Golden Mile: Setting a high standard for refrigeration

The Golden Mile near Groblersdal in Limpopo, is the region where some of the country’s best export-quality citrus fruit and grapes are grown. This is also where new standards are set for the cultivation and storage of export-grade produce. It is therefore little wonder that the demand for state-of-the-art refrigeration solutions is higher here than anywhere else in the country.

The solutions developed an hour to arrive on site and fix it. These have a compressor break in the middle specifically for the food people have to be on standby for 24 hours of the night, and have to wait a week for producers in the Golden Mile is of the day. one to be dispatched. The team needs it an example for any organisation When a producer demands seamless on hand so that they can do a swap in the that cannot compromise on the quality operation, the obvious answer is to minimum amount of turnaround time. of their refrigeration. The Golden Mile offer him a fully outsourced refrigeration Geographical distance is one of the main is essentially the one-mile radius around solution, where the service provider challenges faced by service providers. the highest point in the Groblersdal owns and operates the system while Firstly, maintenance crews need to be area, the N11 between Groblersdal and only selling refrigeration to the client as a on-site quickly, meaning that they have Marble Hall. It has its own microclimate, utility. However, because these facilities to be set up and ready to be dispatched which makes it ideal for production of stand idle for just about three quarters within minutes of getting a call. Secondly, outstanding quality fruit in the country. of the year, and then they have to ramp the far distance of these farms from The demand for export-quality produce up to 24-hour operation for about three infrastructure such as grid power is from this small region is so high that months, outsourcing is more complex. a major issue. The further that these property prices soared in recent years. Fully outsourced solutions are most viable facilities are located from town, the The farmers who invest their time and if the facility operates for at least eight weaker their power supply is. capital into these operations sell a high- months of the year. The farmers therefore At the moment there are facilities that quality product -that is why they expect own all of the refrigeration systems on simply cannot function with the low refrigeration systems that are up to the their sites, while a refrigeration expert has voltage that they sometimes get from task. Therefor it is difficult to find a farm to be contracted to conduct 24-hour live the grid. As a result, most of these there that uses older technology. monitoring and maintenance. facilities have now started to incorporate Refrigeration is central to the production There are companies now that developed solar power and batteries with their flow on these farms. The produce has their own monitoring tools, which refrigeration systems. It is actually an ideal to be cooled overnight to the right observe the operation of the refrigeration match in the end according to refrigeration temperature by the time that the trucks equipment in real-time. This is a crucial experts. arrive to ensure that they can make it to part of their service, as the monitoring It is reckoned that Golden Mile is truly their destination without spoiling. This equipment picks up problems and the golden standard that displays the full requires that the cooling rooms run at temperature fluctuations the moment capabilities of state-of-the-art refrigeration peak efficiency, with no downtime. that they start to present, so action can service providers. The systems and proceIt also means that there is an intensive be taken well before the quality of the dures employed there are standard for maintenance component that accompanies produce is put in jeopardy. all operations across South Africa, but any refrigeration system that operates in This also means maintenance teams need Groblersdal is definitely where solutions this region. If there is a problem of any access to all the refrigeration system’s are tested to their absolute limit. kind, a maintenance crew have less than replacement components. One cannot EPMD