Lineage Westfield Improves ROI and Slashes Turn Times up to 80%

In the fast-paced, cold storage environment of Lineage’s Westfield, Massachusetts facility, clear communication is essential for maintaining peak efficiency and excellent worker safety. Previously, the team relied on traditional two-way radios that struggled to penetrate the freezer’s thick, insulated walls. General Manager Matthew Fortune explained his frustration, “The problem with those radios is they couldn’t penetrate the freezer wall. We only had about a 40% connectivity rate.”

This spotty connection meant that 60% of the time, messages didn’t go through, so team members had to physically go and pass along messages in person. Warehouse Supervisor Ivan Serrano shared what the experience felt like prior to Relay, “I would physically go into the freezer, go down the aisles and scream for the operator to make sure they were seeing me.” This wasted valuable time and created operational bottlenecks, especially when coordinating tasks across the vast warehouse. For a company that prides itself on innovation as a core value, Fortune knew that enhancing team connectivity was the key to better serving their customers and improving the site’s ROI.

“We have significantly reduced our turn times over the past three years and now average between 35 and 45 minutes. The Relay devices had a huge impact on that.”
– Matthew Fortune, General Manager, Lineage Westfield, Massachusetts Warehouse

Achieving 98.7% Connectivity with Real-Time Location

The introduction of Relay was a significant step forward for the Westfield facility. With 98.7% connectivity throughout the warehouse, the team could finally communicate instantly, whether they were in the freezer, on the dock, or in the office.

A key feature for Fortune’s team was the ability to see a live map of the facility showing the exact location of every team member with their Relay. “The Relay devices give us a real-time location of our operators, which we did not have before, and it helps us make smarter, faster decisions that translate to better service for our customers.” This new visibility allowed supervisors to direct freight and coordinate tasks with greater efficiency, eliminating guesswork and wasted movement.

Reducing Turn Times up to 80%

The operational improvements were significant. With streamlined communication and location tracking, the team saw a major impact on their benchmarks. Truck turn-around times were reduced from 3-4 hours to an average of just 35-45 minutes. The facility went from handling 35-40 trucks a day to efficiently managing over 50, with the capacity to handle up to 60 trucks on busy days.

This boost in efficiency had a direct impact on the facility’s bottom line. “The return on investment in this building has improved since we brought the Relay devices in,” Fortune stated. “We’ve been able to handle more trucks than we have in the past.”

Built for the Demands of the Warehouse

Beyond the operational improvements, the team was impressed by how well Relay devices held up in the harsh cold of their warehouse environment.

• Durability: In a warehouse environment, devices must perform and survive regular handling, as well as accidental drops. They’ve been durable, they’ve been strong, and they’ve kept operating the entire time,” shared Fortune.
• Battery Life: Even in the energy-draining cold of the freezer, the Relays last. “When you’re in the cold, the battery goes down a lot quicker,” explained Operations Manager Cristian Acevedo. “The Relays are in there for hours and they last in the cold.”
• Safety & Morale: The benefits have also extended to the team’s well-being. “These Relay devices have also helped us operate safer,” said Fortune. “If we see something that’s unsafe, we can call it over the Relay device and we know it’s going to transmit.” This reliability and connectivity also led to a noticeable boost in spirits. “Everybody was so happy,” Acevedo noted. “It just brought up their morale.”

Fortune’s advice to other facility managers is clear: “To increase efficiencies and ROI, I would highly recommend that people look into this program and try it out in their warehouse.”