Dairy & Frozen Food Manufacturing worked example

Cold Storage Days with average cold-chain demand of 600 cases / day: a worked example

This worked example runs the cold storage days numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: average cold-chain demand of 600 cases / day instead of the typical 1,200 cases / day. Calculate how much refrigerated or frozen inventory is needed to cover daily shipments through replenishment lead time plus safety stock.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Average cold-chain demand: 600 cases / day (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 1,200)
  • Production or replenishment lead time: 85 days (held at the documented default)
  • Cold storage safety stock: 1.1 cases (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Lead-time cold-chain demand = average cold-chain demand × production or replenishment lead time.
  • Protected days of supply works out to 6.42 cases at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Unprotected days works out to 7.06 days at these inputs.
  • Inventory works out to 600 pieces at these inputs.
  • Daily usage works out to 85 pieces / day at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where average cold-chain demand sits at 1,200 cases / day and the headline result is 12.83 cases, this scenario comes in 50% below the baseline at 6.42 cases.
  • Use it when setting reorder points, sizing freezer space, or checking whether current inventory covers a supplier or production lead time. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Protected days of supply: 6.42 cases (headline result)
  • Unprotected days: 7.06 days
  • Inventory: 600 pieces
  • Daily usage: 85 pieces / day

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Cold Storage Days calculator, set average cold-chain demand to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.