Client: National Cold Chain Logistics Provider Industry: Chilled & Frozen Distribution Challenge: Excessive false alarms and fragmented incident visibility Solution: Full Sematics® Fleet+ deployment with contextual alert logic and incident automation
Introduction: Beyond Visibility, Toward Intelligence
Legacy systems had become a liability.
A leading cold chain operator approached Sematics® after struggling with a patchwork of unlinked GPS trackers, temperature loggers, and siloed telematics software. The outcome was a daily flood of irrelevant alarms, inconsistent incident data, and zero trust in the system's output.
With compliance pressures mounting, they needed a single, intelligent platform - not just to see what was happening, but to understand and respond.
Sematics® deployed its integrated Fleet+ suite, combining cutting-edge vehicle hardware with logic-driven software configuration. The results were immediate and measurable.
Problem Summary: False Alarms, Frustrated Teams
The client's old systems triggered constant temperature alarms, particularly while parked at depots with refrigeration switched off - a known safe state. As a result, genuine events were missed in the noise.
| Key Pain Points | Description |
| Alarm fatigue | Drivers and coordinators ignored repeated false alerts |
| Lack of refrigeration insight | No differentiation between powered vs idle refrigeration states |
| Poor spatial awareness | GPS data wasn’t tied to geofences or site-specific logic |
| Incident gaps | No integration of driving behaviour or event context into incident reviews |
What Sematics® Delivered
Sematics® designed and implemented a fully integrated Fleet+ monitoring stack, including:
- BLE Sensors inside cargo compartments for real-time temperature data
- Hardwired GPS units with onboard geofencing and location tagging
- Fridge-on/off detection, correlating power state with load integrity
- Dual-facing dashcams, with fatigue, distraction, and incident recording
- Weather API feeds to embed ambient risk into temperature analytics
Smarter Monitoring Through Context
Sematics® doesn’t just collect data - it interprets it. The core transformation came from context-aware event logic, which drastically reduced irrelevant alerts.
| Monitoring Rule Example | Outcome |
| Fridge off + vehicle inside depot geofence | No alert triggered |
| Temp deviation + fridge running + vehicle en route | Alert raised and incident workflow created |
Intelligent Incident Management
Every validated excursion in Sematics® triggers an automated, auditable workflow:
- Root Cause + CAPA: Teams record investigations, assign corrective and preventative actions
- Escalations: Automated by severity, asset, location, and time-of-day rules
- Full traceability: Data includes temperature, refrigeration state, location, and camera footage
- Audit-ready reports: Generated automatically, complete with sign-off trails
Layered Insights: External Risk Meets Internal Monitoring
Spoilage risk is shaped not just by equipment failure, but by ambient conditions. During hot spells, brief door-open events can breach product safety thresholds quickly.
Sematics®’ weather-integrated platform adjusts dynamically:
| Feature | How It Helps |
| Live weather feed integration | Contextualises excursions with ambient risk |
| Heatwave tagging | Flags vulnerable routes and time windows |
| Dynamic thresholds | Raises or suppresses alerts based on external conditions |
| Defensible post-incident data | Removes ambiguity in investigations and improves client communication |
Safer Fleets via Integrated Dashcams
The addition of dual dashcams and DSM units gave operations teams a new layer of understanding.
- Real-time road and driver footage for live and retrospective reviews
- AI analysis of driver behaviour - distraction, fatigue, mobile usage
- Incident context - for example, excessive idling during missed delivery windows
- Evidence for training, insurance, and compliance audits
Results
| Metric | Before | After Sematics® Fleet+ |
| Nuisance alerts | 100s per day | 🔻 80% reduction |
| Average incident resolution | ~6 hours | 🔻 50% faster |
| Audit report preparation | Manual, time-consuming | 🔻 60% time saved |
| On-road incident verification | Inconsistent or missing | ✅ 100% validated with full context |
Why Sematics® Made the Difference
The shift wasn’t just technical - it was strategic. Sematics® allowed the client to focus on what matters, filtering out environmental noise and delivering precise, actionable insight.
Instead of asking “Did something go wrong?”, they could now ask:
- Where exactly did the breach occur?
- Was the fridge running?
- What were the ambient conditions?
- What was the driver doing at the time?
This is cold chain control at operational depth. Delivered at scale.
Want to implement Fleet+ across your logistics network?