PL Cold last week officially opened its first cold storage warehouse, a 300,000-square-foot frozen food (-10 Fahrenheit degrees) storage facility in Greenfield, Indiana, just east of Indianapolis and adjacent to six major interstates, including I-70. 

“With our addition of dedicated deep-frozen food capacity, Progressive Logistics and PL Cold now have more than 1-million square feet of top-line storage options in the Indianapolis metro, one of the most dynamic logistics markets in the Midwest,” said Douglas Hayes, co-founder and CEO of Progressive Logistics. 

Founded in 2005, Indianapolis-based Progressive Logistics provides climate-controlled, SQF and Organic-certified storage space for manufacturers in the Midwest. 

The warehouse marks the first cold storage development under its recently-formed sister company, PL Cold, and sits adjacent to Progressive Logistics’ facilities.

“We're seeing a number of our current customers that are now going into the frozen categories,” Hayes said. “We're working on contracts where they will come and drop off frozen, pick up ingredients from next door at the climate-controlled Progressive Logistics location, take them back to production, produce their products and bring it back frozen. I think we're in a unique position, having the two companies side by side.”  

Developed in partnership with Ambrose Property Group and built by ARCO Design/Build Indianapolis, the state-of-the-art building is equipped with 40 doors, each outfitted with vertically-stored dock equipment and an 80-foot deep loading area. 

Specially-designed VNA (very narrow aisle) racking built by Frazier offers over 38,000 pallet positions. Racks are built atop 4-inch curbs to prevent product damage and provide a cleaner, safer environment for employees. 

"We are finding with all of the consolidation in the warehousing industry that the needs of the customer are being replaced by the wants of the larger warehouse networks. For PL Cold, customer service is, and always will be, the most important consideration,” said Mark Teicher, vice president of Operations at PL Cold. “We have designed a building and trained our staff to ensure that we will be able to accurately and efficiently load trucks far more quickly than the industry standard time of two hours. Our target time is at 30 minutes because with the space and the attention to detail that we put in turning product, we can actually get people in and out much more quickly. And I have to say for our first week, we've, met that target every time.”  

Other features include access control and video surveillance systems, USDA import/export inspection capabilities, a modern warehouse management system and an ALTA Refrigeration EXPERT system. The refrigeration system provides temperature flexibility with the capacity to convert storage areas from freezer to cooler conditions based on customer needs, while using non-hazardous synthetic refrigerant in lieu of a traditional ammonia-based system, to reduce energy and water usage.  

There is room for on-site expansion and Hayes said he anticipates adding another 100,000 square feet of freezer space next year.

“Our goal is to be the premier provider in Indianapolis,” he said.