The author outlines the problems encountered in the present ice cream delivery systems to retail outlets and makes suggestions for improvements.Agribusiness,

Mongelli, Robert C.

English

Research Papers in Economics

IMPROVING ICE CREAM DELIVERIES TO RETAIL
AND INSTITUTIONAL OUTLETS
Contributed by Robert C. Mongelli
Agricultural Marketing Research Institute
Beltsville, Maryland
The author outlines the problems
encountered in the present ice
cream delivery systems to retail
outlets and makes suggestions
for improvements.
INTRODUCTION
It was not until 1851 that ice
cream was manufactured on a large scale
in the United States. Around 191O, great
progress was made in the industry because
of a more complete understanding of the
science of ice cream making [1]. Today,
the ice cream industry is mature and
thriving; the need for improvement is
not in the quality of the product, but
in finding the delivery system that will
best preserve the quality. It is the
aim of this paper to indicate delivery
practices that will put a better prod-
uct in the retail store’s freezer.
PROCEDURE
The objectives of the research
were to: (1) evaluate five different
ice cream delivery systems by determining
labor productivity and ice cream tem-
perature fluctuations in each system
during delivery from plant to retail
store, (2) make recommendations to im-
prove existing ice cream delivery sys-
Lems, and (3) propose an ideal system. .
For rarh of the five delivery sys-
tems, tl~recdelivery routes were
selected which were representative of
management’s operation.
At all five distributors, ice
cream orders were assembled and trucks
were loaded during the afternoon or
evening of the day preceding the deliv-
ery. During assembly of the order in
the freezer, three half-gallon packages
of ice creams were selected to use as
test packages. A thermometer inserted
into the center of each package remained
in the package during the test.
As the truck was loaded, the test
packages were placed in the load as
follows: one at the front, one near the
center, and one at the rear inside the
truck body.
For each of the 15 truckloads, ob-
servations were made as to the methods
used and the time required to select and
assemble the order in the freezer, and
to load the truck. During assembling
and loading, the number of employees in-
volved and the elapsed time between
selecting and assembling the order in the
freezer and loading it in the delivery
vehicle were recorded.
At the first delivery stop, the
temperature of the rear test package was
read after it was removed from the truck.
The center test package was read at the
half-way stop. Likewise, the front test
package was read at the last stop. At
all the delivery stops, elapsed time for
assembling, transporting, and unloading
the individual orders was recorded.
System A - (Eight-Door Cold Plates, Pre-
order Call-in Delivery)
The refrigerated truck bodies used
in this system had four access doors on
each side (eight doors per truck). A
.Sqx@nbeh75/pagt 2cold-plate type refrigeration system
was used.
In loading the truck, one worker
handed packages which had been loaded
on four-wheel carts up to another worker
who stacked the packages inside the
truck. After loading was completed, the
electrical power cord of the truck
refrigeration system was plugged in for
the overnight holding period.
At each delivery stop, the driver,
while standing at street level, opened
one truck door at a time and reached in
to remove ice cream as called for on
the order for that stop. He usually
opened several doors, and sometimes all
eight doors, to fill an order.
As the driver removed ice cream
from the truck, he placed the ice cream
on a two-wheel or a four-wheel hand-
truck which he then pushed into the
store where he removed the ice cream and
placed it in the display case.
System B - (Double Rear Door, Cold
Plates, Preorder Call-in Delivery)
Each of the refrigerated truck
bodies had a double walk-in door at the
rear and one small reach-in door on the
right side near the rear of the truck.
A cold-plate type of refrigeration was
used.
In the truck-loading operation,
fully loaded four-wheel carts were pushed
out of the freezer across a nonrefrig-
erated loading dock and into the truck
by plant loaders. Inside the truck the
loaders positioned the carts and clamped
them against the truck’s sides, leaving
an aisle down the middle. A gap was
left between two of the carts on the
right side to allow access through the
side door. After truck loading was com-
pleted, the refrigeration system was
activated for the overnight holding
period.
At each delivery stop, the driver
entered the truck through the rear door,
pulled the door shut behind him, and
selected the items called for at that
stop. He placed the items on the floor
near the side door. After leaving the
truck through the rear door, he removed
the order by reaching through the side
door. He then moved the ice cream into
the retail store and placed it in display
cabinets.
System C - (Rear Door, Nitrogen, Pre-
order Call-in On Carts By Stop)
The delivery trucks using this system
had one walk-in door at the rear and were
refrigerated by liquid nitrogen. A power-
operated lift gate at the rear of the
truck was used to move carts up or down
between truck bed and street level.
Trucks were not precooled before being
loaded.
Loaded carts were pushed out of the
freezer across the dock, and into the
truck. Carts were secured inside the
truck with a brace bar to prevent move-
ment during transit.
At each delivery stop, the driver
rolled the carts out the rear door of
the truck and onto the lift gate, which
was lowered to the ground. He then pushed
the carts into the store where he either
placed the carts in a walk-in freezer,
or transferred the ice cream from the
carts into a display case. He then rolled
the empty carts from previous deliveries
to the truck for return to the ice cream
plant.
System D - (Large Rear Door, Cold Plates,
Driver-Salesman Deliveryj
Trucks in this system had”a large
rear door for loading and a small door
on the right side for unloading. Per-
manent shelves ran down each side of the
truck, except for a gap in the shelves
on the right side to allow access through
S’epxemba 75/puge 3the side door. A cold-plate type of
refrigeration was used.
When the driver returned from his
delivery, the loading crew rolled
loaded carts out of the bulk freezer
room and onto the dock. The crew then
manually passed packages from the cart
to the driver who placed the packages
on the shelves in the truck. After the
bulk ice cream items were loaded the
driver moved the truck to the other
freezer where novelty items were placed
in the truck by a gravity conveyor.
At each delivery stop, the driver
proceeded to the ice cream display case
in the store where he restacked the
items already in the case. He then
determined what replenishment was needed
and wrote up the order. After returning
to the truck, he picked the order from
the shelves in the truck and positioned
the packages near the side door. From
outside the truck, he removed the pack-
ages through the side door and stacked
them on a two-wheel handtruck. He then
wheeled the handtruck into the store and
placed the packages in the display case.
System E - (Six Door, Cold Plates, Driver-
Salesman Delivery)
System E was a driver-salesman de-
livery system with delivery vehicles
that had three doors on each side (six
doors per truck) and was refrigerated by
cold plates. The loading differed from
that of System D in that the driver
transferred packages from the four-wheel
carts into his truck without assistance
from the loading crew. When the loading
was completed, the truck’s refrigeration
system was plugged in for the overnight
holding period. Unloading was performed
in the same manner as in System D.
EVALUATION OF THE VARIOUS SYSTEMS
Labor costs for assembling and load-
ing the delivery vehicles were less with
systems that loaded trucks with orders
assembled on carts. Costs for the two
firms that used this method (Systems C
and B) averaged $9.96 and $10.50
respectively, per 500 packages. costs
for the three firms that stacked orders
in delivery trucks by hand (Systems E,
D and A) averaged $14.82, $15.50 and
$21.90 respectively, per 500 packages.
Tables 1 and 2 show the average labor
productivity and cost for assembling and
loading and unloading ice cream for the
five systems.
The lowest labor costs (System C)
using carts for unloading ice cream at
the distribution points, totaled $12.25
per 500 packages. The highest labor
costs (System A), using preorder call-in
and two-wheel carts for unloading,
totaled $20.44 per 500 packages.
Total labor costs (assembling and
loading and unloading) were lowest ($22.21
per 500 packages) in System C, where in-
dividual customer orders were assembled
on carts and the carts loaded on trucks,
the driver unloaded the carts with a
hydraulic tailgate, and moved them into
the retail store.
The temperatures shown in this paper
represent only a limited sample from the
systems studied, and the temperatures are
not representative of the frozen des-
sert industry. The data are only in-
tended to show variations in product tem-
perature with various handling methods
and to provide a guide for minimizing
product temperature rise during delivery.
Ice cream temperatures increased in
the five systems when the ice cream was
held in the trucks overnight. The system
that had the shortest door-opening time
per stop experienced a rise of only 6°F
from the time of loading to unloading at
the last stop (-150 to -9°F, respectively).
Table 3 shows the total door openings and
times and Table 4 shows the product tem-
peratures during delivery.
S’qztemb(m 75/pcLge 4 Sowvtd o~ FoodQhlx.ibu,-ticfi RueamhTable 1. Average productivity in assembly and loading of ice cream and unloading
by the five systems.
Labor Time
Average Assembly and Loading for Unloading
Number of Time per Packages per Per Per
System Packages Labor Package man-hour stop Package
Man-hrs. Man-min. & Man-min. Man-min.
A 425 5.2 .73 82.3 11 .58
B 523 300 .35 172.3 19 .48
c 555 3.1 .33 181.1 23 .35
D 400 3.3 l 50 121*1 22 .42
E 170 1.3 .47 127.8 6 .51
Table 2. Average labor costs for assembling and loading and unloading 500 packages
of ice cream by the five systems.
Assembly and Loading Truck Unloading
Time Required
cost ‘er 1/
Time Required
cost ‘er 2/
Total
System per 500 Packages 500 Packages– per 500 Packages 500 Packages– cost
Man-hr. Dollars Man-hr. Dollars Dollars
A 6.08 21.90 4.87 20.44 42.34
B 2.92 10.50 4003 16.94 27.44
c 2.77 9.96 2.92 12.25 22.21
D 4.13 15.50 3*47 14.56 30.06
E 3.92 14.82 4.30 18.06 32.88
&/ Based on an estimated wage rate of $3.60 per hour or $0.06 per minute for plant
employees, and $4.20 per hour or $0.07 per minute for the driver.
Z_/ Based on an estimated wage rate of $4.20 per hour or $0.07 per minute for the
driver.
Sqw@rtbvz 75/page 5Table 3. Average number of doors and length of time for door openings in
delivering ice cream by five systems
Truck Door Openings
Number Average Packages Total Total Time per Time
System of stops per Stop Number Time Package Per Stop
~. Min. Min.
A 21 20 93 63 .15 3.00
B 13 40 56 45 .09 3.46
c 9 64 19 42 .07 4.67
D 8 53 24 10 .02 1.25
E 15 12 51 12 .07 .80
Table 4. Average product temperature for five delivery systems.
Temperature of Product at-- -—
Loading First Stop Mid-stop Last Stop
System OF OF OF oF
A +14 i-2 o +5
B -19 -13 -7 -2
c -18 -3 +1 +4
D -22 -8 -4 -2
E -15 -lo -9 -9IDEAL SYSTEM
Based on the study reported here,
an ideal ice cream delivery system
could be devised that would comprise the
most efficient aspects of the five sys-
tems studied. Orders could be called
in by the retail stores and be pre-
assembled and loaded on carts by stop
at the warehouse freezer at loading
time. It is no greater effort for the
warehousemen to assemble and load a
cart by stop than by product type. But ,
if the preorder on carts system were
used, retail outlets would have to deter-
mine their own needs and not rely on
driver-salesmen. At unloading, drivers
would not spend time assembling store
orders in the trucks. Trucks should be
well lighted to avoid the need for
drivers to keep the doors open while
they work in the truck. In all systems
product temperatures rose when the ice
cream was held in the truck overnight.
Therefore, an ideal delivery system
would provide for loading the vehicle
the morning of delivery by using a rapid
loading method, such as preassembled
orders on mobile carts.
The following practices in one or
more of the systems tend to cause in-
efficiencies in ice cream deliveries:
At the Ice Cream Plant
1. Short order--The loading crew at the
freezer plant sometimes miscounted and
put a smaller quantity of an item on the
truck than called for on the load sheet.
Consequently, at one of the delivery
stops, the driver spent considerable time
looking for an item that actually was not
in the truck.
2. Misplaced items--Sometimes the loaders
would not put all of a particular item at
one location in the truck. For instance,
the load sheet might call for 20 half-
gallons of chocolate, and the loader
would put 16 packages in one compartment
and four in another. Subsequently, the
driver would spend much time trying to
locate the four packages that were
separated from the main group of 16.
With Systems D and E, however, the driver-
salesman had no trouble locating items.
Evidently, this was because he loaded
his own truck and knew the location of
all items. The drivers in Systems A and
B did not load their own trucks. Con-
sequently they spent more time in hunting
for items.
3. Uneven loading of compartmentized
vehicles--The loaders sometimes loaded
one compartment to the ceiling while
leaving other compartments empty. As a
result, the relatively high-stacked load
of ice cream toppled during transit.
Also, removal of the packages from the
middle of the high-stacked load was dif-
ficult for the driver.
4. Package labeling not visible--In
loading the truck, the loaders positioned
packages with the product labels facing
away from the driver, thus making it dif–
ficult for the driver to identify items.
5. Ice cream on nonrefrigerated dock--
Sometimes a pallet load of ice cream
would be brought out on the dock, and
half of the pallet load would be put into
a truck. Instead of returning the rest
of the pallet load of ice cream to the
freezer until the next truck was available
for loading, the pallet was allowed to
remain on the nonrefrigerated dock. Thus
the remaining ice cream was exposed to
warm air for some time before it was
loaded into trucks so that the ice cream
temperature went up.
Delivery Vehicles
1. Loose-fitting doors and gaskets, which
allowed cold air to escape and warm air
to enter, were observed on a few trucks.
.YowwtaL o~ Food DiJa%ibu,tion ReAauLeh S’q&rnbu 75/pugt 72. Poor interior lighting, which caused
drivers to leave their doors open oc-
casionally while assembling orders, was
observed at some delivery stops.
3. Heavy frost allowed to build up on
cold plates over a period of days
decreased refrigeration efficiency.
4. Truck floors covered with ice, which
caused packages to slide and load to
shift resulted in damaged and broken
packages. Also, ice was a safety hazard
to the driver as he moved inside the
truck.
At the Retail Store
1. Store personnel allowed ice cream to
sit on the floor for some time before
checking the items and putting the prod-
uct in the refrigerated display case.
2. Over orderin g--display case was not
large enough to hold the order, so some
of the ice cream had to be returned,
moved to a holding freezer, or trans-
ferred to another store.
3. Delivery restrictions--some stores
allowed delivery only at certain hours.
This practice made it necessary for the
driver to go out of his way to be at a
particular store at a stated time.
4. Improper maintenance--retailers who
maintained refrigerated storage rooms
and display cases improperly decreased
the salability and shelf life of the
product.
******
Sq.x&vnbcfi 75/page 8
REFERENCE
1. Sommer, Hugo R. Theory and Practice
of Ice Cream Making 1951, p. 1.

IMPROVING ICE CREAM DELIVERIES TO RETAIL AND INSTITUTIONAL OUTLETS

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