.webp)
A box of vaccines arrives two degrees above thepermitted range. A load of fresh produce loses its cold chain during a delay atthe dock. A pharma customer asks, “prove to me the temperature held,” and theonly answer available is a paper log, barely legible, filed three weeks afterdelivery.
These scenarios are more common than they should be.According to Global Market Insights, the global cold chain logisticsmarket is set to grow from around $429.1 billion in 2026 to $1.37 trillionby 2035, at a 13.8% annual growth rate. And according to data compiled byDickson Data and Contract Pharma, up to 30% of cold chain shipmentsexperience some kind of temperature deviation, while 20% oftemperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products arrive damaged or withsignificant excursions during transport.
As demand grows for temperature-sensitive products —vaccines, medicines, fresh food, chemicals — logistics teams face more pressureto prove, not just assume, that the cold chain stayed intact from start tofinish. This is where a transportation management system (TMS) with cold chaincontrol makes the difference between a costly incident and an auditabledelivery.
Cold chain logistics is the set of processes, equipment and controls thatkeep a product within a defined temperature range across the entire supplychain: storage, loading, transport, cross-docking and final delivery.
Any break in that range — known as a temperaturedeviation or excursion — can compromise the safety, effectiveness orquality of the product. In pharma, many medicines must stay between 2°C and8°C, while some mRNA vaccines require ultra-low temperatures down to -70°C.In food logistics, tolerances are often even stricter for food safety reasons.
Managing the cold chain isn't just a refrigerationchallenge — it's a data, traceability and documentary proof challenge.
Most cold chain breaks don't happen because of a lackof refrigerated vehicles or storage — they happen because of a lack of digitalvisibility and control over what's happening at every leg of the transport:
• Monitoringdisconnected from operations.Temperature sensors log data, but that data isn't connected to transportplanning, execution or documentation.
• Latealerts. If a deviation is only detectedon arrival, it's already too late to act.
• No digitalproof. Many companies still rely onpaper logs or isolated files that don't hold up as solid evidence during a GDP,FDA or customer audit.
• Manualprocesses at critical points. Pickup,loading, cross-docking and delivery are the highest-risk moments — and usuallythe least digitized.
• Incompletetraceability. Without an end-to-end shipmentrecord, managing a product recall or resolving a claim becomes slow and costly.
The result: damaged products, dissatisfied pharmacustomers, regulatory risk and avoidable financial losses.
cadis® treats cold chain management not as an isolatedmodule, but as an integrated part of transport — from pickup to delivery,within a single TMS platform.
cadis® automates continuous temperature tracking forsensitive shipments throughout the entire journey, with real-time alerts fordeviations or threshold breaches. This lets operations teams act duringtransport, rather than discovering the problem at the end.
Through mobile execution (the cadis® app), teams canverify vehicle or dock compartment temperature ranges at every critical point —pickup, loading, cross-docking, unloading and delivery — leaving a digitalrecord of every check.
Electronic Proof of Temperature (ePOT) turns sensor data and operational checks intoaudit-ready digital evidence, replacing scattered paper records with a single,traceable, accessible history.
With end-to-end shipment visibility across everytransport leg, cadis® makes it possible to quickly identify delays orexceptions and supports recall management and exception handlingwhenever a batch needs to be located or withdrawn.
Every shipment is backed by audit-ready documentationand digital proof of delivery, helping meet Good Distribution Practice (GDP),FDA/WHO requirements and the traceability demands of pharma and food customers.
Cold chain data is turned into Quality of Service(QoS) reports and root-cause analysis of deviations, helping quality andoperations teams fix recurring patterns — not just one-off incidents.
Adopting a TMS with cold chain control like cadis®delivers concrete advantages across different roles in the operation:
• Foroperations: fewer damaged-product incidentsthanks to early deviation detection and actionable alerts.
• For qualityand compliance: temperature documentation andproof ready for GDP, FDA or customer audits, without manually compilingrecords.
• Forcustomer service: real-timeshipment status visibility and digital evidence for any claim.
• Forleadership: reduced spoilage, lowerregulatory risk and reliable data to inform decisions on routes, carriers andpackaging.
• Forsustainability: optimized routes and lessproduct waste, complemented by solutions like cadisCARBON to report emissionsunder CSRD requirements.
While the pharmaceutical sector faces the mostregulatory pressure, cold chain control is just as critical for fresh andfrozen food, chemicals and any temperature-sensitive product. Theprinciples are the same: continuous monitoring, real-time alerts, digital proofand full traceability, applied within a single TMS platform instead ofdisconnected systems per product or customer.
It's a technology solution, typically built into aTMS, that monitors the temperature of sensitive shipments in real time,generates alerts for deviations, and produces compliance documentation anddigital proof for every delivery.
It's a digital record that combines temperature sensordata with operational checks carried out during transport, serving as auditableevidence that a shipment stayed within the required range.
Mainly due to a lack of connected visibility betweensensors, operations and documentation: the data exists, but it isn't integratedinto the transport workflow, which delays detection of and response to adeviation.
Yes. By automating temperature logging and generatingaudit-ready documentation at every transport leg, it reduces manual compliancework and eases regulatory inspections.
No. Fresh and frozen food, chemicals and anytemperature-sensitive goods require the same level of control, althoughregulatory thresholds vary by sector.
Controlling temperature no longer depends only onhaving the right vehicle or warehouse — it depends on having connectedvisibility, timely alerts and digital proof ready whenever a customer orauditor asks for it.
With cadis®, temperature monitoring, execution at thepoint of handling and electronic proof (ePOT) work within a single operationalflow, instead of living in separate systems.
Want to see how it works for your operation?
Cited Sources
• Cold Chain Logistics Market Size, Growth Forecasts2026–2035 – Global Market Insights
• Temperature Excursions: Insights from a Cold ChainExpert – Contract Pharma
• Cold Chain Management for Pharmaceuticals – DicksonData
• PharmaLogistics – cadis® software
