Coca-Cola (Japan) has launched ‘peak shift vending machines,’ which shift power use for cooling purposes from daytime to nighttime on 19 November 2012.
In summer, the peak shift vending machines can cool products for 16 hours while reducing daytime power consumption by 95%, claims the company.
Compared to current vending machines, the new products also minimize power consumption by 20%.
Developed in collaboration with Fuji Electric, the machines were subjected to experiments over two months from July 2012.
Executive vice president, general manager, franchise operations and commercial leadership Tim Brett said: After the earthquake disaster last year, the need to reduce energy consumption has increased and we take our responsibility as market leader very seriously."
Vending strategy and solution development director and franchise operations and commercial leadership Tomoya Otani said: "With the three features of being quiet during the daytime, being able to dispense cool products for a maximum of 16 hours even when the compressor has been switched off, and greatly reducing power consumption throughout the year, these peak shift vending machines are set to completely change how people think about vending machines."
Fuji Electric Mie Factory Food & Beverage Distribution Business Group engineering department general manager Koji Sugimoto said: "The use of large amounts of vacuum insulation materials, which boast 10 times greater thermal insulation performance than conventional urethane materials, successfully resulted in the cooled products themselves maintaining the cool air environment within the machines."
The Coca-Cola system plans to invest over JPY10bn from January to December 2013, with the aim to deploy 25,000 vending machines across the country.
The beverage giant has used 'polar bear' character for the product promotions to convey the message to consumers that the vending machines are environment friendly.
