Dobbies Garden Centres - Using SMART Enabled Refrigeration to Reduce CapEx and OpEx

Case Study
3 Minute Read
LoweConex
09/07/2024
Dobbies Garden Centres - Using SMART Enabled Refrigeration to Reduce CapEx and OpEx

For 150 years, Dobbies has stood for quality horticulture, holding their position as a market leader in Garden Chains across the UK. With over 3,800 colleagues in 77 stores, Dobbies are a household brand providing garden furniture, gardening equipment, outdoor living and home furniture. The organisation have a long commitment to sustainability with a focus on their products, recycling and initiatives within their stores.

Dobbies required new refrigeration assets across their stores for a new product offering of fresh food. Investing in those assets across the estate would have led to a significant upfront Capital Expenditure (CapEx) investment for the organisation, and so a more flexible option with a sustainable focus was required.

Prior to adopting LoweConex and Rental+ SMART Enabled Refrigeration, Dobbies were having challenges such as:

  • Had a requirement for new refrigeration assets but wanted to limit new CapEx investment.
  • New assets had to align with the sustainability goals of Dobbies, ensuring they could introduce refrigeration without drastically increasing energy consumption or environmental impact of the stores.
  • Needed new ways to cut store Operational Expenditure (OpEx) in order to maximise the profitability of existing stores so the organisation could continue to thrive and grow.
  • Struggling to introduce full 360 visibility of asset performance and maintenance across the store facilities.
  • Limited real-time monitoring capabilities across existing assets in stores and across the wider estate.

Working with Rental+ and LoweConex, Dobbies initially rented 567 refrigeration cabinets and walk-in coldrooms as SMART Enabled, providing them with a no CapEx solution across their estate with associated technology to optimise OpEx over time.

  • Rental+ provided Dobbies with the 567 units, providing delivery of each asset to every required store with the LoweConex SMART enabled technology installed.
  • LoweConex monitor the operational performance of every refrigeration unit and ensure assets run on set schedules to standardise setpoint control and roll out remote switch-offs for non-perishable units to reduce energy consumption.
  • The technology’s operational monitoring then provides 24/7/365 alarms for any faults that may arise, ensuring Dobbies can get ahead of faults before they occur.
  • If an asset does breakdown, LoweConex will liaise with the Rental+ maintenance teams to manage the work orders for Dobbies, minimising OpEx related to facilities and running costs even further.

  • £787.11 Annual Average Saving per Cabinet
  • £417,120 Total Savings

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With centralised control for refrigeration, temperature control, HVAC, building management systems (BMS), lighting, wet systems and more, your business can actualise change rapidly with automated rulesets that ensure your technology responds instantly to physical changes in surrounding climates.

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