In a new age of the dynamic world, technologies have made it possible to get fresh, perishable foods from one side of the world to the other without putting the integrity of the foods at risk. Similarly, state-of-the-art temperature-controlled containers and trailers make it possible to get valuable, perishables to areas of need. Cold storage is the one widely practiced method for bulk handling of the perishables between production and marketing processing. It is one of the methods of preserving perishable commodities in a fresh and wholesome state for a longer period by controlling temperature and humidity within the storage system. The cold storage of perishables has advanced noticeably in recent years, leading to better maintenance of organoleptic qualities, reduced spoilage, and longer shelf lives.
Significantly, one of the key players successfully operating the cold storage facility in Pune is Chame Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. (C.A.I.P.L.), a holistic solution provider in temperature-controlled warehousing and value chain that is complemented by the logistical support system managed by a team of seasoned professionals. Chame Agro Industries Pvt. Ltd. is a sister concern of DVC Process Technologists. DVC Process Technologists in itself is an EPC (engineering procurement and contractor) company for setting up edible oil plants. The firm designs, manufactures, installs, and commissions edible oil plants for a lot of clients.
Significantly as a part of its project, the company decided to diversify its business into other food industries, one of them being the Cold Store. Consequently, the idea was conceptualized in the year 2015 and started working on the cold store in the year 2017, which was commissioned in a record time of about 10 months in 2018. It was done very quickly, considering the large area that was involved. The total cold store constructed area is about 44,000 square feet and the total volume of the cold rooms collectively sums up to about 6 lakh cubic feet with a pallet storage area of about 3500 pallets.
Chame Agro Industries strives to provide end-to-end cold store facilities that are carefully designed to meet the clients' needs and purposes. The firm offers Pre Cooling, Ripening chambers, Sorting and Grading, Packing, Bulk breaking and repacking, Chiller Storage Room(up to +2 Celsius), Freezer Storage Room (up to -20 Celsius), and Blast Freezer for the storage of food article which mainly includes milk-based products, dry fruit, and spices. The firm also provides facilities for other imported items which are not predominantly produced in India, like blueberries, mulberries, and flavored yogurt which has a very big market. Further, the firm offers its own set of products which includes frozen pineapple, frozen mix- vegetable, frozen green peas, frozen custard apple pulp, frozen mango pulp, frozen American sweet corn, and many more.
The Cornerstones Anchor The Foundation
One of the key aspects of building a cold storage facility is the structure of the store, significantly,
Chame Agro Industries cold storage facility was built keeping the industry challenges in mind. The contemporaneity of Chame Agro Industries cold store is the usage of polyurethane foam PUF panels throughout the cold store that ranges from 60 mm of thickness till 150 mm of thickness depending on the temperature. With this, it ensures that there is no leakage, provides a greater level of hygiene, there is no mold growth, no infestation and it ensures that the temperature inside the room is maintained throughout the day as required. Further, the firm uses Freon as a refrigerant which gives excellent results, all the lining is done in copper piping as opposed to the civil cold stores using ammonia refrigeration that are either made of stainless steel or mild steel. The problem with using ammonia as a refrigerant is that it leaks from the valves and is absorbed into food articles at times. It also leads to corrosion of the piping which is used as a medium to transfer the refrigerant to-and-fro from the compressor or the plant room to the cold store.
Also, the entire cold store is coated with epoxy flooring which lasts longer than the conventional flooring system. One of the most significant features of epoxy flooring is that it does not crack or chip easily which adds to the advantage of zero infestation of any kind. Further, Chame Agro Industries cold storage facility is fully automated which runs on a PLC-based system with semi hermetically sealed compressors. The entire system can be manned by only one person throughout the day, which in particular, saves on manpower costs, and gives overall hygiene to the entire cold store.
Leaving No Stone Unturned
The cold store facility is situated at Pune in Baramati Taluka district with 60 metric ton Weighbridge, spread over the campus area of close to three acres so that it has ample space for making sure that any vehicle incoming or outgoing has enough area to stand by. Further, the firm has a dedicated dock for the unloading materials which are potentially unsorted in nature. After unloading, the products are sorted out and graded into qualities depending on the size, infestation, and age of the product. Once sorted, the products are boxed into cartons which are made of perforations to ensure that the ventilation is there and further goes in for pre-cooling. Significantly, the firm offers four pre-cooling chambers wherein it ensures that the humidity is not compromised upon. The firm offers 90 percent humidity rooms with a cooling facility up to five degrees so that it can rapidly cool the product without losing the configuration of the product. The firm is equipped with four cooling rooms each having 20 metric tons of incoming load which means four truckloads of material can be pre-cooled at any given point of time.
Chame agro industries strives to provide end-to-end cold store facilities that are carefully designed to meet the clients needs and purposes
Immediately after the pre-cooling process, the products are shifted into one of the six cold rooms, each having 900 metric ton capacities. These cold rooms are maintained with a temperature ranging between -18 to +8 degrees with humidity as required. Further, the material movement requires a lot of manpower and support from the material handling equipment. To make sure that the movement of the product is streamlined and does not involve a lot of people in handling the product, the firm is equipped with hand pallet trucks, electric pallet trucks a manual stacker, and one reach truck which has a total load capacity of nine meters of height with one metric ton. And finally, during dispatch, the firm takes the record of the temperature throughout the movement of the product. The materials are loaded in the vehicle only after the storage temperature is checked. The firm gives exact temperature that the client had asked using data loggers. Further, the firm also makes sure that everything goes through a proper schedule with documentation procedures.
Upcoming Products & Facility Having Enviable Proficiency
Recently, Chame Agro Industries ventured into the edible oil category and currently, the cold store has a setup of 120 metric tons storage of edible oil and subsequently packing into consumer packs right from 1-liter pouch all the way till 15-liters. The firm is supplying edible oil under its brand name 'Suryakisan' in the cities of Nasik and Pune. And as it forges ahead, Chame Agro Industries aspires to continue to remain in the business with an aim to ensure to make products like Green peas, mixed vegetables, and sweet corn available through its own brand i.e., Chame Agro into the retail market till Bangalore. Along with this, the firm is also contemplating venturing into manufacturing jaggery and storage & packaging of pulses. "We are looking forward to catering to the institutional clients as well as large scale consumers like food houses or industrial kitchens with basic items which are abundantly used and become a one stop solution for oil, pulses, and frozen items,” concludes Mr. D.V. Chame, Managing Director at Chame Agro Industries.
