Supermarket chain Asda has chosen Hubbard 360 Alpha AEL electric standby refrigeration units for its 32 strong fleet of box body home delivery vehicles operating from its new state of the art ‘Virtual’ store which opened in July.
The store is a dedicated picking centre based in Morley, Leeds, and mirrors a standard Asda store’s product range, employing 200 colleagues that pick exclusively for home delivery orders. The 50,000 sq ft centre is split over two levels and serves customers across West Yorkshire, replacing the service previously operated by five local Asda stores. As a result the long-term capacity for Home Delivery slots in the area has increased four-fold.
To service this increase in Home Delivery capacity, Asda has installed 32 Hubbard 360 Alpha AEL chiller units for use down to -20°C onto a fleet of Mercedes Sprinter chassis with multi compartment insulated box bodies. The 360 Alpha refrigeration system is designed to operate in compartmental bodies and is suitable for temperatures down to -25°c.
The system is driven using an engine-mounted compressor within the engine compartment which is belt driven from the crankshaft. The 360 series units use environmentally friendly R404a refrigerant. The 360 Alpha AEL features a Twin fan, low profile evaporator and the system is operated by an easy to use in-cab, digital controller, which is fully programmable providing a constant temperature read-out.
The units were fitted at Hubbard’s new Chorley Installation Centre, which due to its proximity to the supplying body builder enabled a quick turnaround time which was ideal for Asda.
Dougie Stoddart, Sales Director for Hubbard Products commented “The 360 Alpha AEL with Electric Standby is a firm favourite with Home Delivery fleets with its practical ability to pull down quickly to -20°C and yet allow up to 6 door openings per hour for each four cubic meter load space, which was ideal for Asda’s requirements. The electric standby specification was a major consideration in how to economically keep noise and pollution levels low whilst vehicles were awaiting loading. The size of the Morley Virtual Store ensures that home deliveries are constant and refrigeration performance was a critical factor for Asda’s project team, the Hubbard Units have now proven their worth to Asda and a further 170 Hubbard 360 Alpha AEL units have been ordered to supplement Asda’s growth plans nationwide”.
Hubbard Products
Dougie Stoddart
Tel: 01473 890522
Comments are closed.