An American lifestyle and performance footwear company aimed to enhance the in-store experience while reducing the environmental impact of their store operations.
When Carrier Abound approached the retailer, they recognized the need to automate store operations, transition to online platforms, and leverage predictive insights as a fundamental requirement to achieving their goals. They partnered with Carrier Abound and initiated an AI and IoT driven project encompassing over 400 stores across the USA.
The objectives of the project included:
- Enabling Central Monitoring through automating store operations. This involved installing open protocol building management systems to future proof their stores.
- Improving Energy Efficiency through improved monitoring and control of store equipment.
- Enhancing Comfort through ensuring compliance with operational policies across all stores.
- Reducing Carbon Emissions associated with store operations through resolving Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) performance issues as much as can be done remotely as possible. This would reduce energy wasted by poor performing equipment and emissions from truck rolls.
This project enabled the retailer to transform operations at the enterprise level, utilizing store energy data, equipment behavior analytics, and field service management to save energy.
The innovative elements that contributed to the success of the project are:
- An Integrated Smart Building Platform
Carrier Abound transformed stores of the retailer by integrating them with Abound Insights AI and IoT platform, enabling centralized control of automation systems. This provided real-time insights, predictive maintenance, and improved operational efficiency across all locations.
- Remote 24/7 Proactive Expertise
The BluEdgeTM Command Centers, staffed with domain experts and data scientists, analyzed predictive insights to drive proactive equipment management. This ensured swift issue resolution, seamless store operations, and effective collaboration with facility teams and vendor partners.
- Robust Program Management and Governance
A structured, data-driven approach helped shift maintenance from reactive to proactive, leading to better temperature compliance and significant energy savings.
The combination of a platform offering automation and insights, together with experts working in a robust delivery model, created an agile environment.
The project covers 400 stores, including both retrofits and new openings. Since the start of the project with the 1st store in November 2019, the Building Automation System (BAS) has been installed in a total of 177 retrofitted stores, delivering the following results:
- Energy Efficiency: Overall, achieved more than 15% energy savings1.
- Sustainability: Over 78% of HVAC issues were resolved remotely, reducing the need for field visits and associated emissions.
- Environment, Social & Governance (ESG): For the calls that were addressed, the Command Centers maintained an average service level of 93%, with a call abandonment rate of just 0.8%. This empowered the retailer’s employees to be more productive by providing prompt support to solve issues. In addition, reports were shared with the retailer on a weekly basis to ensure governance and compliance of policies.
This project raised the employees’ awareness about energy conservation. The impact of the project is only set to increase with more stores being added every month.
Reference Standard:
The protocol followed for calculation of energy is as per the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMPV®) – https://evo-world.org/en/products-services-mainmenu-en/protocols/ipmvp
