Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Paper Temperature Registers or Software for a Cold Chain Company
Paper temperature registers suit one small chamber that someone checks often, while software with sensors suits sites that must show a continuous record. Sensors log every reading, raise alerts when a chamber leaves its range and note who responded. GullySystem builds such monitoring, with sensors bought in your name.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
What a written register shows, and what it misses
A register shows the readings a person wrote down at set times, usually twice a shift. It is cheap, easy to start and familiar to every chamber operator. For one chamber that someone passes often, it can be enough.
It misses everything between entries. A door left open for an hour, a compressor trip at night or a long defrost cycle will not appear. Entries filled in later from memory look complete and prove little.
What sensors and alerts add
A sensor in each chamber reads the temperature at a set interval and sends it to a gateway. Each reading is compared with the chamber’s range. When it stays outside for longer than allowed, the named person on shift is called.
Every alert records who acknowledged it and when. Over a month, that history shows which chambers drift and which shifts respond slowly. Paper cannot show either.
- Readings at a set interval, not twice a shift
- Alerts by WhatsApp, SMS or a panel hooter
- Escalation when nobody acknowledges
- History by chamber, day and month
- A warning when a sensor goes quiet
Lots, rent and readings belong together
A client storing produce or cartons wants two things: the lot balance and the condition it was kept in. When both live in separate books, one client query means opening three records.
Software can hold each lot with its chamber and dates, then pull that chamber’s readings for the days the lot was stored. Rent per bag, pallet or tonne comes from the same inward and release dates.
Reefer trucks are a separate question
A reefer unit carries its own controller and often its own logger. Whether those readings can reach your office depends on the unit’s maker and on mobile coverage along the route. Check that before planning any screen.
The trip itself, with consignments, diesel, toll and a signed delivery copy, is ordinary transport work. A transport system handles it. Condition history is attached where the device can be read.
- Ask the reefer maker whether readings can be shared
- Check coverage on the routes you run
- Decide what record the consignee receives
Choosing between the two
Keep the register if you run one or two chambers, staff check them often and no client asks for a continuous record. Move to sensors when clients or your own losses call for proof between entries.
Sensors do not replace calibration. Each probe should be compared with a reference instrument on a schedule. Whether any record satisfies a licence or audit is a question for your adviser.
Start small. Fit one chamber, run it beside the register for a while, and compare the two.
Chamber monitoring plan sheet
One row per chamber, freezer and reefer unit. Columns list the product, the set range, how readings are taken today, who responds at night and when the probe was last checked. Blank cells show where a record is missing.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Will sensors make our records acceptable to an auditor?
Not on their own. Sensors keep readings, alerts and acknowledgements. Whether that meets the records your licence or auditor asks for is for your adviser to judge.
What happens when the site internet fails?
A gateway that buffers readings keeps recording and uploads them in order when the link returns. Ask any vendor to show this before you buy.
Do we need a sensor in every chamber?
Usually one per chamber, placed where the reading reflects the stored goods. A large chamber may need more, which a site visit settles.
Can rent bills and readings sit in one system?
Yes, if it is built that way. Lot records, rent and readings can share the chamber and the dates, so a client’s statement and its condition history come from one place.