Mattias Sandquist won Improvement of the Year in the Swedish Coor Awards for his climate smart technical solution developed for Ica’s cooling storage. The solution reduces the need for electrically powered cooling compressors by using cold outdoor air which reduces overall energy consumption. The innovation was greatly appreciated by the customer and the jury.
How did you arrive at this solution?
”The potential for using outdoor temperatures to cool the system has always been there, but no one had been able to make it work to date. I’m driven and love to solve problems, so I dived deep into the technology to find a solution. Here at the Ica warehouse, we focus sharply on energy efficiency and optimizing operations.
Mattias Sandquist has worked at Ica’s warehouse in Helsingborg for nearly five years. The warehouse covers more than 100,000 m2, including a large cooling and freezer plant. Mattias previously worked for another company, and Coor took over operations and management of that facility in 2019.
What does your work involve?
“As an Operating Technician with responsibility for cooling and heating my job is to ensure that everything works, my work involves daily inspections, maintenance planning and optimizing operations.”
Do you enjoy your job?
”I really enjoy my job. The plant is large and complex and we focus sharply on operational reliability and energy efficiency. I’ve always been very interested in energy and technology and Coor has a wider perspective than many other companies I’ve worked for in the past. For example, Coor organizes meet-ups with operating technicians from other sites, where we discuss what works at the different sites, which solutions are being trialed and share tips and ideas.
Many of Coor’s employees think that the innovative climate is one of the best things about working at Coor. Do you agree?
“Yes, I do. I can only speak for myself, but it’s critical for my personal development to have the opportunity to work with new solutions. At Coor, we work with improvements in a very structured way—there’s a process you follow. If you have a suggestion for an improvement, you enter it into our reporting system and it is then presented to the customer. For my proposal regarding free cooling, there was no discussion about whether the solution should be implemented or not, just lots of smiles and gratitude from Ica.
What’s the best thing about your job?
“I get to work independently with what interests me the most, technology. The fact that Coor is so forward looking is also great, we always want to be better.