Latin American Bottler connects 75% of their coolers for better insights

Our client, one of the largest bottlers for a leading beverage brand in Latin America, approached us wanting to reduce the physical loss of their coolers and enhance their data collection through an advanced IoT ecosystem. This presented an excellent opportunity for AoFrio, given the client’s widespread operations across multiple countries in the Latin American region. 

AoFrio provided a robust technological solution that connected 75% of their cooler fleet, with over 150,000 coolers retrofitted for connectivity. This facilitated asset location and the identification of equipment failures, ultimately leading to improved profitability. Asset management remained their primary objective throughout the project.

Due to the high reliability and strong market reputation of our client’s refrigerators, they face a significant risk of theft, misuse, or unauthorized relocation. 

Furthermore, the customer sought to enhance its operational efficiency by obtaining real-time insights from its diverse fleets. These insights aimed to facilitate asset location, enhance cooler efficiency, and prolong the lifespan of their assets. 

Our client briefed us that they are looking for a robust technological solution that could: 

• guarantee the physical location of the asset
• capture consumer habits at POS (point of sale)
• identify equipment failure

AoFrio offered the perfect solution, utilizing our IoT connectivity hardware and software. We initiated a trial of AoFrio® SCS Controller and progressed to installing devices for 75% of their coolers. This allowed for precise location tracking and ensured predictive and preventive maintenance. AoFrio’s SCS controllers use Bluetooth technology for ongoing census monitoring, ensuring up-to-date and accurate data collection. 

In their testimonial for us, the client mentioned:

“We chose AoFrio because it offers a solid solution that requires a low effort to capture data in the POS and has a technological platform that allows asset tracking and capturing relevant POS data.”

Since its initial trials in 2017, AoFrio’s technologies have significantly enhanced the bottler’s reporting and auditing procedures for their cooler fleet. The client’s logistics team has stipulated that all new equipment must have the AoFrio SCS Controller, marking a testament to the reliability of AoFrio’s solutions. 

Throughout the development of the advanced IoT ecosystem tailored for the client, AoFrio’s customer success and commercial teams have maintained close collaboration with the client. This partnership extended to various facets, including supporting platform customization, providing installation training, and establishing platform capabilities aimed at strengthening customer-centric business insights.

The robust collaboration between AoFrio and the client has yielded impressive results. As of 2023, data indicates that there are now over 150,000 devices connected under the AoFrio solution and IoT ecosystem. This milestone underscores the trust and confidence placed in AoFrio’s technology, affirming its pivotal role in optimizing operations and driving efficiency for the client. 

The Logistic Regional Manager from the client’s side said:

“AoFrio’s technology provides us with valuable tools that allow discovering business insights and making action plans.”

Now that 75% of the client’s fleet is connected and around 96% is tracked through the IoT ecosystem using our Bluetooth technologies, they have access to many new insights including asset traceability, maintenance savings, delivered cost-effectiveness, and tracking against key business results. 

AoFrio’s IoT ecosystem platform presents the client with dashboards and automatic alerts that can capture and record data for each cooler and country including:

• Real-time location
• Historical visibility
• Ranking percentage tracked within the last number of days
• Coolers that have been untracked for more than 60 days (about 2 months)
• Number of Hours where an asset is disconnected
• Re-location events 

The dashboards enable the customer to take actions that improve and increase their sales and provide reliable knowledge about consumer habits and preferences. It has also allowed them to make better plans for predictive and preventive maintenance, meaning assets have a longer lifespan.

Utilizing AoFrio’s IoT solutions, the client has shifted its focus towards efficient asset management, harnessing gathered data to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer experience associated with its cooler fleet. 

Our client has shown interest in exploring the bundled hardware and cloud service that offers cooler fleet energy efficiency gains, accurate usage measurement, data-driven insights, and the means to remotely optimize and chart improvements over time. 

As a leader in IoT technology for commercial refrigeration, AoFrio remains dedicated to advancing its ecosystem. Through sustainable and transformative technology, AoFrio consistently provides valuable insights to its customers, empowering them to optimize operations and drive sustainable growth.