www.afblakemore.com The monitoring of cold equipment may also give valuable information about the performance of the equipment itself. For example during automatic defrosting the temperature may momentarily rise too high. In some cases the temperature may consistently be too low in large cold rooms. This can cause a lot of energy waste. The gathered information can be used for ensuring quality, saving energy and in negotiations with cold equipment suppliers or maintenance companies. Most importantly, the self monitoring system gives the personnel a possibility to react quickly to deviations. In a situation when for example a freezer breaks down during hours when the restaurant is closed, may lead to substantial losses. The system is able to send alerts to the desired user interfaces, such as to a GSM phone by SMS, to an e-mail address or to a Nordic ID mobile computer. The alerts can easily be configured by the user, so that it is possible to change the alert levels when needed. Because the system is wireless there is no need for time and money consuming cabling. Hotel Iso-Syöte equipped their slope restaurant Romekievari with the Nordic ID Monitor. “When Romekievari is closed during the summer season we can easily move the system to another restaurant and use it there” Juha Kuukasjärvi says. Besides temperature monitoring, it is also possible to use Nordic ID Monitor to schedule and report routine tasks. When a task is due, employees receive a reminder via SMS or e-mail. When the task is completed, the employee records the task completed in to the system. Afterwards it is possible to check when the task was completed and by whom. “We have been extremely satisfied with the Nordic ID Monitor system” states Harri Määttä, executive chef at Hotel IsoSyöte. “In case of cold equipment failure, we can rely on a system that prevents the loss of expensive raw materials. The precise and accurate information that the system provides allows us to take immediate action in case of cold or warm equipment failure, which would otherwise jeopardize the high food quality that is extremely important to us. Besides this, the ease of performing fast check-ups and reports has lifted much of the workload of the personnel, which is important especially at a destination where the high season is very busy.
Text: Carl Michener / ID BBN Image: Shutterstock
A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd. Automatic monitoring saves time & cost A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd. forms an important part of SPAR UK, operating more than 200 SPAR stores in the UK under the Tates and SPAR brands. SPAR, the world’s largest food retail chain, is an organization that brings independent retailers together in order to benefit from increased buying power and a strong brand.
BETTER OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY A forward-thinking company, Blakemore is engaged in a never-ending quest for perfection in two distinct areas: the ultimate customer experience and maximum operational efficiency. A pilot program taking place in a brand new SPAR store in Coventry fits squarely into the efficiency category. The goal of the program is to monitor fluctuations in refrigerator, freezer and hotplate equipment temperatures. The pilot has as a goal to ascertain both whether equipment is working according to manufacturers’ specifications and whether the temperature in any refrigeration unit falls outside of new parameters set by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). AUTOMATIC ALERTS The automated solution, built in close collaboration with Nordic ID, consists of sensor nodes placed in refrigerators and freezers that send information wirelessly using a ZigBee low-power digital radio. Administrators can set up notification parameters in any way that they wish. They can look at readings in real time as they stream from all refrigeration units; set readings to take place from seconds to days apart; or choose to receive only alerts that indicate exceptions to parameters that they have set. Alerts can also be received on the Nordic ID RF601 handheld barcode scanners for the added convenience of employees on the go.
RETAILER EMPOWERMENT Before the pilot was put into place, monitoring equipment temperatures was a painstaking manual process that managers had to tack onto their busy days. They would typically take readings once per day, a timeintensive and human error prone process. The automated system saves time, but also empowers retailers when it comes to their equipment. Instead of relying on a service engineer to fix problems as they arise, with little visibility into the overall performance of the units, managers can manipulate statistical information to see for themselves whether a unit is malfunctioning and engage the manufacturer to correct the problem. An added benefit to the system involves customer complaints. A log of refrigeration unit temperatures over time provides statistical information that could be used in a legal defence, for example, in the case that a customer claims they became ill due to improperly refrigerated food. FROM PILOT TO UK WIDE To date, the temperature monitoring solution has been performing very well, especially concerning time savings. Blakemore intends to roll the solution out across their entire chain of stores, and other SPAR wholesalers as well as several chains in the convenience store sector are also watching closely.
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