Ambient Temperature Monitoring Expected for Post-Pandemic Boom

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Ambient temperature monitoring is an important part of ensuring safe supply chains, storage facilities, and quality control for temperature-sensitive products. The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns brought many developed economies to a standstill or slowdown. However, the need for ambient temperature monitoring is actually poised to experience a significant surge of growth as a result of the pandemic.

Many people are unaware of the role environmental data collection plays in our daily lives. From delivering quality food to consumers to expanding access to medical products for patients, ambient temperature monitoring is essential. It is also a crucial part of a comprehensive public health policy since it can help to prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness and deliver medical products to healthcare centers.                             

A variety of policies and technologies are used to implement a successful ambient temperature monitoring strategy. According to this article from Dickson, data loggers and remote monitoring systems play an important role in the process of designing these guides, as do the operational procedures of public and private organizations. Let’s first understand exactly what ambient temperature monitoring is and then look at the most common use cases for it and why the demand for temperature monitoring is increasing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is Ambient Temperature Monitoring?

Ambient temperature monitoring refers to the process of collecting and recording the temperature of a particular area, especially the space surrounding a particular object, asset, or piece of equipment. The word ambient in this context is defined as “relating to the immediate surroundings.”  More specifically, the phrase refers to the monitoring of the temperature of the air within a specific area.

A variety of technologies are used for ambient temperature monitoring. In the past, analog thermometers were used for this purpose, often with the addition of an old-fashioned piece of paper and pen. However, as digitization has swept through all major industries, many digital technologies including electronic temperature monitors and data loggers have been implemented.

Electronic temperature monitors are devices that measure temperatures in specific areas. Similarly, data loggers are electronic devices that measure and record environmental data. It’s important to note that data loggers, by definition, not only measure but also record data that can be accessed and reviewed at a later time.

Some data loggers are also compatible with various software products and data analyzers that can help users parse and draw conclusions from data. These softwares can empower data scientists to draw important business intelligence inferences from collected data.  In this sense, information collected through ambient temperature monitoring can be used to inform business and even public health decisions.

In fact, some data analyzing softwares can even use artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to parse data and highlight certain insights. Machine learning can do the bulk of the work when it comes to crunching the numbers and recognizing patterns in datasets.

How Do Industries Use Ambient Temperature Monitoring?

Ambient temperature monitoring is used extensively in the food and beverage industry, particularly when food products are being transported or stored. Ambient temperature monitoring is vital in these circumstances since many food products expire if exposed to temperatures that are too high. That’s incredibly important because delivering expired food products to retailers and consumers represents a huge risk for a foodborne illness outbreak and a public health catastrophe.

Data loggers can be used at each point in the food products supply chain process to create what is known as a cold chain, or temperature-controlled supply chain. Reliable cold chains can actually save lives by preventing foodborne illnesses. Moreover, data loggers can store data so that if a foodborne illness outbreak occurs, the cause can be traced back to a defective refrigeration system or storage facility.

Supply chain management has come into the forefront of public view in light of recent supply chain failures, which have resulted in lower supplies for retailers.  Consumers are noticing fewer options when shopping for goods as a result of supply chain pressure. This goes to show why building reliable, safe, and often temperature-controlled supply chains are so important.

Ambient temperature monitoring is also used extensively in the healthcare industry for the storage and transport of temperature-sensitive medical products. This has become particularly relevant today since vaccines for COVID-19 require extremely low temperatures during transport and storage.

How COVID has Affected Ambient Temperature Monitoring

Since all major COVID-19 vaccines including the Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines need to be stored at low temperatures, ambient temperature monitoring has become extremely important.

Reliable cold chain procedures are necessary to deliver vaccines from manufacturers to healthcare centers. In most cases, vaccine manufacturers ship vaccines in temperature-controlled shipping containers. Ideally, ultra-low temperature freezers are used to store vaccines upon arrival.

Healthcare professionals must ensure that shipping containers are not damaged and confirm the receipt of vaccines to notify manufacturers. Data loggers are used throughout the shipment and storage of vaccines to make sure they do not expire and aren’t compromised. They can also use data loggers to solve a multitude of other logistical problems associated with the cold chain.

The pandemic has driven large investments into cold chain technologies to develop new systems to safely ship and store medical products .

What Kind of Growth Can Be Expected?

Given that investors are interested in contributing to businesses related to cold chain storage, the industry is projected to grow substantially in the coming years.

Many Wall Street investors see an opportunity for large returns in cold chain technologies as well as the data loggers that are necessary for reliable cold chains.

Aside from the food and beverage and healthcare industries, ambient temperature monitoring is used extensively in the IT industry. Servers and various kinds of hardware must be kept at adequate temperatures in order to continue optimal functioning. Ventilation and fan systems are often used to cool IT infrastructure, and data loggers can be set up to alert owners if IT equipment is overheating.

Data loggers play a vital role in many other sectors as well, including the automotive, aerospace, and agricultural industries. That means that investors can get exposure to several different areas by investing in companies producing data loggers. It also indicates the trend towards future growth for companies manufacturing data loggers and electronic temperature monitors.

In conclusion, ambient temperature monitoring is set for a significant cycle of growth considering its necessity in transporting medical products, as well as its important role in many other industries. Producers of electronic temperature monitors and data loggers are already receiving overwhelming interest from investors who hope to fund their growth and help them meet the demand they’re experiencing.



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