Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

McDonald's trials remote monitoring of refrigeration units

A system for continuously monitoring the refrigeration equipment in their retail outlets is currently being trialled by McDonald's. The Tutela system from Next Controls is automatically monitoring the temperatures of all the chilled and frozen food units at an outlet in Islington, north London.

The temperature sensors are remotely polled at regular intervals by the automated system, and the readings automatically transmitted to Tutela's permanently manned control room in Farnborough.

Under environmental health guidelines, the temperatures of chilled and frozen food storage and display equipment need to be recorded at least three times a day. If performed manually, this is a time consuming task, and there's the possibility that readings may be missed.

No capital outlay is required for the Tutela system, which is remarkably inexpensive, costing from only UKP2.00 per day for monitoring eight items of equipment, including full installation.

"The system also helps to prevent loss of stock," said Chris Gunn, Next Controls' national sales and marketing manager. "This is because the appearance of a fault with the refrigeration equipment will be immediately signalled to our staff who operate 24 / 7 / 365 and who will then notify the nominated McDonald's personnel."

The temperature records are stored centrally by the Tutela system, and can be accessed by McDonald's at any time from any location using a secure browser over the internet. This means that temperature records no longer need to be kept locally, as full historical data can be easily downloaded if requested by an environmental health officer.

The data is transmitted over a private mobile phone network set up by Next Controls, so no airtime agreement or dedicated phone line is required. Other types of equipment such as boilers and air conditioners can also be monitored.

Next Controls are currently seeking resellers for Tutela systems into the fast food and convenience store sectors, and operate a generous incentive scheme.

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Photo caption:

The Tutela system from Next Controls is automatically monitoring the temperatures of chilled and frozen food units at a McDonald's outlet in north London.

Ref: NCS1-05
Date: 16 December 2005

Press enquiries:
Stephen Bailey
Antimony Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 1483 416807
Fax: +44 (0) 8704 861461
Mobile: +44 (0) 7010 716807
Email: sbailey@antimony.co.uk

Other enquiries:
Chris Gunn
Next Control Systems Ltd, 6 Farnborough Business Centre, Eelmoor Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 7XA, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1252 406398
Fax: +44 (0) 1252 406399
Email: sales@nextcontrols.com
Web: www.tutelasystems.com
USA: sales.us@nextcontrols.com


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