A Sit-Down with Guy Ironi, ColdTrack’s CEO
We recently asked ColdTrack’s CEO Guy Ironi a number of questions we thought perishable product producers might ask prospective perishable fulfillment solution providers. Let’s hear what Guy had to say…
Q: What happens if a food manufacturing brand’s order volume suddenly surges — 5x or even 10x?
A: A perishable product producer’s brand’s growth shouldn’t break the perishable fulfillment system – a serious fulfillment partner plans for elasticity. Afterall, isn’t flexibility one of the reasons brands choose to outsource in the first place? In facility footprint, labor, fulfillment volume accommodation, and carrier capacity, if order volume increases stress the operation, that’s not scale. That’s fragility.
Q: Out-of-stocks can be catastrophic for a brand: lost sales, lost revenue, damage to the brand etc. How should a perishable fulfillment partner protect brands against them?
A: Out-of-stocks shouldn’t happen at all! The perishable fulfillment partner MUST have low volume indicators and alerts in place that provide brands enough time to produce and replenish inventory. Or at least have an option for inventory replenishment from another node. Real-time visibility and disciplined cycle counting are non-negotiable in perishable fulfillment.
Q: What does real customer support look like in fulfillment?
A: Real customer support means access to helpful resources should there be an issue, and a robust process to resolve it. We offer access to a support team who know the client programs inside and out from 8am to 8pm Monday-Friday – the peak fulfillment hours, and 8am to 4pm on Sundays to aid with order and fulfillment preparations for the week ahead.
Guy Ironi, ColdTrack’s CEO
Q: What separates reliable partners from risky ones?
A: Reliable perishable fulfillment partners, 3PLs, operate owned infrastructure and maintain established contingency planning.
Errors will happen: carriers will miss pickups, weather affects performance, systems fail, and vendors can let you down. The question isn’t whether disruption occurs — it’s whether your partner has already engineered the response, how interconnected the facility network is, and how effectively disruption is minimized.
In perishable logistics, resilience comes from operational proximity. When management, systems, and warehouse execution are tightly aligned, as they are in a well-managed 3PL, decisions move faster and corrective action happens in real time. The more direct the line between strategy and the warehouse floor, the less friction there is when conditions change.
When a perishable fulfillment solutions provider owns its own facilities and directly manages the people and resources, as 3PLs like ColdTrack do, it provides for a uniform customer experience across the network: one core operational model, one uniform culture, one shared passion and customer-centric approach.
A 4PL with a collection of independent operations cannot replicate that.
Ultimately, reliability isn’t about coordination — it’s about accountability.
Q: How do brands avoid outgrowing their fulfillment partner?
A: No matter how much or how quickly it grows, a brand shouldn’t outgrow its perishable fulfillment partner! One of the main arguments for partnering with a fulfillment provider is that the brand can focus on growth and have confidence in its partner that the growth can be accommodated. In fact, the fulfillment provider should be helping the brand grow as a priority!
A brand can protect against limitations by choosing a perishable fulfillment partner built for scale from day one — with distributed but connected facilities, structured processes, resources in abundance, and performance guarantees – the threat is avoided.
Thanks Guy!
We’ve created a list of qualifying questions that brands should reference as they interview potential perishable fulfillment solution providers. And should you have more questions, we’d love to talk with you!
