Big Y, one of New England’s largest independently owned supermarket chains, is improving its fleet logistics with new refrigerated trailers equipped with Carrier Transicold X4 7300 units and the eSolutions platform for remote monitoring and control.
Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corp., a provider of sustainable and intelligent building and cold chain solutions.
Big Y has initiated replacement of two thirds of its 70 refrigerated trailers through Ryder System Inc., with Carrier Transicold of Southern New England providing the refrigeration units and telematics support.
The eSolutions platform provides continuous visibility of Big Y’s cold chain assets via a centralized data stream that shows trailer temperatures, location and movement. The platform also enables remote control of refrigeration units.
“We have a very robust program for monitoring temperatures and conducting food safety checks,” said Steve Creed, VP of logistics and distribution, Big Y. “The Carrier Transicold telematics system is an important contributor to that initiative.”
In addition to monitoring refrigerated trailer temperature, the eSolutions platform offers the following:
- Provides notifications as trailers come and go from geofenced areas assigned to Big Y’s distribution center and key locations within its retail network;
- Locates unused or underused trailer assets, including those dropped by Big Y’s third-party logistics provider at vendor partners, where they may be idle for a few days until loaded;
- Monitors trailer precooling time, so as to minimize fuel waste;
- Optimizes refrigeration unit performance for fuel efficiency and product protection;
- Helps avoid emergency call-out situations where a refrigeration unit must be reprimed because it ran out of fuel. Fuel level monitoring sensors enable dispatchers to receive low-fuel alerts via eSolutions, and units can be programmed to automatically shut down before running out of fuel; and
- Improves refrigeration unit uptime through use of continuous analytic and diagnostic information provided about unit performance, as well as immediate alerts if a warning condition occurs on a unit in service.
Within Big Y’s service footprint, the refrigerated trailers serve more than 70 supermarkets and 12 convenience marts throughout New England.
The eSolutions system’s ability to improve energy efficiency is critical to Carrier’s progress in reducing customers’ carbon footprint by more than one gigaton, while also achieving carbon neutral operations by 2030, as outlined in its Environmental, Social and Governance Goals. For additional details about Carrier Transicold’s transport refrigeration units and the eSolutions platform for monitoring and control, visit Carrier Transicold’s North America dealer network.
