Logistical Challenges Facing the Meat Industry with Fluctuating Demand

Kayla Baurenschmidt, Director - Supply Chain, Exceldor, coopérative avicole

The rise and fall of turkey demand at seasonal peaks, coupled with the ever-growing demand for chicken products in the food service and retail sectors, certainly leaves a lasting impression on the logistics of housing and the movement of products. However, the market volatility during recent years between Covid-19, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), convoys, fluctuating fuel surcharge adjustments, and force majeure events have tested Exceldor’s resiliency like no other.

Due to the unprecedented volatility in the marketplace, leaders in the industry have been challenged to identify and enforce strategic and creative opportunities, especially where managing freight is concerned, all in an effort to ensure customers’ expectations are not only met but exceeded.  

Where market rates for transportation have fluctuated and increased significantly, we pride ourselves on maintaining and driving delivery excellence with our teams pushing to maintain an open, communicative, and transparent approach with our partners.

The Exceldor team works diligently to analyze outbound shipping patterns in order to optimize customer delivery consolidations, thus maximizing efficiencies with our various partners, all while adhering to our gold standard commitment.

Where Less-than-Truckload (LTL) shipments are concerned, the opportunity to readily service smaller, rural customers in real-time demand is immeasurable and largely caters to a company's excellency. On the other hand, there are obstacles to route consolidation, especially where different temperature settings are required, forcing companies to explore full load options or management of mixed loads as an alternative.

Full-Truckload (FTL) shipments provide the flexibility to dedicate a truckload to your customer and successfully meet every single check-box item (product integrity through temperature control, traceability, reduced touchpoints and transit time, on-time delivery) and provides ample opportunity to better refine partnerships and maintain customer service excellency.

To aid in shipping both fresh and frozen categories on a dedicated truckload, we utilize multi-temp trailers, which allow different temperatures to be maintained based on product category requirements. Where our shipments are concerned, it's favorable to have the zone partition down the middle of the trailer, to allow for the removal of either category directly from the tail of the trailer.

“Customer receiving policies and structures play an integral role in determining the best equipment to use, to ensure that product quality and integrity is being maintained.”

Mother nature plays a significant role in managing temperature-controlled shipments. Between spring thaw restrictions, the sweltering summer months, and the frigid winters, we cannot overlook details, such as the requirement to adjust and maintain the correct weights and reefer settings for each dedicated shipment.

As Exceldor continues to review best practices, we expand our breadth and exploration into multi-drop loads. By securing a designated full truckload, we provide an opportunity to effectively consolidate our smaller deliveries into one dedicated truckload, thus reducing the need for LTL services.

When considering multi-drop consolidations, we are faced with the looming plague of carrier wait time. With customer demands increasing, alongside the current labor challenges for adequate staffing (coupled with strikes), there is a domino effect when a collection is not orchestrated on time at the shipping origin or throughout the lane to each delivery point. With any delay or challenge, it pivots into more profound delays at the next site repetitively. This caters to a disservice to warehouses, carriers, customers, and vendors alike and spirals into an excess of non-compliance conformities, driving up the cost of doing business across all sectors.  

We need to maximize open communications between all parties alike (customers, vendors, warehouses, and carriers) to ensure best practices are being followed and the product is not exposed to the elements. For example, if a receiving window is 2-4 hours in length and a barn door is being utilized, the doors will need to remain closed until the receiver is available to begin offloading the product. If utilizing a roll-up door, the receiver has the ability to open the door at their discretion when offloading commences. Customer receiving policies and structures play an integral role in determining the best equipment to use to ensure that product quality and integrity are being maintained.

Despite these ongoing challenges, we have been resilient. As we navigated through each trial presented, we waited for the market to stabilize and are now anxious for the next opportunity to reinforce our composure. At Exceldor, we are proud of our partnerships, and we look forward to continuing to deliver a bright future full of promise to our customers, end-consumers, and team members alike.