The Vidir Powered Carousel is an automated grocery pickup fulfillment and staging solution that features cooled refrigerator and freezer totes on a vertical-lift system.
Keeping It Cool
While cooling technology might not seem to stand out as an innovative space to watch, many companies are rolling out next-generation solutions that do everything from making order fulfillment easier for grocers and creating new display opportunities, to offering truly sustainable solutions for an area greatly in need of energy savings.
Naturns, Italy-based Schweitzer, which has been creating refrigeration solutions for nearly 100 years, just rolled out its next generation of refrigerated display cases. Promising spatial flexibility along with sustainability benefits, the easily movable plug-in cases use an onboard waterloop system that works via a small unit that cools the water before it runs through flexible pipes, and then through each piece, to cool the integrated unit within the case.
Stefan Bender, head of Schweitzer cooling systems, tells Progressive Grocer that the company’s fully redesigned refrigeration fixtures provide customer satisfaction through their sleek design, lighting and full transparency, while also lowering energy consumption for food retailers. “The focus is that you’re really flexible to change the complete store, even with the fixtures, within minutes or hours, to whatever you want,” Bender says.
Bridgeton, Mo.-based Hussmann, which is known for its innovative products, services and refrigeration systems for grocers and c-stores, recently unveiled the Krack MicroDS and MicroSC Monoblock, an all-in-one condensing-unit-and-evaporator solution using R290 refrigerant. The unit is pre-charged with propane, requiring no refrigerant piping, and features variable-speed compressors, EC fan motors and hot-gas defrost.
[Read more: "Hussmann Scales Up to Help Retailers Meet New EPA Rules"]
According to Hussman, the energy-efficient Monoblock reduces full-store refrigerant charge by up to 95% versus using hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants and reduces total annual carbon dioxide emissions by 6% when compared with a condensing unit and evaporator.
Finally, Phononic and Vidir Solutions are making major cooling moves with their Vidir Powered Carousel, which promises to make online grocery delivery and curbside fulfillment easier and more efficient for grocers. The first-of-its-kind automated grocery pickup fulfillment and staging solution combines Phononic’s actively cooled refrigerator and freezer totes with Vidir’s vertical- lift system, enabling grocers to stage frozen, chilled and ambient orders in one central location.
“Online grocery sales in the U.S. are expected to grow at an annual rate of nearly 12% over the next five years,” observes Larry Yang, chief product officer at Durham, N.C.-based Phononic. “As such, it’s paramount that grocers have solutions that can adapt quickly to the increase in demand and ensure a seamless customer experience for curbside and delivery orders. The integration between Phononic and Vidir’s technology makes this possible by reducing the friction associated with limited warehouse space, manual labor costs and timely curbside delivery of fresh temperature-controlled products.”