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EXCLUSIVE Q&A: Lowes Foods tracks food temperature with IoT

Lowes Foods
Lowes Foods is deploying IoT technology.

A regional Southeast grocer is leveraging Internet of Things technology to ensure prepared foods are maintained at a safe temperature.

Chain Store Age recently spoke with Matt Bunker, director of asset protection & workplace safety, Lowes Foods, is monitoring temperature data from refrigeration assets using IoT technology from SmartSense. 

Bunker explained how the Southeast regional grocer which operates in the Carolinas and Virginia utilizes IoT capabilities to eliminate inefficiencies and complexities caused by its previous manual temperature monitoring processes while improving customer experience and profitability.

What business issues was Lowes Foods facing?

Lowes Foods faced the challenge of maintaining optimal preparation and storage temperatures for all prepared foods; and ongoing shrinkage caused by refrigeration failures put our profitability at risk.

In addition, we faced challenges with operational silos and difficulties in coordinating across our internal support teams. These inefficiencies left our staff stretched thin, impacting our ability to deliver customer service. 

The significant time spent on manual asset tracking hindered our ability to elevate the customer experience, diverting focus from our core mission of ensuring that every customer’s needs are not only met but consistently exceeded during each visit to our stores.

What made you select SmartSense IoT temperature monitoring?

When selecting a solution, our goal was to ensure a seamless, all-in-one offering that accurately tracks data, eliminating the need for multiple resources to manage asset tracking effectively. 

During our evaluation process, we thoroughly analyzed multiple IoT solution providers in the market, and SmartSense stood out as the leader across all our criteria. The solution has completely transformed our food safety program, significantly enhancing team productivity, asset health, and the overall guest experience.

We sought a versatile partner aligned with our core values of safety, user-friendliness, and operational efficiency. SmartSense met these needs, delivering a seamless integration of hardware, software, and reporting capabilities. The system enables timely decision-making and proactive issue resolution, often within minutes, ensuring minimal disruption to our guests.

[READ MORE: Giant Eagle monitors assets to prevent waste and shrink]

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What have the results been?

The SmartSense IoT Sensing-as-a-Service framework is now safeguarding more than 5,000 assets across 141 Lowes Foods locations, providing real-time monitoring and actionable insights that allow us to maintain safety and efficiency. 

The implementation of IoT temperature monitoring has been transformative, significantly improving our response to critical scenarios like power outages and hurricane preparedness, along with everyday facilities management. 

By transitioning from paper-based processes to digital task management, we have minimized errors and streamlined notifications, allowing stores to act quickly and reduce potential losses. This technology also replaces manual paper checks and walk logs, ensuring greater record-keeping accuracy.

Since deployment of the solution, our expectations have been exceeded, particularly in mitigating losses during unforeseen events like natural disasters. Across all Lowe’s Foods locations, IoT has revolutionized our approach to asset tracking and management, enabling us to maintain operational continuity and resilience even in challenging circumstances.

In addition, SmartSense’s enterprise-wide support ensures real-time monitoring of refrigerated assets, proactively identifying performance issues before breakdowns occur. This has dramatically reduced refrigeration failure shrink and supported a higher rate of execution on fresh prepared food temperature checklists. 

With actionable data at every touchpoint, we can respond faster, prioritize affected products, and achieve operational advantages by addressing issues before they escalate. 

Are there future plans for IoT technology you can discuss?

Our goal with IoT is to track and manage safety incidents and accident reports by leveraging ad-hoc checklist completions. This will allow us to maintain a more detailed and real-time record of safety-related events. 

In additionally, IoT enables continuous monitoring of dry output sensors, including both open and closed-circuit sensors, ensuring that any potential issues are promptly identified and addressed.

By incorporating this advanced technology, our goal is to streamline the reporting process, enhance response times, and ensure an ongoing exceptional shopping experience for all Lowes Foods customers. 

Founded in 1954 and based in Winston-Salem, N.C., Lowes Foods operates close to 100 full-service supermarkets in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

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