The protection and preservation of flowers before shipment at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport had long been a problem for exporters of these delicate products whose condition could not be guaranteed as they were liable to deterioration from heat or extreme cold. To overcome the problem SMI has recently installed a giant Temperature Controlled Zone (TCZ) 9m long, 6m wide and 5.8m high to provide extra protection in an area that is already controlled at 9ºC.
 

• At Schiphol the curtains are simply pulled out into their operating position on a special SMI extruded track.
• A separate 300 cubic metre zone is created.
• 15 minutes before the flowers arrive the evaporator/condenser is switched on.
• Once the products are despatched, the evaporator is turned off and the curtains drawn back into their parking position.
• Energy to run the evaporator is only consumed when required and costs are therefore only a fraction of those of a conventional cold store.
• When not being used for flowers the space is available for general good storage.
• Once installed a TCZ can be used to store or process a wide variety of temperature sensitive products from vegetables and bakery produce through to temperature sensitive chemicals.

In the words of the operators, Rockwood Air Freight B.V, “The SMI TCZ is operating as we expected and blooms are now being shipped in prime condition and commanding top market prices.”