It’s summer in North America, and that means it is hot. What better way to cool off than with an icy treat? But whether you’re looking for an ice cream cone, a novelty character-pop, a slushie, a popsicle, or an ice cream sandwich—you want that snack to arrive cold and not in a puddle.
While it’s challenging to make it through a hot day without ice cream, it’s more challenging to make sure that ice cream arrives at the store, or at your door, without heating up. It takes a lot of work and a lot of innovation, starting at the factory.
From Factory to Distributor Warehouses
After a company produces and boxes the frozen treats, they are transported to distributor warehouses, which can be located anywhere across the United States, according to Great Dane’s Everest Product Director Tim Schmeits.
“Our trailers transport frozen goods and maintain their temperature, coast-to-coast,” Schmeits explained. “Once those doors shut on our reefer trailers, they won’t open again until we reach our destination. For one customer in Nebraska, they ship to both east and west coasts.”
Maintaining Optimal Temperature
Without proper insulation and refrigeration, there’s no possible way to ship cold items that far without them melting. If ambient temperatures are 100°F, Schmeits says temperatures in a plain trailer could quickly reach upwards of 130°F or more. Great Dane’s Everest trailers offer ThermoGuard, which has a barrier to prevent outgassing and keep insulating gasses inside.
Schmeits says, along with TRUs, the ice cream can be maintained at a necessary temperature of around -15°F. Even if ice cream doesn’t get hot enough to melt completely, allowing it to warm up slightly can cause it to soften and be frozen again at its destination, which Schmeits explained will cause ice crystals to form and change the texture of the ice cream.
Last Mile Challenges
After the ice cream reaches a warehouse, a distributor will take it to vendors. Although the journey is shorter, Great Dane National Accounts and Export Sales Manager—Truck Bodies and Last Mile Eduardo Navarro says this is where you run into new challenges.
“Delivering deep frozen products like ice cream in the last mile segment of a route requires good cold chain management practices and, more importantly, the right equipment to maintain the correct temperatures throughout the route, which can be up to 10 hours.”
Spec’ing the Right Truck Body
To spec the right truck body for these applications, we work closely with customers to understand their needs and consider other route variables, like the number of stops, number of door openings, duration of stops, route design, and even driver training.
“Because you’re opening doors multiple times, the cold chain management is much more demanding,” Navarro said. “Drivers need to think about the nature of the route, how many stops, and how many door openings they have. Most importantly, the training for drivers delivering ice cream will be different from delivering produce. They have to be more critical of when they open and close those doors. They can’t just leave the door open.”
Meeting Real-world Demands
“The FDA requires that frozen products be kept at a temperature in which they remain a frozen solid,” said Marc Santini, Executive Director of Yumi Ice Cream Co., Inc.
“This concept is often confused with the air temperature, which is defined as a measure of the heat content in the air. The air temperature may fluctuate due to door openings and other factors, but the product temperature must remain freezing.”
Santini adds that his drivers stop an average of 10-12 times with an average of 20-25 door openings. To help keep the “ice” in ice cream, Santini’s fleet relies on cold plates, like those in Great Dane’s Johnson refrigerated truck body.
Innovative Cold Plate Technology
Think of cold plates like cooler packs for a picnic. They’re large steel tanks mounted to the walls and ceiling of a refrigerated body filled with tubes of saline eutectic solution. At night, a condenser/compressor unit (similar to one in your fridge or freezer at home) refreezes the cold plates, enabling them to absorb heat throughout a delivery route the next day.
“Over the course of a 12-hour delivery cycle, cold plate refrigeration significantly lowers the operating expense associated with refrigerated transportation. Total operational costs can be as much as 90% less than a typical mechanical reefer system,” Santini added. “Overall, cold plates are the most reliable refrigeration systems available because they have few moving parts, unlike mechanical blowers. Therefore, cold plates are not susceptible to breakdown.”
Advanced Temperature Monitoring
The temperature in refrigeration systems used to be monitored mechanically, but now Navarro said they use a programmable logic control (PLC), which comes standard-equipped in Great Dane’s Johnson-AE (All Electric) model. The benefits offered by a PLC are:
- Greater accuracy of temperature readings over mechanical measures.
- The refrigeration system runs more efficiently and uses less energy, allowing for longer routes.
- Battery-powered fan systems can activate to circulate cold air as needed, such as scheduled delivery stops or when the engine is turned off.
Lightweight and Efficient Design
Another factor affecting efficiency is weight. Great Dane’s Johnson C Series refrigerated truck bodies use the same combination of high-density foam and high-strength interior lining as Great Dane trailers. This combination provides strength and the best-in-class thermal efficiency without sacrificing weight. It allows fleets to haul more frozen goods at a time and increase freight efficiency without worrying about melting.
As Santini puts it, “The Great Dane truck body is built to protect and insulate. Each body is lightweight and delivers maximum payload and the highest thermal performance rating in the industry.”
Customized Solutions for Different Needs
Navarro said it is important to understand what your company needs to get out of a trailer or truck body, and talking with our team can help you find the right solution for your fleet. Some customers, like Yumi, need to transport more than just ice cream on the same route.
“We are hauling different products within this vehicle, such as Hostess baked goods and a variety of different drink options that we offer, such as V8, Simply Lemonade, and coffee creamers, to mention a few,” Santini noted.
“We move these in insulated carts that prevent the products from freezing. Great Dane has been instrumental in customizing our vehicles so we can expand our capabilities and product portfolio.”
What you’re delivering is one aspect, but equally important is where you’re headed and how you’re operating day-to-day.
“Delivering ice cream in Arizona will be different than in New Jersey. The operating environment is very important,” said Navarro. “Trust the professionals, let us go through the interview, let us understand your route. We often go on routes with customers, and we discover new things and make recommendations.”
The solution needed to suit your fleet is as unique as your tastes. Whether your favorite frosty food is mint chocolate chip ice cream like Schmeits or you reach for a cookie ice cream sandwich like Navarro—and whether you’re hauling cross-country or doing daily deliveries—We offer trailers and truck bodies that can meet difficult demands, so we can all enjoy National Ice Cream Day.
