IoT partnership promises savings for retailers

USA: A partnership between an IoT company and a software and wireless controls company is projected to deliver over $1.2m in annual energy savings for a US regional grocer. 

The partnership between the industrial internet of things (IIoT) company IMS Evolve and Current, powered by GE, the digital engine for intelligent environments, is designed to drive significant savings across energy, waste and maintenance by leveraging real-time data from assets across the enterprise. 

An unnamed retailer, described by the partnership as a “US regional grocer”, is said to have recently installed the new unified IMS/Current solution across nearly 200 stores. It is now said to be “on a path toward saving hundreds of thousands of dollars” in the coming months “simply by identifying and removing excess defrost cycles in refrigeration cases”. The customer estimates that the project will deliver over $1.2m in annual savings through a combination of refrigeration, HVAC and lighting-related energy savings and, at the same time, reducing food spoilage by 30% and cutting reactive maintenance calls by 25%.

The IMS Evolve IIoT platform is said to provide access to real-time, fleet-wide actionable data on a single platform without the need to rip and replace. The software can run natively on Current’s wireless area controller (WAC), with data being acquired and leveraged through the IMS system to drive process automation. 

Current is also providing project management support, including systems engineering and IT services, to ensure the joint solution achieves maximum value across a customer’s full portfolio of locations.

IMS Evolve’s chief commercial officer, Jason Kay, said the new solution could be available “at scale and speed to retailers across the world, releasing significant value and rapid ROI”.