What is Cold Chain Logistics? And Why Every Degree Counts

Michael Bettua Square
June 30, 2025//Airports/airports, cold chain, cold chain logistics, cold chain logistics solutions, ups healthcare

Managing cold chain logistics is tough. Between mobile assets constantly moving across large facilities, the risk of temperature excursions, and the pressure to stay compliant, it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks. Manual tracking methods just can’t keep up. Our real-time location platform gives you full visibility into where your cold chain assets are, how long they’ve been in each zone, and whether they’re within safe temperature ranges.

In cold chain logistics, one degree can make the difference between safety and spoilage. For pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and logistics operators, maintaining strict temperature control isn’t just a regulatory requirement; it’s a mission-critical necessity. That’s why Volan Technology brings real-time asset visibility to cold chain storage, helping ensure compliance, efficiency, and product integrity.

What is Cold Chain Logistics And Why Every Degree Counts

What is Cold Chain Logistics

Cold chain logistics is the management of the transportation, storage, and handling of temperature-sensitive products within a controlled supply chain. It ensures that items such as vaccines, biologics, perishable foods, and specialty chemicals remain within required temperature ranges (typically between 2-8°C or lower) from the point of origin to the destination. This process involves the use of:

  • Refrigerated transportation (trucks, planes, containers)
  • Cold storage facilities (warehouses, distribution centers)
  • Temperature monitoring systems (sensors, real-time tracking)
  • Specialized packaging to maintain insulation

Cold chain logistics is critical in sectors like pharmaceuticals, healthcare, food and beverage, and biotechnology, where a slight deviation in temperature can compromise safety, quality, and compliance.

The Challenge: Visibility Inside the Cold Chain

Temperature-controlled environments, like refrigerated warehouses and pharmaceutical distribution centers, are complex and dynamic. Products move constantly across widespread facilities. Without the right tools, mobile carts, pallets, or storage containers carrying high-value goods like vaccines or biologics are challenging to track. Traditional methods like barcode scans and walkie-talkies are no match for today’s speed and scale. Cold chain stakeholders need real-time data to know:

  • Where assets are at any given moment.
  • How long they’ve been out of temperature-controlled zones.
  • Whether environmental conditions are within safe limits.

The Volan Solution: Real-Time Intelligence at Scale

Volan’s platform uses advanced location intelligence and environmental sensor data to monitor the movement of cold chain assets inside massive facilities, down to room-level or cart-level detail. With Volan, cold chain managers can:

  • Track high-value mobile assets in real time.
  • Monitor dwell times to reduce temperature exposure risks.
  • Receive automated alerts if thresholds are exceeded.
  • Access historical analytics to audit compliance and optimize workflows.

Whether it’s a cart of vaccines or a pallet of specialty medications, Volan ensures it never goes unnoticed or unprotected. The result? Faster, safer, and more compliant operations, where every second and every degree is accounted for.

UPS Healthcare Using Volan

Real-Time Asset Intelligence What UPS Healthcare's Volan Implementation Means for Your Operations

UPS Healthcare’s adoption of Volan Technology’s real-time location system for cold chain logistics marks a significant supply chain innovation. The system enables live tracking of high-value cold chain assets across a one-million-square-foot warehouse, providing granular operational visibility, automated compliance alerts, and real-time location intelligence. With fast deployment and immediate return on investment, the partnership sets a new standard for dynamic asset tracking and intelligent cold chain management.

Conclusion

Cold chain storage doesn’t have to be a black box. With Volan, you gain complete visibility into what’s moving, where it’s going, and how long it’s been there. When the integrity of life-saving products is on the line, Volan provides the certainty you need to act fast and act smart.

To learn more about our Volan technology, please contact us.

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