Lunds & Byerlys, the upscale grocery retailer in the Twin Cities, has announced a strategic partnership with Facilio, a leading provider of facility management solutions, to digitize its refrigeration compliance management and store facilities operations. This initiative will help Lunds & Byerlys stay ahead of the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory changes and maintain operational excellence across all of their stores.

The collaboration focuses on leveraging Facilio’s integrated refrigeration compliance management solution, which addresses the EPA’s Proposed AIM Act. This upcoming regulation is expected to expand Section 608 requirements to include refrigeration appliances with 15 pounds or more of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant. Under this Clean Air Act (CAA) rule, supermarkets are required to monitor, repair, and document commercial refrigerant leaks, with potential fines reaching up to $57,617 per violation per day, not to mention substantial legal fees and corresponding consent decree.

Facilio’s unified refrigeration management platform automates leak detection and compliance management, minimizing risks for Lunds & Byerlys. By performing leak inspections every 45 days, Lunds & Byerlys can now automatically create inspection entries for all appliances. If a leak is found, Facilio's platform generates a leak event, enabling swift corrective action.  An EPA and Greenchill-ready dashboard makes compliance tracking a breeze.  

“With refrigerant costs rising, we sought the best technology to manage our refrigeration systems efficiently,” said Jeff Carlson, Lunds & Byerlys’ refrigeration specialist. “The constant changes in the regulatory environment at the federal and state levels mean we need to stay on top of compliance. With Facilio, we no longer have to manually double book-keep assets and appliance data between multiple systems—giving back time and enabling efficiency for the facility team.” 

“We are thrilled to work with Facilio to remove one of the biggest roadblocks for our store facility operations—integrating our work order system with refrigeration management processes,” said Kevin Kungel, Director of Maintenance at Lunds & Byerlys. “Facilio ensures compliance by automating the enforcement of compliance events before contractor invoicing. It closes the loop that’s often left hanging when relying on manual processes and disconnected tools.”

In addition to refrigeration compliance tracking, Facilio offers integrations between its work order management system (CMMS), existing accounting software, and third-party IT tools. This gives Lunds & Byerlys a unified view of asset performance and compliance data, resulting in actionable insights and enhanced decision-making across various teams, including contractors, finance, store staff, and field technicians. 

Within weeks of deployment, Facilio’s intuitive mobile apps have helped store staff at Lunds & Byerlys to quickly realize value from the digitization of new compliance processes and facility operations. They now have access to all operational data in real-time and on the go. 

“We are excited to support Lunds & Byerlys in overcoming their integration challenges and optimizing their refrigeration compliance processes,” said Basant Singhatwadia, Facilio’s Director of Customer Success. With our Connected CMMS and refrigeration compliance system in place, Lunds & Byerlys is now well-positioned for the next phase of innovation. Facilio’s Connected Retail platform, which also includes proactive refrigerant leak detection, remote monitoring, energy management and optimization, provides a single pane of glass for all facility management needs.”