There is one great challenge in retail, especially in the foods sector: to guarantee the quality and safety of products sensitive to temperature changes without compromising operational efficiency or profitability.
The trajectory of the El Machetazo Group, one of the leading family owned retailers in Panama, in partnership with Emergent Cold LatAm, was the response to this challenge.
The critical challenge of the cold chain
El Machetazo operates more than 12 large hypermarkets with a high volume of perishable products, as well as the convenience Machetazo Express stores, aimed at serving the daily needs of the neighborhoods where they are located.
The challenges faced are common to large retail operations: high costs and investments, operational complexity and difficulty of expansion. Take a look at the principal points:
High operational and investment costs
Setting up and operating a temperature-controlled food storage and distribution infrastructure requires investments in refrigerated warehouses, control systems, and advanced technology.
These fixed costs reduce the capacity to invest in expansion and also brings risks of underutilization during periods of lower demand.
Lack of specialization
Operating a distribution center requires great operational dedication and a high technical level. The absence of specialization may affect the focus of El Machetazo negatively in their principal business: retail.
Operational complexity and risk
Maintaining the ideal temperature requires monitoring in real time, rigorous protocols and specialized teams. Any failure in the cold chain can result in loss of product, financial loss and risks to the safety and quality of the foods.
Lack of flexibility to scale
The expansion or the adjustment of storage capacity to attend to the seasonal demand makes it slow and costly due to the fixed assets, such as cold rooms.
The strategic solution: focus on the business
The partnership with Emergent Cold LatAm was not just for outsourcing, but one of strategic transformation for the El Machetazo Group.
The group replaced their fragmented systems by an optimized centralized distribution model, using the leading edge infrastructure of Emergent Cold LatAm.
How we help:
- We apply our technology to eliminate the need for direct investment, guaranteeing high standards of temperature control;
- We integrate systems to enable trackability and transparency in the flow of data in real time, affording greater operational control and basis for decision making;
- We adjust the logistics capacity according to the demand, making expansion into new markets faster and more secure, without the risk to one’s own infrastructure.
Results: more efficiency, sustainability and profitability
The results of the partnership were fast to appear and of high impact. According to Jose Erneider Ospina Gonzalez, Director of Supply Chain at the El Machetazo Group, the operations are now “significantly more efficient.”
Among the principal gains are:
- Optimized logistics processes in refrigerated storage, reducing the risk of rupture to the cold chain;
- Close collaboration to meet specific requirements — such as adjustments of temperature, delivery times and regulatory compliance — reinforcing trust and mutual growth;
- Integration of systems to guarantee fluid transactions and data in real time, favoring trackability, transparency and more agile decision making;
- Operational safety ensured for latest generation installations, enabling El Machetazo to concentrate fully on their strategic growth plan.
This efficiency is now evident in temperature-controlled food logistics and in the reduction of waste of sensitive products, such as fresh and frozen foods.
The partnership enabled better quality of the products and above all more sustainable and profitable growth. As Jose Erneider Ospina Gonzalez highlighted:
“It has been a positive transformation which directly supports our efforts to grow more sustainably and profitably.”
Follow the example of El Machetazo and rely on the solutions of Emergent Cold LatAm
The case history of success of El Machetazo with Emergent Cold LatAm is evidence that being able to count on a logistics operator specialized in the cold chain is a strategic move that enables retailers to focus on what they do best: serving their customers with quality and expanding their business with efficiency.
If your objective as a retailer is to improve operational efficiency, follow the example of El Machetazo Group and talk to us right away.
