42 // End User
LEADER OF THE RACK With 69 installations, ALDI is the No. 1 user of transcritical CO 2 refrigeration systems in the U.S. supermarket industry, and its aggressive store expansion and remodelling plans call for even more. – By Michael Garry & Andrew Williams
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hen Hillphoenix introduced the AdvansorFlex – a smaller capacity, less costly version of its Advansor transcritical CO 2 booster refrigeration system – in December 2015, the Conyers, Georgia-based OEM had in mind small-format stores as the primary end user.
Enter ALDI US, the fast-growing chain of nearly 1,700 value-oriented supermarkets in 35 U.S. states. The Batavia, Illinois-based company had already started installing Hillphoenix’s Advansor system prior to the AdvansorFlex’s release, but then switched to the smaller system. “Hillphoenix engineered the AdvansorFlex specifically for ALDI stores, which have smaller footprints [about 20,000 sq. ft.; 1,858 sq. m.],” said Aaron Sumida, an ALDI US vice-president based in upstate New York. “The Advansor CO 2 booster system is better suited to traditional supermarkets.” As of 11 August 2017, ALDI had deployed transcritical CO 2 systems – the majority of them the AdvansorFlex – in 69 stores, with more installations coming. Hillphoenix supplied 66 of the stores, with the other three using transcritical systems provided by a partnership between Hussmann and Canadian OEM Systèmes LMP. More than 10 projects so far
Accelerate China // Spring 2018