The new Sainsbury’s store on Hardwick Road in Kings Lynn is not only one of the company’s largest stores in the UK, it’s also one of its most energy efficient, with features such as 1,000 solar panels, rain water harvesting and an impressive wooden structure made from sustainable sources. So when it came to selecting the greenest refrigeration, Sainsbury’s naturally turned to Kings Lynn manufacturer Williams Refrigeration.
Williams and its sister AFE companies Mono and Millers have long standing working associations with Sainsbury’s that go back over 25 years and today Williams Mono and Millers equipment can be found in all Sainsburys stores.
Tim Smith – CEO of The AFE Group spent a day working in the store, to see just how well his fridges were coping with demand.
“We work closely with Sainsbury’s around the UK, but it’s always special to supply your home town store,” says Tim Smith. “Especially when the products include some of our latest refrigeration technology, such as the fridges and freezers that run on environment-friendly natural refrigerants.”
Tim put in a full shift in the store bakery, working with both the Mono Bread Plant, Baking Ovens and Williams’ advanced Eco Touchscreen Retarder Provers, which are used to chill and prove the dough for bread and morning goods. “Working in the store has been quite an eye opener. It’s a very useful exercise for suppliers, and gives us a real and first hand insight into how Sainsbury’s uses our equipment. The experience day is an excellent forum for us to talk with the bakers and see how we might help to work further with them to make continued improvements and innovation to our equipment.
The Open plan, theatre bakery also offers supermarket customers a unique opportunity to experience the workings of the bakery, and particularly to appreciate just how much bread and confectionary is actually prepared from scratch and fresh baked in store.
Tim is not the only member of the Williams and AFE team to help out in stores a number of colleagues from Williams and Mono helped out in stores across the country in the run up to Christmas. “It’s been very enjoyable and a unique insight behind the scenes at one of the UK’s leading supermarket groups – the staff here are absolutely fantastic and work really hard, and pleasingly the Williams and Mono products offer an equally professional quality and performance.
The eco-friendly refrigeration products at the new Sainsbury’s store were developed under Williams' Greenlogic initiative. For more information, visit www.greenlogic.info