Multi-million pound savings for storage industry forecast
03 December 2009
Given the parlous state of some of the ageing refrigerated stores in the UK, Next Control Systems’ triumph in the Food Processing awards’ Energy Management class has proved extremely timely
Next won because it installed a £55,000 refrigeration controls and energy management system in a 13,500 pallet capacity cool store and delivered savings of £60,000 in year one.
That was achieved mainly through door monitoring, intelligent defrost, compressor run times, and floating suction and floating head pressure controls.
The system is currently on target to deliver similar savings in year two and is remotely watched round-the-clock by Next through its Alarm Monitoring Bureau in Hampshire.
Operators there ensure savings are not eroded over time by indifferent management practices or by maintenance companies’ staff over-riding plant settings which seriously impact on the economical running of the plant.
So happy was the client with the success of this installation that he since has ordered similar schemes for a further three chilled stores.
Next Controls MD Tim Bartholomew believes his company will be able to deliver savings of a similar order for more than 50% of the UK’s refrigerated storage capacity.
Figures from the Food Storage & Distribution Federation produced in 2006 (work is currently in hand to upgrade these) conservatively estimated the amount of refrigerated storage in the UK at approaching 10m. cubic metres – two million pallet spaces.
What was particularly startling was that more then 50% of this was over ten years old, with 17% being over 35 years old. “We know we can bring these ageing stores into the 21st century and deliver huge savings to the companies concerned, at the same time maintaining the quality of products in store by ensuring they are held at unchanging temperatures and preventing the generation of many tonnes of CO²,” said Next managing director, Tim Bartholomew.
His company already manages all refrigeration, including bulk stores and shop chillers and freezers, for one of the UK’s top supermarket chains and has a growing customer base amongst third party logistics suppliers and manufacturers.
It is recognised that when many of the older stores were built both the cost of operating them and the generation of CO² were not then considered vital factors. “The Carbon Trust is about to bring out name-and-shame league tables of the biggest CO² generators in many business and government sectors and those are lists nobody who cares about green issues wants to be on. We can help companies avoid this ignominy,” he said.
Bartholomew added that winning the Food Processing award had generated “incredible credibility” for his company and was viewed with great pride by his staff.
“Customers have more confidence in us now. The award recognised our success in delivering huge savings so business managers now know that we are recession busters who have proved we can deliver astronomical reductions in both costs and CO² emissions,” he added.
Bartholomew urged that every owner of a chilled or frozen store that was approaching or over ten years old should urgently review its operation.
For readers of Food Processing magazine Next Control Systems will undertake a free survey and prepare a written report on the savings that could be made with a carefully costed and professionally operated energy management programme.
Such savings would be on going if the site is then plugged into the Next Alarm Monitoring Bureau to ensure agreed economical plant settings are monitored and maintained. Whilst breakdowns would immediately be alarmed. “We are confident we can save this industry millions and there can be no better time than now to do this,” added Bartholomew.
The Food Processing Energy Management achievement is not Next’s only achievement. Earlier it had taken the Royal Show by storm, winning the coveted New Equipment award for an integrated management, monitoring and control system for potato and vegetable growers.
A uniquely successful feature in reducing weight loss through dehydration is its on-demand humidity programme. It reviews ambient air sensors and external humidity to calculate adiabatic cooling effects, introducing free cooling when ever possible. The system has delivered thousands of pounds to the bottom line for growers who also have to undertake long term storage.
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