[Anseong = E-Daily Reporter Han Jeon-jin ] As the thick door to the frozen food storage chamber swung open, a blast of cold air rushed out. While the temperature outside had soared to 32°C due to a late-summer heatwave, inside it was -18°C. Even though I was wearing a winter coat over my shirt, my fingertips grew numb before long. As the explanation continued with the door left open, the internal temperature rose to -17°C, and a warning alert immediately sounded on the cell phone of Pyo Su-hyun ( CJ LOGISTICS(000120) ), manager of the Anseong B2C Low-Temperature Center. Manager Pyo said, “The standard is -18°C. Even a 1-degree deviation triggers these alerts continuously.”

This was the scene at the CJ LOGISTICS Anseong B2C Low-Temperature Center in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, which I visited on the 8th. Where meticulous temperature control is critical, this fulfillment center stores products from 112 client companies—including sellers of refrigerated and frozen foods—and packages and ships them according to orders. Covering an area of 18,972 square meters (approximately 5,739 pyeong), it is equipped with six chambers. These consist of four frozen chambers, one refrigerated chamber, and one shipping area. The center handles 2,040 different product types, with a maximum daily shipment volume of 25,000 orders. The Anseong Center is where the cold-chain e-commerce logistics operations—previously run from hubs in southern Gyeonggi Province, such as Yongin, since 2021—were relocated in June of this year.

◇Real-time monitoring at -18°C… AI even optimizes picking routes

Maintaining sub-zero temperatures relies on thick walls and a dense network of sensors. The walls of the frozen chambers are 60 cm thick, which is thicker than those of standard frozen warehouses (40–50 cm). Wireless sensors, each about the size of a palm, were attached at regular intervals between the racks beneath the 8.5-meter-high ceiling. This is “LoIS OnDo,” a temperature and humidity monitoring system developed by CJ LOGISTICS’ TES Logistics Technology Research Institute. It has replaced the previous method where workers had to visually check thermohygrometers. If the temperature deviates from the set range, alerts are sent to center staff and headquarters employees, and major shippers can also review the temperature history of the zones where their products are stored.

Upon moving into the refrigerated zone, workers dressed in cold-weather gear moved back and forth between the shelves, pulling carts. The screens on the carts displayed instructions on which items to pick from which shelves, in what quantities, and into which boxes to place them. Over 80% of the orders here are “combined shipments,” where multiple items are packed into a single box. Workers scan the items and boxes to verify that they have been packed correctly, while AI (artificial intelligence) optimizes the order combinations assigned to each cart to minimize travel distance. Center Manager Pyo said, “Unlike ambient-temperature distribution centers that ship large quantities of a single item, this center requires selecting and packing multiple items for each order, making the process significantly more challenging.”

Inspection is also conducted in two stages. Styrofoam boxes, after workers have verified the items and quantities, travel along a conveyor belt and pass through a weight checker. The system detects errors if the actual weight deviates by even 3% from the target weight specified in the order information. When a 167-gram smartphone was placed into a box containing other items on the floor, a red warning light immediately turned on, and the box was diverted from the normal shipping line and classified as an “NG box.” Boxes that pass inspection are filled with cooling agents such as dry ice, automatically sealed, and labeled with a shipping label. The entire process—from order receipt to picking, packing, and shipment—takes less than 20 minutes. The automated line processes one box every 3 seconds.

Once packed, boxes are loaded directly onto delivery trucks from the shipping area inside the building. The facility is designed so that vehicles can enter the building itself, minimizing the time products are exposed to external heat. The Anseong Center is also close to major CJ LOGISTICS delivery hubs, including the Gonjiam Mega Hub (49 km), the Yangji Logistics Hub (31 km), and the Daejeon Hub (87 km). Orders placed by 11:00 a.m. qualify for same-day delivery; orders placed by 10:00 p.m. qualify for early morning delivery the next day; and orders placed by midnight qualify for next-day delivery. Notably, starting today, the cutoff time for early morning delivery orders has been extended by one hour, from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

◇“Empty Space Is the Enemy of Logistics”… Nationwide Expansion of Cold-Chain Fulfillment

AI is also used to select boxes. When products first arrive, a dedicated scanner measures their width, length, and height to register their volume. “LoIS O’Pack” adds the volume of refrigerant and cushioning material to this data to select the box with the least amount of empty space. This has replaced the previous method, in which workers determined the appropriate box by physically placing items inside to test fit, and since its introduction, the average box loading efficiency has improved by 10%. The Anseong Center has also expanded its styrofoam box sizes from 9 to 14 varieties. Yoon Cheol-ju, Head of the FT Division at CJ LOGISTICS, stated, “Empty space is the enemy of logistics,” adding, “Since lower loading efficiency leads to higher logistics costs, we are working to optimize the box sizes themselves.”

CJ LOGISTICS is also exploring ways to link this packaging information to the consumer’s online shopping experience. The approach involves displaying the shipping box and any empty space when items are added to a shopping cart, and providing guidance on how the box size or amount of refrigerant changes as more items are added. This initiative comes against the backdrop of stricter government regulations aimed at reducing excessive packaging in parcel deliveries, as well as significant consumer complaints about a few frozen food items being shipped in large boxes. Yoon, the division head, explained that the company is devising a plan to implement this feature in consultation with clients such as Naver.

Cold-chain fulfillment is a business that CJ LOGISTICS is cultivating as a key growth driver. As online purchases of refrigerated and frozen foods increase, demand for fulfillment services—which allow sellers to store, package, and ship products without maintaining their own cold-chain logistics networks—is growing. Among the 67 cold-chain logistics hubs operated by CJ LOGISTICS nationwide, there are five B2C hubs dedicated to e-commerce sellers, including the one in Anseong. As of the end of July, the company operated a total of 235 fulfillment centers, and as of the end of August, it served approximately 2,200 B2B and B2C clients—having secured nearly 400 new clients this year alone.

The company is also moving to secure additional hubs following the one in Anseong. Specifically, in the B2C sector, the plan is to expand primarily through multi-purpose centers capable of handling ambient, refrigerated, and frozen goods in a single location. Division Head Yoon stated, “The cold chain is a business area we intend to expand strategically,” adding, “We are pushing to expand our hubs not only in the Seoul metropolitan area but also in the Yeongnam, Honam, and Central regions.” He continued, “In the fulfillment sector, we are aiming for double-digit growth every year,” adding, “We view the B2C sector as having slightly higher profitability and growth potential than the B2B sector.”