IMS Evolve and Current, Powered by GE, Partner on Smart Food Retail

IMS Evolve, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) company, recently announced a strategic partnership with Current, powered by GE, the digital engine for intelligent environments, to deliver IoT solutions to the food retail sector. The partnership reportedly leverages IMS Evolve’s integration and automation capabilities and Current’s Daintree wireless controls infrastructure to offer a solution for helping food retailers reduce operational costs and improve customer experience.

The companies said that the new partnership will drive savings across energy, waste and maintenance by leveraging real-time data from assets across the enterprise. Reportedly, a popular U.S. regional grocer recently installed the new unified IMS/Current solution at nearly 200 stores and is on a path toward saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the coming months simply by identifying and removing excess defrost cycles in refrigeration cases. The customer estimates the project will deliver over $1.2 million in annual savings through a combination of refrigeration, HVAC and lighting-related energy savings, all while reducing food spoilage by 30 percent and cutting reactive maintenance calls by 25 percent., according to the release.

“We see great potential in our continued collaboration with IMS Evolve,” said Colleen Calhoun, Head of Software Solutions & Chief Marketing Officer, Current by GE. “As the grocery industry progresses from manual to fully-integrated and automated controls, food retailers will see a marked drop in the operational costs it takes to efficiently keep food quality high while delivering an excellent customer experience.”

The IMS Evolve IIoT platform software runs natively on Current’s wireless area controller (WAC), with data being acquired and leveraged through the IMS system to drive process automation.

“With a powerful proposition that combines our proven IIoT solution with Current’s technology and experience servicing complex retail environments,” said Jason Kay, Chief Commercial Officer, IMS Evolve, “we are able to deploy our solution at scale and speed to retailers across the world, releasing significant value and rapid ROI.”

Current by GE is working in hundreds of projects across the IoT, and to find out more about its work, register for IoT Evolution Expo 2020: The Thinking IoT Arrives, where Austin Ashe, GM, Intelligent Cities, Current by GE, will be speaking.