As new technologies take hold, such as integrated sensors and monitoring systems, restaurants and convenience stores can maximize the lifetimes of assets such as kitchen equipment, HVAC systems, and lighting. These advancements allow these businesses to maintain an optimal level of service to their customers and enhance product quality while minimizing maintenance and capital costs by informing how they operate their facilities.
Remote Monitoring with Mobile Devices
For example, the manager of a large portfolio of restaurants may remotely monitor ovens and other cooking equipment so that cooking efficiency is optimized and consistent product quality is maintained. Sensors mounted on each piece of equipment wirelessly send data to the cloud, where automated analysis is performed, generating alerts and recommendations which are transmitted to computers and mobile devices. In addition, sensors can be used to monitor energy usage and temperatures of HVAC equipment and obtain real-time notice of problems. With advanced analytics and access to internal HVAC diagnostics, integrated sensors can reduce maintenance costs and help avoid failure.
Once a sensor is activated, specific actions can be triggered: Responses could include automatically adjusting settings, sending alerts about potential malfunctions before they cause catastrophic shutdowns, troubleshooting existing problems–and even turning off a piece of equipment that’s not needed.
Maintain Food Safety
Sensors are already making real strides in maintaining a safe food supply. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandates detailed monitoring, record-keeping and reporting for commercial food producers and suppliers, including restaurants. Equipment including refrigerators, ovens, and food warming equipment are being connected wirelessly to the cloud to provide real time reporting of temperature and other data.
Smart kitchen sensors allow managers to be alerted, in real time, of individual equipment and performance issues that could compromise food safety. The data is also used to archive records of cooking temperatures and times.
Sensors, along with advancing technologies, promises increased efficiency and productivity, as well as profits, by collecting, processing, filtering, sorting, and acting on the large amounts of data generated by and for all the equipment that make up a commercial enterprise.
To find out how to begin integrating sensors into your commercial locations, or even the appliances themselves, contact the team at HSI Sensing to learn more.
