News at RDM: Remote monitoring comes of age

How state-of-the-art control is transforming refrigeration maintenance

In the old days, if an end user wanted to check on the performance of a particular refrigeration plant at a store in, say, Dumfries, he would call a field service engineer out in a van.

The time and cost of this, and the impact on the environment in terms of van-miles travelled, is significant. Today, however, the arrival of sophisticated remote monitoring systems is transforming the efficiency and economics of refrigeration plant management.

The UK leads the world in the development and adoption of remote monitoring systems. In the age of expensive energy and environmental concern, it is an essential key to managing the future.

It is also the fulfilment of a dream for those who run large, national estates such as the big supermarket chains. It enables thousands of stores across the country to be monitored, at individual plant level, from a single control centre.

“The benefits of centralised, remote monitoring are overwhelming,” says Andrew Chandler, managing director of Resource Data Management (RDM), a UK specialist that is pioneering in the field. “It can save end users a great deal of time and money, by spotting problems early – before they develop into major issues. It also provides a huge amount of valuable intelligence on what is happening within stores, so that more efficient ways of managing and maintaining plant can be devised.”

It also provides a hitherto unavailable insight into the quality of work carried out by installers and service staff. The end user can use this information to improve first-time fix rates and reduce expensive calls backs.

The company has pioneered the approach with Marks & Spencer, which has one of the most comprehensive and advanced remote monitoring systems in the world.

Robert Arthur, head of refrigeration at Marks & Spencer, says: “It is an excellent tool for monitoring and managing the plant and the people who look after it. Remote monitoring can be harnessed to improve the maintenance and performance of stores on a number of levels – and deliver quite dramatic improvements in cost and store efficiency.”

From RDM’s monitoring centre in Glasgow, the retailer’s nationwide estate of stores is monitored 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, using RDM’s ActiveFM software.

The hub of the operation, the monitoring bureau, accesses data over standard telephone networks or the internet. It is staffed by experts, who constantly monitor the data as it happens, filtering out genuine alarms from “background noise”, and prioritising service calls in consultation with the client.

Non-urgent service tasks identified at a store can be held, until sufficient other tasks arise to make a service visit worthwhile. This has huge benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness of site visits.

Mr Arthur says: “Another important benefit comes from the diagnostic capability. Because we know the likely cause of a problem before an engineer is despatched to site, we can ensure he has the right spare part on the van to make a repair. Before, it would be hit and miss – causing delays and risking additional losses.”

The second stage for Marks & Spencer is rolling out centralised monitoring for heating and ventilating system in its stores.

“It gives us a tremendous overview and control of the energy usage in stores, and will help us deliver the commitments on the environment set out in the company’s Plan A,” he said.

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