We design our connected affordable refrigeration IoT solutions in collaboration with beverage brands, bottlers, and refrigeration equipment manufacturers. We listen and observe closely to tailor our solutions to every stakeholder in their business.

This post looks at the six pillars that underpin Wellington’s connectivity solutions and explains how they can benefit clients and create IoT success stories.

The six pillars that underpin Wellington’s connectivity solutions

Asset management

As the fleet expands, it also gets easier to lose track of field equipment.

One of our customers in Latin America synchronized the installation information in their enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool with the Wellington Connect™ IoT system, reducing the paperwork and improving the field or warehouse equipment status identification.

Another customer reclaimed over 40% of their lost coolers by equipping their staff with the Connect^TM Track app and sending out recovery teams when a lost cooler was located (Download case study).

These are just two examples of how our asset management solutions can create greater efficiency and cut costs.

Technical performance

Let’s face it, equipment breaks down. It is costly to repair, and the first-time fix rate is never as good as it should be. To help with that, we designed the Connect IoT system to include the Connect™ Field app.

The Connect Field app is a mobile app that allows service technicians to connect to the cooler via Bluetooth, displaying all error flags and identifying cooler issues right on the phone’s screen, without translating cryptic error codes from a 200-page manual! The system also allows for the control of individual relays to check component operation and downloads months of cooler data to be viewed on the phone, enabling diagnostics based on equipment operation instead of taking a guess.

As a result, one Wellington customer reduced the average service call cost by 44% with the Connect Field app and Connect™ SCS. Cost reductions come from faster diagnostics, accurate fault identification and consequent improvement of the first-time fix rate.

Commercial performance

Equipment size matters. If the cooler is too small for the activity level in the point-of-sale, it may run out of stock, sell warm product, or have only aged product. Conversely, too large equipment is a waste of an expensive asset. Point-of-sale volume per outlet (VPO) is seldom enough to manage equipment performance as not all product is sold cold, making it impossible to check if sales through coolers are sufficient to have the equipment pay for itself.

Some IoT companies try to sell you daily door opening counts, but the Connect IoT system tells you if the equipment is over or undersized for every single point-of-sale, based on parameters that matter to your equipment operation. For example, one of our customers revisited their equipment portfolio after analyzing data for sales in different channels and determining that over 50% of coolers were selling less than 10% of their drink capacity per day, leading to smaller and lower cost coolers.

Operation management

The Connect SCS is an intelligent controller that provides voltage and current measurement, enabling customers to report the real energy usage of the fleet.

Many retail operators turn off their equipment overnight to save electricity costs. This rarely saves energy as the cooler needs to run a pulldown to recover, but it often leads to warm product sales when the store reopens.

We offer standby modes, report when the equipment has been unplugged, and track product reloads to help you adjust retailer behaviour. One customer reduced the number of coolers selling out of temperature product from 15% of the fleet to just 2% by identifying overnight cooler switch offs and correcting the store owner’s behaviour.

Customer engagement

Every brand wants their equipment in the first position and the stores keep getting smaller by the minute. As a result, it is more challenging than ever to earn floor space inside a retail outlet. Wellington solutions allow your sales team to show the customer how much electricity is used per product sold and clearly demonstrate equipment profitability.

Consumer engagement

Often called “the holy grail” of equipment connectivity, consumer engagement unlocks the potential to turn every piece of equipment into a brand-controlled point-of-sale. Offer personalized promotions, unique brand experiences, and digitally engage with individual consumers. The Connect IoT system can include the iProximity platform to fully enable point-of-sale consumer engagement.

One Wellington customer ran a six-week promotion and increased sales by 114%. Another customer is deploying our interactive ScreenSmarts solution to integrate customized digital signage into food and beverage coolers.

To see how the Wellington Connect IoT ecosystem can benefit you, click here.