Maintaining Product Integrity in Hot Climates

Summer is officially upon us, that means swimming pools, BBQ, and hot weather. The rising temperature outside also means an increase in the amount of effort it takes to keep our food cool. Reefer trailers must work harder and the amount of time product can be left “out” decreases significantly. These are all things we are aware of here at FlexXray®.

For 16 years we have been maintaining product integrity for over 400+ customers. We have put in place multiple guidelines and processes to ensure product stays the appropriate temperature. These include monitoring and recording reefer temperatures when they arrive and while they remain on our lot.

Using bulk head doors during the unloading for inspection ensures that the product remains a constant temperature. Our measures also include taking the temperature of product cases before and after a pallet has been completed to monitor temperature rise.  This information is recorded and made available to the customer.

Here in Texas, where FlexXray is located, the summer temperatures can reach over 100 degrees. That is one of the main reasons we recently expanded and completed our new facility build out. It is almost 50% larger than our previous space. It allowed us to create a new temperature controlled inspection area. This was important to us because of the 125-150 truckloads a month we inspect for our customers, roughly 70% of those trucks contain frozen or refrigerated product.

In addition to the new space, containing our temperature controlled inspection area, FlexXray has made several other improvements. These entail a complete camera monitoring system, including cameras on all building access points. We have added a fully contained compactor for product disposal. Product is still disposed of at our certified landfill with COD provided.

We have added a key fob based building access system to ensure only FlexXray personnel are entering the facility. Additional staff have been hired to manage projects and handle the internal operations associated with them. We have even added 2 more X-ray inspection lines to increase capacity and keep our turnaround times to a couple days or less.

We are constantly striving to improve and expand based on our observations as well as the recommendations of our customers. These are the latest culmination of that process, but certainly will not be the last.