ST. LOUIS -- Supermarket, convenience store and food service industry professionals gathered in April for the 2013 Emerson Technology in Action Conference to gain insight into best practices and ideas for improving retail facility operations. Attendees at the annual customer event, hosted by Emerson Climate Technologies, a business segment of Emerson, heard from industry experts and Emerson speakers on key industry topics.
"Our 12th annual Technology in Action Conference focused on bringing the key operational decision makers in retail together to exchange ideas and best practices. Changing retail formats, heightened focus on energy efficiency and environmental considerations are driving an increasingly more complex operating environment for our customers," said Mark Dunson, president of Emerson Climate Technologies Retail Solutions business.
"This year's conference not only focused on new technologies to directly address the issues, but it also highlighted how to leverage the significant amount of operational data available to drive insights to action," he said.
The three-day conference in Savannah featured three interactive panel discussions, which provided attendees with knowledge on topics including big data, environmentally friendly refrigerant options and the future of refrigeration systems.
In the Challenges of Big Data in Facility Management discussion, attendees learned from a panel of leading supermarket, variety and c-store facility managers about how they are handling ever-increasing amounts of operational data, what key performance indicators they look at today and what insights they are deriving to improve their facilities. National and regional retailers as well as data analytics experts addressed trends, opportunities and challenges for businesses as ubiquitous data collection leads to increasingly larger data sets.
The discussion focused on opportunities and challenges with current data analysis processes and reporting; how advances in data technology have impacted retail operations and caused shifts in other business areas; and current data utilization and visualization strategies for facility operations, including: energy consumption, case temperatures, refrigeration system variables, HVAC management, lighting controls and more.
[Pictured (left to right): Mark Dunson, Emerson Climate Technologies Retail Solutions; Jack Uldrich, The School of Unlearning; Ben Francis, Dollar General; Wayne Rosa, Delhaize America Shared Services; Terry David, QuikTrip; and Steve Geffin, Emerson Network Power.]
In the Synthetic & Natural Refrigerant Options for Supermarkets discussion, refrigerant experts from DuPont, Honeywell., Star Refrigeration and the University of Maryland debated the latest refrigerant options to learn how supermarkets can better manage their bottom lines in this ever-changing regulatory environment. Participants discussed current global refrigerant trends and regulatory updates impacting supermarket end users.
In the Advanced Supermarket Refrigeration Systems discussion, panelists asked can refrigeration systems help supermarkets achieve their merchandising, operations and sustainability goals? Refrigeration systems experts from Heatcraft, Hillphoenix, Hussmann, VaCom and Zero Zone facilitated a discussion about best practices for optimizing new and existing refrigeration systems to operate at full potential, how increasingly complex and diverse retailer objectives dictate refrigeration system options and the importance of system commissioning and training for installers and maintenance.
Technology in Action Conference general sessions included Data-Driven Enterprise Management, Facility Management Technology Evolution and Preventative Maintenance Programs. Popular break-out sessions included Advanced Condition-Based Maintenance, Designing a Grocery Store from Scratch, European Market Refrigeration Trends and Facility Management for Small-Format Retail Sites.
Emerson, based in St. Louis, is a global leader in bringing technology and engineering together to provide innovative solutions for customers in industrial, commercial, and consumer markets around the world. The company is comprised of five business segments: Process Management, Industrial Automation, Network Power, Climate Technologies and Commercial & Residential Solutions. Sales in fiscal 2012 were $24.4 billion.
Emerson Climate Technologies, a business segment of Emerson, is a leading provider of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration solutions for residential, industrial and commercial applications.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.