Case Study - Reduce Wastage in Retail Ice Cream Stores

Case Study - How an Ice Cream
Retailer Reduced Wastage and
Increased its ROI
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3
The Problem ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Solution ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Increase in ROI ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Nimble’s Temperature Monitoring Solution ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Benefits of Nimble’s Wireless temperature monitoring ................................................................................................................... 7
About Us ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
Introduction
The objective of this primer is to provide the reader with an understanding of how a leading
ice cream manufacturer used Nimble’s wireless temperature monitoring devices to reduce
wastage and thereby increased their ROI.
The Problem
A leading ice cream manufacturer and retailer in India was wasting nearly 20% of its
manufactured ice cream due to temperature failure. The company has more than 100+ plus
stores selling ice creams, each store has a cold room to store the ice cream and four/five
display freezers. When temperature fails in either one of the freezers, the store admin would
call the company’s support team who will inturn send a technician to fix the issue. On an
average the whole process of identifiying the failure and attending the issue takes about 5 –
6 hours
But, the normal out-of-refrigeration limit for ice creams is less than an hour, beyond which
the ice cream starts melting. The melted ice cream crystallizes if frozen again and crystallized
ice cream is considered a wastage by the company as it reduces the taste of the ice cream.
Whereas, the admin notices a freezer failure only after the ice cream starts melting. And, by
the time the admin informs about the failed freezer the ice cream would have melted and it
will become inconsumble, and considered a wastage. Worst case secnerio, what if the admin
never notices that the freezer has failed or what if there is a power outage causing
temperature excursions.
In this way the company was losing nearly 20% of the manufactured ice creams due to
temperature excusions.
When the company started looking for a solution to reduce wastage because of temperature
failure. They wanted a solution that can alert their managers automatically, when there is
temperature failure. Most, of the devices the company came across were wired devices. A
wired solution means, less mobility - they cannot move their display freezers based on their
sales strategy.
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
So, the company wanted a reliable and automated wireless temperature monitoring solution
that help them reduce wastage and also increase their ROI, on the long run.
The Solution
Nimble Wireless provided an end-to-end temperature monitoring solution to help the
company reduce wastage. Every freezer was fitted with a remote temperature monitoring
device which would wirelessly communicate with a cellular gateway placed inside the store.
The device will collect temperature data every 15 minutes and forward them to the cellular
gateway which then forwards the data through a cellular network to the IRIS cloud application.
The IRIS cloud application aggregates the data collected from all the stores and displays it on
a remote dashboard. The managers were given a secure login to access the dashboard. Using
the dashboard, the managers can have a birds eye on all the freezers across different stores.
In the case of a temperature failure, the device sends an SMS and email alert to the
corresponding manager/admin. The admin can now act swiftly and change the freezer or
move the stored ice creams to a different freezer. This way the company reduced it’s wastage
to about .5%.
Increase in ROI
Let’s us assume the company was manufacturing 500,000 INR worth of ice cream for a month
for one store. There are four display freezers and one cold room in each store, for calculation
purpose lets assume each of the freezers and the cold room is stocked with 100,000 INR
worth of ice creams. On permutation basis lets assume each one of the freezers fail twice
every year and the loss due to failure is 60%.
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
ROI Calculation
Cost of total ice cream per month = 500,000
Cost of ice cream per freezer = 100,000
Cost per year – 500,000 x 12 = 60,00,000 INR
Loss perctange per freezer – 60% (60,000 INR)
Permutation on total loss per yer = 2 times x 5 freezers = 10 times
So the total loss = loss percent x no. of times
- 60,000 x 10 = 600,000
Loss percentage on a yeraly basis – 10% of total production
On installing the device to monitor temperature. The loss is reduced to less than .5% which is
30,000 per year.
*All calculations in INR
ROI for Retail Ice Cream Store (in INR)
70,00,000
60,00,000
60,00,000
60,00,000
50,00,000
40,00,000
30,00,000
20,00,000
10,00,000
6,00,000
60,000
0
Without Nimble Solution
Prodcution Per Year
With Nimble Temperature Monitoring
Solution
Loss Per Year
With cost of installing and maintaing the device being less than 20% of the total loss. The
company got nearly 300% ROI within a year of implementing Nimble’s temperature
monitoring solution.
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
Nimble’s Temperature Monitoring Solution
Nimble provides both hardware and software needed for reliable temperature monitoring
thus providing a complete end-to-end solution. Unlike other products Nimble’s devices are
truly wireless, the devices can run on both battery and power, the devices use Zigbee and
cellular network to communicate temperature data. With built-in battery the devices send
temperature data even during power outage, which is the at most needed time to monitor
temperature.
The data is stored and
processed in cloud
Toucan devices send
data through cellular
network
NIMBLE’s IRIS
Application
correlates the
collected data
Multi Point Temperature Monitoring
Toucan Cellular gateway
SORA Wireless
Sensors
SORA Wireless
Sensors
SORA Wireless Sensors
collects and sends the
temperature data
wirelessly to the cellular
gateway
SORA Wireless
Sensors
Configure the devices
using IRIS Application
Cold Store Room
Deep freezer
Visible Cooler
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
Monitor freezers
temperature
remotely using
desktop/mobile
Benefits of Nimble’s Wireless temperature monitoring
 Simple and easy installation –Drop/Snap the device inside the storage containers and
configure it over the air
 Simple automated alerts – When temperature excursions occur an automated alert is
sent as a text message and/or email.
 Easy to track, trace and monitor assets – Monitor real-time temperature and GPS
location right from your desktop or mobile using IRIS application
 Simple configurable settings– Configure threshold limits and set geo-fence right from
the dashboard in simple steps.
 One click reports - View and download temperature history reports for compliance
purpose
 Easily scalable – Monitor temperature from a single container to multiple storage
warehouses. Segregate them based on customized names, type of assets, region, etc.
 Secure cloud storage- Data is stored and processed on secure cloud storage.
 Easy access of data - Access to information online in real time from any computer or
smartphone
Nimble’s Wireless Temperature Monitoring Devices
SORA Sensor & Toucan T30
Dimensions
Senor
Temperature Sensor Type
Connectivity
Usage
63 X 60 X 32 mm
Temperature/Ambient/
Proximity
External Probe
ZigBee/WiFi (CDMA/GSM
through gateway Toucan T30)
Multi-Point Temperature Sensor
Toucan T20/25
98 X 63 X 26 mm
Temperature/Ambient/ Proximity
External Probe
CDMA/GSM
Single-Point Temperature Sensor
•
Toucan T25 has built in GPS sensor to track asset’s location and temperature in real time
•
SORA Sensors can be placed across different rooms or floors and can also be used as a repeater to connect to the
gateway
•
Optional External battery to extend battery life up to 3 years
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
About Us
Nimble Wireless is a leading M2M/IOT company. Nimble’s Toucan and SORA devices help
customers to track and monitor assets remotely. The IRIS cloud application, on the other
hand, alerts users when something goes wrong and provides readable reports. Thus,
providing an end-to-end solution for Asset Tracking, Cold Chain Monitoring, and Energy
Monitoring. With worldwide GSM compatibility and certified by FCC for Verizon and Sprint
in the U.S for asset monitoring and tracking. Sense your medical shipments even if they are
thousands of miles away.
U.S.A
[email protected]
+1 858 935 7381
INDIA
www.nimblewireless.com
Case Study - How an Ice Cream Retailer Reduced Wastage and Increased its ROI
v1.0 #CS2000203 March, 2015
[email protected]
+91-44-42656219