CAREL: 30 years in refrigeration

CAREL will celebrate 30 years in the refrigeration sector and outline its plans for the future at Euroshop 2020 in Dusseldorf.

The company released its first refrigeration product in 1990, after 17 years of operating exclusively in the air conditioning sector. Its S90 controller boasted features including the ability to combine the thermostat and defrost functions on the same device, simple installation, and a large backlit LCD display.

Company founder and Chairman Luigi Rossi Luciani said: “At the end of the 80s, CAREL had achieved good results in the production and sale of air conditioning controllers and we started making our first plans for international expansion. Our main competitors were already operating in the refrigeration market, so we decided to exploit the expertise available in the company to expand into this sector. Our goal was to be innovative, as CAREL products have always aimed to be. We thus succeeded in marketing a product featuring a backlit digital display, able to display multiple information at the same time, while still using the analogue controls that were standard at the time for entering data.”
 
The 90s saw the arrival of other products for refrigeration: ir32, which promised simple installation, and plug in, a product that helped make CAREL a leader in the commercial refrigeration market .
 
With the new millennium came ir33 and power compact, however the real breakthrough occurred in 2007 with easy, anew range of controllers that replaced the plug-in and ir32 ranges, with advanced solutions that further expanded the commercial offering. The most important innovation here was the ability to customise the control software and the product has since achieved estimated sales of more than 15 million units.

In the last decade, CAREL has offered what it describes as easy-to-configure controllers with pre-set parameters that minimise installation times. These are the ir33 smart, easy cool and easy freeze lines. In the same period, the ir33 range also underwent complete restyling, becoming ir33+.

Alessandro Greggio, Group Chief Sales & Marketing Officer - Refrigeration, said: “Both technology and business models need to evolve relentlessly in order to satisfy a demanding and constantly changing market. The real question now is what awaits us in the next few years, in a world that is ever more connected and demanding in terms of human-machine interaction, and with the urgent need to respect the environment and ensure sustainability. 

"How will industry leaders, like CAREL, whose mission is to meet these and other rapidly accelerating needs, respond? The answer will be clear at Euroshop 2020, the next event for commercial refrigeration, now extended to cover both food retail and food service.''

Euroshop 2020 will take place in Dusseldorf, February 16-20.