Coborn’s keeps temperatures just right with enterprise monitoring

Dan Berthiaume
Senior Editor, Technology
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A Midwest grocer is ensuring that its products and equipment do not get too hot or too cold.

Coborn’s Inc. has deployed thousands of SmartSense by Digi Internet of Things (IoT) temperature-monitoring solutions across 58 groceries, 36 pharmacies, 88 semitrucks, and 28 car washes. The retailer seeks to strengthen its ability to monitor product quality and safety while redirecting labor hours to higher-value, customer-centric activities. Coborn's is also using the SmartSense Task solution in its food safety operations to record hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) activities and daily logs. 

In addition to meeting organizational and regulatory standards for food safety and pharmaceutical monitoring, the retailer will also implement SmartSense in its trucking operations. Transporting temperature-sensitive product from distribution centers to retail locations with dozens of trailers, Coborn's wanted a solution to monitor multiple temperature zones within each trailer while providing appropriate telematics for its operations.

Furthermore, Coborn's placed temperature-monitoring sensors inside its car washes to monitor for extreme temperature drops. If entrance or exit doors do not close properly during cold winter weather, pipes and other equipment can suffer critical damage. The sensors can indicate malfunctioning doors and prevent equipment damage.

"The in-transit element of our food-safety monitoring efforts was a critical focus for this project and a key differentiator for SmartSense," said Nathan Tykwinski, VP, operations and retail services at Coborn's. "SmartSense sets the standard for temperature-monitoring solutions, and it gives us the telematics that provide the right business insights to ensure we're using our trucking fleet as effectively as possible."

Based in St. Cloud, Minn., Coborn’s Inc. is a 99-year-old, employee-owned grocery retailer operating in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin under the Coborn’s, Cash Wise Foods, Marketplace Foods, and Hornbacher’s banners.