail

• Customer SLA Dashboard refreshed continuously with at-risk shipment flags
• Lane Quote Engine producing margin-priced quote in under ninety seconds
• Forklift productivity scoring against benchmark moves per labor hour
• BMS chiller integration polling temperature readings every 30 seconds