Customer
A major U.S. supermarket operator with more than 2,500 locations across the country
Challenge
The grocery industry is very competitive, and the supermarket operator wanted a way to reduce costs and increase its competitiveness. Emerson Climate Technologies™ was able to demonstrate how it could significantly reduce costs by equipping existing store locations with energy-saving technology.
Before committing to the retrofit project, the supermarket operator wanted to make sure Emerson Climate Technologies possessed the project management expertise and resources to fully implement and manage a project of such size. This included designing a complete energy-saving solution, in addition to procuring and manufacturing required equipment, installing the equipment and servicing existing equipment as required in order to bring existing systems to the operating level necessary in order to achieve a high level of energy reduction.
Time was also a major factor. Projects of this magnitude alone can take up to two years just to complete. Emerson was able to complete the project in less than seven months.
The chain also needed the store locations to remain operational during the project, meaning the entire project needed to be accomplished without inconveniencing store customers or employees.
Solution
To accomplish the project, Emerson Climate Technologies brought together products, services and expertise from across the group to deliver a truly integrated solution that met the supermarket operator’s need to realize their energy savings target. Managed by Retail Services, the project involved variable speed drives from Control Techniques and control systems from Computer Process Controls.
During the installation phase, Emerson provided a project website where the chain could monitor the progress of the project and view or print out project information reports. Emerson’s ability to quickly mobilize a large pool of resources and personnel needed to finish the project is attributable to the Emerson Consider it Solved culture. At one time, more than 255 personnel from Emerson project teams and refrigeration and electrical contractors were in the field actively working on the project.
Due to the compressed timeframe of the project, the operator was able to begin realizing a savings of 224,000 kWh per year nearly 17 months earlier than what competitors were able to offer. These savings translate into an estimated savings of nearly $48 million over five years, not including the gains that will be achieved by completing the project in such a short period of time. Remote monitoring of the installations through Emerson’s monitoring center will help ensure energy drift is minimized at the customer’s stores.
"This project is proof positive that our business model can, and is, producing success in the marketplace, showing that Emerson Climate Technologies companies can work together to deliver truly integrated solutions for customers," said Jeff Riordan, Director of Sales, North America for Retail Services. "The project also shows the value of proper education. It was important that we train the customer’s lead technicians so they better understand the new system controllers and the concepts involved and make sure the stores realize the energy savings potential."
| 
