The Benefits of Using
Public Refrigerated Warehouses (PRWs)

• Financial Advantage: Manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers alike can cut down—or entirely cut out—a significant capital investment, directly freeing up capital for research and development, marketing, or other revenue opportunities. The Return on Investment Kit, available at no cost helps processors, distributors, and retailers decide whether their needs can best be met through use of public refrigerated warehouses or construction and operation of private space.
• Professional Advantage: Public refrigerated warehouse/distribution facilities employ highly trained professionals who specialize in providing maximum protection for customer products—and most carry warehouse legal liability insurance to guarantee that they will care for your products as if they were their own. These refrigerated warehouse professionals are not only eligible for training at The World Food Logistics Organization Institute at the University of Oklahoma and the IARW-WFLO European Educational Program, but they enjoy access to the distinguished members of the WFLO Scientific Advisory Council (SAC). Members represent all aspects of food science and can respond to member queries—or member customer queries—about the freezing, thawing, tempering, and storage requirements for virtually any food product or commodity.
• Technology Advantage: Most public refrigerated warehouse and distribution facilities have the computer and telecommunications capability to network with customer computers and provide critical transaction data and analysis. Information about such important matters as inventory management, shipment histories, production scheduling, and stock replenishment can be routinely shared between computers, or even put under your control. You can have all the knowledge and information you ever want, including storage temperatures, while the refrigerated facility cares for your product.
• Distribution Advantage: Not only are public refrigerated warehouse and distribution facilities strategically located to connect with every imaginable mode of transportation, but customers can also take advantage of the reduced transportation costs that are available through consolidated shipments. Food manufacturers, especially, can enjoy greater flexibility in serving a huge but a changing market—by being freed of the diversion of funds necessary to acquire or construct an expensive refrigerated facility in one or several permanent locations.
• Core Competency Advantage: Many companies can successfully focus on three or four core competencies—but it's sometimes difficult to do all of them well simultaneously. It's easy to describe the core competency of public refrigerated warehouse and logistics companies: it is taking good care of, and adding value to, our customers' products. The refrigerated warehouse companies of IARW specialize in designing efficient facilities, controlling warehouse and logistics costs, providing high levels of sanitation, monitoring product temperatures, and providing all kinds of related services—blast freezing, product labeling, repacking, import/export certification, etc.

Related Links Consult our on-line directory of refrigerated warehouse facilities for the names, numbers, and web sites of IARW member companies in 43 countries on six continents. Let us show you how we can help move your products to market more easily, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.

Use the Return on Investment Kit to determine whether your company should use PRWs or build your own private warehousing space.