Refrigeration innovation Hauser

REFRIGERATION INNOVATION

Hauser GmbH based in the Austrian city of Linz, produces chiller and freezer cabinets for the retail sector. Joseph Altham caught up with the company’s deputy sales manager, Peter Breitenfellner, to find out how Hauser is helping supermarkets all over Europe to save energy.

Hauser is a family business with more than 60 years of experience in refrigeration. The company manufactures refrigeration cabinets for commercial purposes and employs over 400 people. Hauser sells only to other businesses, and its biggest customers are supermarkets, cash and carry outlets and discount stores.

The company has two main production plants. The factory in Austria, at Sankt Martin im Mühlkreis, has an area of 13,500m2 and was established in 1971. Besides producing refrigeration cabinets, the factory at Sankt Martin has four test rooms that enable Hauser to conduct tests in-house. Hauser set up its factory in the Czech Republic back in 1990. This factory, in Kaplice, has helped it to build up its strong position in central and eastern European markets. “Our Czech plant is only a 40 minute drive from head office so it is closely integrated with the rest of the company,” said Mr Breitenfellner. “Manufacturing costs in the Czech Republic are lower, so the Czech plant helps us to offer more cost-effective products.”

A splash of colour

Aesthetics matter to the retail sector, which expects refrigeration cabinets to be visually impressive as well as reliable. One way to enhance the visual impact of refrigeration is through LED lighting, and Hauser has introduced LED lighting in units such as its Regius display cabinet for meat and dairy products. “Visually, LED means you can play with different colours and create any colour you want. The industry started moving over to LED around three years ago. We now offer LED lighting as standard on our serve-over cabinets. LED lighting also has important advantages in terms of energy efficiency. It consumes less electricity and at the same time it brings less heat into the cabinet.”

The look of retail spaces has changed a lot since the 1970s, and for supermarkets battling to attract the attention of consumers, a uniform white colour for refrigeration units is sometimes no longer enough. To ensure that it can meet the expectations of its clients, Hauser has recently installed a new, fully automated painting line. “For the

retail sector, colour has an important role to play. Our customers often want green or orange colours for displaying fruit and vegetables as a way to reiterate the freshness. The new painting line means that we can do the jobs in-house and react more quickly to our customers’ changing requirements.”

Eco ES system

The retail sector, which competes on price, is always on the lookout for ways to lower its costs. According to Mr Breitenfellner, Hauser’s customers are now paying much more attention to the running costs of a refrigeration unit as opposed to just the upfront cost. “Energy efficiency is a key driver, particularly for the big retail chains. Energy prices are soaring, so the retailers are looking closely at the figures for energy-saving.” Hauser’s ingenious Eco ES system enables supermarkets to save energy by using the heat that is discharged by their refrigeration cabinets to heat the whole of the building. “Heating the supermarket with the refrigeration system means you can bring down the supermarket’s overall energy consumption. Rather than being wasted, the heat that comes out of the refrigeration system is fed into a heat exchanger in the store.”

Thanks to Hauser’s Eco ES technology, supermarkets with substantial refrigeration capacity have even been able to do without oil and gas heating altogether. Hauser has the capacity to provide customers with turnkey solutions, including planning, delivery and installation. “Our customers in continental Europe usually prefer us to take care of the whole project, which makes life easier for them.” Taking a centralised approach also allows refrigeration to be centrally controlled, making for greater energy efficiency. “With the Eco ES system, all sorts of temperatures can be visualised on the screen of a PC. You can see the store’s temperature as well as the refrigeration temperature. There are even clever modules that pick up the weather forecast and are synchronised with it. This means that the system will start producing hot water if it knows the weather is going to be cold.”

Markets

Countries outside Austria account for 76 per cent of Hauser’s sales, making the company a highly successful exporter. Besides supplying refrigeration units to many of the big European supermarket chains, Hauser also sells refrigeration systems for industrial premises such as meat factories and delivery depots. “There are 10 staff who work on this area at our industrial refrigeration centre in Vienna.” Hauser’s independent sales offices in Austria, Germany and the UK can deal with customers directly. The company also has a wide network of service engineers, and customers throughout Europe can contact Hauser on a special 24-hour hotline. “After-sales care is part of the Hauser philosophy. We don’t just want to sell equipment. We want to help our clients to maintain it and look after it properly.” n