When you’re shipping temperature-sensitive products, maintaining the right conditions from origin to destination is critical. Even a brief period outside the required temperature range can affect product quality, performance, safety, or usability.
This is known as a temperature excursion, and depending on the product involved, a single excursion can result in product loss, replacement shipments, additional freight costs, customer dissatisfaction, and potential regulatory concerns.
Effective temperature-controlled packaging helps reduce these risks by protecting products against changing temperatures and unpredictable conditions throughout the shipping process.
What Is a Temperature Excursion?
A temperature excursion occurs when a temperature-sensitive product is exposed to conditions outside its acceptable temperature range for a period of time.
For example, a product designed to remain refrigerated may become too warm while sitting in a delivery vehicle or distribution facility. A product that needs protection from freezing could also experience an excursion when exposed to extremely cold temperatures during transit.
Temperature excursions can occur at virtually any point in the shipping process, including during loading, transportation, storage, transfers between facilities, or final delivery.
For companies shipping temperature-sensitive products, preventing these excursions starts with understanding the conditions a shipment may encounter and selecting packaging designed to provide appropriate thermal protection.
What Causes Temperature Excursions During Shipping?
Shipping environments aren’t always predictable. A package may encounter dramatically different conditions between the time it leaves your facility and the time it reaches your customer.
Several factors can increase the risk of a temperature excursion.
Extreme Outdoor Temperatures
Summer heat and winter cold can significantly affect the conditions inside trucks, warehouses, loading docks, and delivery vehicles. Packages may also spend time exposed to outdoor temperatures during loading and unloading.
Unexpected Shipping Delays
A packaging system designed around a specific transit time may be challenged when a shipment is delayed. Weather events, carrier disruptions, weekends, holidays, and other unexpected circumstances can extend the amount of time a product spends in transit.
Improper Packaging
The insulation, refrigerant, packaging configuration, and amount of empty space within a package can all affect thermal performance. A one-size-fits-all approach may not provide adequate protection for every product or shipping scenario.
Incorrect Refrigerant Selection or Placement
Gel packs, ice bricks, dry ice, and other refrigerants perform differently depending on the application. The quantity and placement of refrigerants within a package can be just as important as the refrigerant itself.
Changing Conditions Throughout the Route
A shipment may move through several different environments before reaching its destination. Conditions at the point of origin may be very different from those at a distribution hub or final delivery location.
This is why temperature-controlled shipping requires looking at the entire journey rather than simply the temperature when the package leaves your facility.
Which Products Need Temperature-Controlled Packaging?
Temperature-sensitive shipping is used across a wide range of industries. Products that may require thermal protection include:
- Pharmaceuticals and biologics
- Medical and healthcare products
- Food and specialty food products
- Chemicals and industrial materials
- Laboratory and research materials
- Specialty products with defined storage requirements
The appropriate packaging solution depends on the product, acceptable temperature range, expected transit time, shipping method, destination, and environmental conditions.
What Can a Temperature Excursion Cost Your Business?
The cost of a failed temperature-sensitive shipment can extend far beyond the value of the product inside the box.
Product loss may be the most immediate expense. If product integrity cannot be confirmed after an excursion, the shipment may need to be discarded and replaced.
There may also be additional shipping costs associated with sending a replacement, including expedited freight, additional packaging materials, and labor.
A delayed or unusable shipment can also lead to customer dissatisfaction. Your customer’s operations may depend on receiving the product on time and in usable condition.
For regulated or highly sensitive products, temperature excursions may also create quality assurance, documentation, or regulatory concerns.
Preventing an excursion is often far less expensive than managing the consequences after one occurs.
How Does Temperature-Controlled Packaging Help Prevent Excursions?
Effective temperature-controlled packaging creates a protective environment around the product, helping reduce the impact of external temperature changes during transportation.
A complete packaging system may incorporate several components.
Insulated Shipping Containers
Insulated packaging helps slow heat transfer between the product and the outside environment. The appropriate insulation depends on the product’s requirements, shipment duration, and anticipated conditions.
Refrigerants and Ice Bricks
Refrigerants can help maintain the required internal temperature for a specified period. Selecting the right type, quantity, and configuration is an important part of developing an effective packout.
Proper Packaging Configuration
How the product, insulation, refrigerants, and empty space are arranged within the package can affect performance. A properly designed configuration helps create more consistent conditions around the product.
Packaging Designed Around Transit Time
A shipment traveling overnight has different requirements than one expected to remain in transit for several days. Packaging should account for both the expected shipping duration and reasonable delays that may occur along the way.
Why Temperature-Sensitive Packaging Should Be Designed for the Shipment
There isn’t one temperature-sensitive packaging solution that works equally well for every product.
A successful system should take into account factors such as:
- Required product temperature range
- Product size and quantity
- Expected transit duration
- Shipping method
- Seasonal and ambient temperatures
- Destination
- Refrigerant requirements
- Packaging dimensions and configuration
Considering these factors together can help businesses avoid both under-packaging and unnecessary packaging costs.
For organizations with demanding temperature requirements, testing or validating a packaging configuration can provide additional insight into how the system is expected to perform under defined conditions.
Prevention Starts Before the Shipment Leaves
Temperature excursions don’t always happen because of one major failure. Often, they result from a combination of changing temperatures, unexpected delays, packaging choices, and shipping conditions.
That’s why prevention begins before the product ever leaves your facility.
By evaluating the product’s requirements, expected shipping environment, transit duration, insulation, refrigerants, and packaging configuration, businesses can build a more reliable approach to shipping temperature-sensitive products.
The right temperature-controlled packaging doesn’t just protect what’s inside the box. It can help protect your investment, your customer relationships, and the integrity of your product from the moment it ships until it reaches its destination.
Find the Right Temperature-Controlled Packaging Solution
Every temperature-sensitive shipment presents its own set of requirements. EmmPac can help you evaluate your product, temperature requirements, transit conditions, and packaging needs to identify a solution that makes sense for your application.
Talk with an EmmPac Packaging Specialist to find the right temperature-controlled packaging solution for your next shipment.
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