Chillistick - UK’s leading dry ice manufacturer & supplier
2.5
Kilograms smallest dry ice pack
E-commerce entrepreneurs who spot supply chain opportunities can go from players to game-changers. Here’s how DHL helped Chillistick break the ice and chisel out a new market by solving a long-standing cold chain packaging problem.
Mike Ashe and Chris Buchanan have always loved the lab. The two chemical engineers have spent countless hours running experiments, testing processes, and solving problems throughout their careers. In 2007, they noticed a logistics problem that couldn’t be solved with beakers and Bunsen burners. It inspired them to develop a new packaging solution and found Chillistick, which today is the UK’s biggest independent dry ice supplier.
What was that problem? An efficient packaging solution for shipping and transporting dry ice.
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide, which freezes at a much lower point than water (-78°C, -109°F). Getting dry ice from A to B at subzero temperatures is no minor challenge, despite the existence of cold chain logistics. If a delivery is late, half of the product could have evaporated by the time it arrives.
Mike and Chris love a good challenge and spotted an opportunity to use their lab expertise to solve this problem. A new startup was born – and within four years, their company was one of the largest suppliers in the UK.
Breaking the ice: A new logistics solution
Because it’s so difficult to ship, dry ice was traditionally only sold in bulk and was not readily available in smaller amounts. This was a gap in the market that Mike and Chris were sure they could fill.
The main problem was in the packaging, so the duo went to work to develop a customized system for shipping dry ice. To ensure their packaging would be safe for both national and international supply chains, they worked closely with DHL to develop a new packaging solution that followed the company’s safety guidelines.
“It sounds simple, to effectively put it in a smaller box,” says Mike Ashe. “But it was a very complicated process.”
Chillistick’s first low-volume customer shipped 5-kilogram packages for R&D purposes. Since shipping to that first customer, the dry ice supplier has grown exponentially – and now makes 15,000 deliveries per year, ranging from multi-ton industrial shipments to small dry ice packs weighing 2.5 kilograms.
Developing their packaging solution opened the door to a brand new market. The success inspired Mike and Chris to return to the lab and focus on innovation. Now that they could safely transport small quantities of dry ice, what new products could they design? It wasn’t long before they began producing a range of patented products.
Find out how DHL is helping global e-commerce keep up with the clicks