FMA Summits
Reduce Failures, Prevent Excursions, and Increase Uptime Across Your Cold Chain
A practitioner-led summit for cold storage operators, cold chain leaders, and the design-build teams delivering new builds and expansions. Align on specs, commissioning, cutover, and handoff standards that protect uptime, throughput, and service levels.
This is not a trade show. Delegate seats are capped to keep the room senior and implementation-focused. Solution providers participate through curated 1:1 meetings only.
Operator reality ↔ design-build solutions
Cold storage demand is outpacing supply. Operators, shippers, and developers face pressure to expand capacity while maintaining uptime and preventing temperature excursions. This summit pairs what failed in real facilities with the fixes that prevented recurrence—and ties each decision to downstream service levels, dwell time, and throughput.
- VP/Director of Cold Chain Operations
- VP/Director of Supply Chain
- VP/Director of Engineering
- Capital Projects / Construction Leaders
- Facilities Planning / Refrigeration
- Cold Storage GMs / Network Planning
- Developers / Investors / REITs
- 3PL cold storage operators
- Food & beverage manufacturers
- Foodservice distribution
- Grocery & retail DCs
- Meat & poultry processors
- Pharma / life sciences
- E-commerce / last-mile
- Refrigeration OEMs + controls
- Automation + material handling
- Design-build + MEP + commissioning
- Envelope + insulation + panels
- Doors, docks, infiltration
- Power systems + resilience
- Fire protection + compliance
- Grid resilience + backup power
- Redundancy + excursions
- Automation commissioning
- Envelope + vapor continuity
- Dock + infiltration control
- Fire protection + AHJ
- Energy + demand charges
What this summit is — and what it’s not
Built for operators who need answers, not brochures.
Not this
This
Why operators trust FMA Summits
Real operators explain the format. This inaugural summit follows the same proven structure.
Estée Lauder Companies
Sanofi
FBI
Principia College
Who this summit is built for
A working room for leaders responsible for uptime, capacity, and expansion outcomes—whether you operate cold storage, build it, or manage the supply chain that depends on it.
If any of these are on your desk, you belong in the room
What you leave with
- Commissioning & turnover deliverables list
- Spec standards to share across teams/sites
- Uptime & outage-response playbook templates
- Redundancy & monitoring “must-haves”
- Expansion & phasing decision framework
- Curated intros to relevant solution teams
14 paired case studies (operator reality ↔ design-build fix)
Each item expands to show OPS (what failed) and DB (what to spec, build, commission, and turn over to prevent recurrence). Every failure is tied to throughput, dwell time, and service levels.
Grid resilience and backup power
Outage playbooks: drills, failover, downtime minimization
Drills, staffing, escalation, monitoring, and recovery sequences that prevent excursions and protect order cutoffs.
Generator vs microgrid: sizing for refrigeration loads
Inrush, startup sequencing, load shedding, runtime math, and restart-ready design. Sponsors: power systems, generators, microgrids.
Refrigeration redundancy and excursions
Excursions: root causes, detection, recovery under traffic
Trigger, detection, response, and the fix that eliminated recurrence—including claims and service impacts.
Ammonia / CO2 redundancy: practical designs
Remove single points of failure and define alarm maps. Sponsors: refrigeration OEMs, controls, monitoring.
Automation + WMS/WCS integration
AS/RS cutover failures: what broke and how throughput was stabilized
Integration failures, downtime risk, and operational changes that protected shipping windows.
Cutover + rollback: handoff plans that prevent downtime
Staging, commissioning, rollback scenarios, and go-live sequencing. Sponsors: automation, material handling, WMS/WCS.
Envelope and vapor continuity
Condensation, frost, and ice under live traffic
Penetrations and transitions that failed and the maintenance burden that followed.
Vapor detailing: inspection points and handoff checklist
Roof, wall, transitions, joints, thermal breaks, and QC. Sponsors: insulation, envelope, panel systems.
Doors, dock, and infiltration control
Infiltration under volume: what holds up at scale
High-cycle door performance, frost management, and excursion prevention during peak shipping windows.
Door and dock specs that prevent condensation
Spec, placement, airflow, and controls that stop infiltration failures. Sponsors: doors, dock equipment, seals.
Commissioning and turnover deliverables
As-builts didn’t match reality: what it cost
Documentation gaps, training gaps, missing spares, alarm maps—and the downtime they caused.
The handoff package: tests, training, spares, alarm maps
What must be delivered at turnover so the facility runs on day one and year two. Sponsors: DB/MEP, commissioning.
Floor systems and thermal breaks
Floor heave, cracking, and frost damage: year-two failures
What happens when insulation, drainage, or thermal breaks fail under load and traffic.
Under-slab design: insulation, drainage, thermal breaks
Spec, installation, and inspection protocols that prevent costly repairs. Sponsors: flooring, coatings, insulation.
Lighting and energy management
Lighting failures in freezer environments: what breaks and why
Cold temperature failures, energy waste, and maintenance burden.
LED specs for freezer environments + controls
Cold-rated fixtures and controls to reduce energy without risk. Sponsors: lighting, controls, EMS.
Air quality and humidity control
Moisture ingress: condensation, ice buildup, safety risk
How uncontrolled moisture creates maintenance and safety issues under peak movement.
Dehumidification + air locks: design that eliminates moisture
HVAC, dehumidification, vestibules, and air curtains that keep humidity controlled. Sponsors: HVAC, dehum, air curtains.
Fire protection and AHJ compliance
Compliance surprises: what was missed and what it cost
Violations, retrofits, and the cost of discovering gaps late.
Fire protection specs for cold storage
AHJ coordination, dry vs wet systems, and inspection access. Sponsors: fire protection, detection, suppression.
Energy efficiency and demand charges
Demand charges destroying ROI: the surprise drivers
Peak loads, startup sequences, and the real bill impact on $/case.
Load management + thermal storage strategies
Controls, load shifting, thermal storage, and integration paths. Sponsors: EMS, controls, thermal storage, battery.
Expansion and capacity planning
Expansion mistakes: what would change if rebuilt
Over-building, under-sizing, and phasing decisions that slowed time-to-revenue.
Modular design + phased expansion: right-sizing for growth
Phasing, modular systems, infrastructure planning. Sponsors: DB/MEP, modular systems, consulting.
E-commerce and last-mile cold storage
Urban fulfillment failures: what broke at scale
High-velocity order profiles, tight temp windows, and fixes that restored SLAs.
Micro-fulfillment hubs: design for speed and food safety
Urban constraints, automation integration, and cold integrity. Sponsors: developers, last-mile, automation.
Sustainability and green refrigeration
Decarbonization targets without uptime risk
Sustainability goals and refrigerant transitions under operational reality.
Natural refrigerants + electrification: ROI and implementation
CO2/ammonia transitions, controls, and energy strategy. Sponsors: natural refrigerant OEMs, energy partners.
Why solution providers trust FMA Summits
Curated access to decision-makers through structured, pre-scheduled conversations—without the trade show noise.
LG Electronics
GE Vernova
PowerSecure
Solar EV Solutions
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about format, speakers, and what makes this summit different.
This is an inaugural event — how do I know it will be good?
FMA Summits has delivered 50+ curated summits since 2018 for Fortune 500 operators. This summit follows the same format: small room, paired case studies, curated meetings, operator-first programming.
Who are the speakers?
Operator presenters are finalized first. Solution provider presentations are matched to operator failures to ensure relevance. Presenters are practitioners—no theory-only talks.
Is this a vendor trade show?
No exhibit hall, no booth traffic. Solution providers participate through curated 1:1 meetings with operators who requested to meet them.
Will I leave with usable takeaways?
Yes. You leave with commissioning checklists, handoff standards, excursion response playbooks, and spec alignment frameworks you can implement immediately.
Can I bring my team?
Yes. Team pricing is designed for the leaders who will implement: operations, engineering, capital projects, supply chain.
Refund policy?
Full refund if you cancel 30+ days before the summit. If you attend and don’t find actionable value, we’ll refund registration—no questions asked.
Bring your team. Leave with a preventable-failure playbook.
If you are expanding, automating, retrofitting, or stabilizing a live cold storage facility, this summit is engineered for alignment between operations, builders, and supply chain leaders who own service levels.
Summit Schedule
Three days engineered for outcomes: operator case studies, working sessions, and curated 1:1 meetings tied to reliability and expansion execution.
3-Day Summit Overview
View detailed schedule
| Time | Day 1 · Wed Oct 7 | Day 2 · Thu Oct 8 | Day 3 · Fri Oct 9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:00am | Corporate dining & networking | Corporate dining & networking | |
| 8:00–10:00am | Operator + partner case studies | Operator + partner case studies | |
| 10:00am | Hosted networking (meeting room) | Hosted networking (meeting room) | |
| 11:00am | Operator + partner case studies | Operator + partner case studies | |
| 12:00pm | Pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings (lunch) | Pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings (lunch) | |
| 1:00pm | Operator + partner case studies | Operator + partner case studies | |
| 2:00–5:00pm | Partner setup & registration | Curated 1:1 meetings + networking blocks | Wrap-up meetings + departures |
| 5:00–7:00pm | Partner setup & arrivals | Private reception + dinner |
Event Location
Hilton Chicago / Oak Brook Hills Resort & Conference Center · Oak Brook, IL
A delegate-friendly venue with the space and layout to run curated 1:1s, paired case studies, and private networking built for focus and outcomes.
Hotel info & rooms →Secure your seats
Full access to the program, meals, receptions, and curated introductions with solution providers relevant to cold storage operations and expansion.
| Seats | Package | Investment | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solo delegate | $2,900 (per delegate) |
One leader evaluating options or standards. | Buy 1 seat |
| 2 | Two-person team | $5,800 (total) |
Facilities + engineering attending together. | Buy 2 seats |
| 3 | Core leadership team | $5,550 (total) |
Ops, engineering, capital projects aligning on execution. | Buy 3 seats |
| 4 | Project squad | $7,400 (total) |
Refrigeration, power/energy, ops as one decision unit. | Buy 4 seats |
| 5 | Enterprise team | $9,250 (total) |
Multi-site standards across a portfolio. | Buy 5 seats |
Satisfaction guarantee
Attend the summit. If you don’t find actionable takeaways you can implement immediately, we’ll refund your registration—no questions asked.
Add to calendar and share
Increase attendance by putting the dates on calendars—and invite the teammate who will implement with you.
After registration, we email reminders and calendar links closer to the summit.
To use ICS: copy into a file named cold-chain-summit.ics, then open it with your calendar app.
Pick your seats. Bring the people who will execute with you.
If you own uptime, commissioning, refrigeration reliability, power resilience, automation cutover, expansion execution, or cold chain network strategy, this room is designed for you. The highest ROI comes from attending with the leaders who will implement when you get back.
Secure seats nowSeats limited to 111 delegates. Solution providers participate through curated meetings only.