How to Implement Changes Across Your Cold Chain without Resistance
Change doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be managed properly. That’s what four top cold chain experts have learned over many years of driving continuous improvements in their own cold chains and serving as solution strategists and change management consultants.
For example, Sean Merrill, who now serves as Head of Quality at Langham Logistics, has spent years advising companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and logistics industries on facility and equipment implementations and decommissioning, systems validation, quality management, and quality auditing practices. He knows that if you don’t have clear steps in place to guide your transformation path, you’re going to get stuck or lost. This is especially true when you’re trying to move from 150-year-old technology like paper-based chart recorders to more modern, digitalized environmental monitoring systems.
His colleague Leah Harris, Director of Business Development, Life Sciences, at Langham Logistics, agrees, stressing that it’s also very important to have the right partners advising you throughout periods of change. No cold chain is a solo operation, so soliciting objective outside perspectives on your plans along with specialist guidance can help ensure steady progress and mitigate risks.
In fact, Amar Chahal, who currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Development at Cold Chain Technologies, can attest to the value of working with the right partners, as can Kelly Breneisen, Zebra’s Regional Portfolio Manager for RFID and Expanding Technologies.
Cold Chain Technologies and Zebra have been collaborating on the design and execution of strategies and solutions in support of customers’ sustainability and business process improvement ambitions, and both Amar and Kelly have spent their careers advising companies with growth mindsets on the value of utilizing vendors appropriately. Change will always be arduous without domain expertise, and that expertise doesn’t always exist in house.
For that reason, I asked Sean, Leah, Amar and Kelly to join me for a 30-minute roundtable about how to properly affect change within your cold chain, especially if you are striving for a more sustainable operation. Tune in now to learn:
[1:33] The pillars that cold chain companies may want to consider adopting if they want to successfully balance sustainability goals against economic goals, and why some are struggling.
[2:50] How cold chain companies can approach circular economy and recycling programs to meet sustainability goals.
[5:00] The steps that can be taken to reduce landfill waste from your cold chain. (They also talked about the changes their companies are making in their own cold chains to increase the use of recyclable, dissolvable and compostable packaging and supplies and reduce the use of plastics.)
[7:56] Why it seems so hard to implement positive changes across cold chains and key takeaways from successful change efforts, including best practices, good process frameworks, the questions to ask, and who should be consulted before, while and after changes are implemented.
[13:15] The top three things you should do no matter what if you want to make your cold chain more sustainable, regardless of your approach to sustainability.
If you’re considering changes to your cold chain processes or technologies and would like to consult with one of these experts, send me a note and I’ll be happy to make an introduction for you. You can also learn more about the support Zebra can provide here.
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Ashley Barey
Ashley Barey is a Director of Strategic Development for Zebra Technologies currently based in the US. She supports the global Environmental Sensor category at Zebra and previously worked within Zebra's IES team.
Ashley has 15 years of supply chain experience. She started her career in resorts before moving on to Blue Yonder and then Zebra. She has worked on numerous supply chain data integration and automation projects throughout the U.S. and EMEA. She has an MS in IT management and a BA in English along with a PMP certification.
