Bangladeshi fridge makers flexing tech muscle too

The refrigeration industry is in a state of constant transition, rapidly transforming from the bulky, expensive and energy-hungry models in the 1920s to the frost-free models in the '50s, the CFC-free, environmentally conscious models in the '90s to, finally, today's smart refrigerators.

Here in Bangladesh too, the relatively young industry seems to be going that technological advancement route.

In a display of technological muscle, the country's refrigerator manufacturers are now calling the tech-savvy innovator class of customers to give their premium models a try before still asking for an imported one. 

Be it longevity, reliability, superior cooling performance or for the most advanced features of a smart refrigerator that include artificial intelligence (AI) or internet of things (IoT), local companies are now showcasing their excellence and innovations in all the electronics fairs across the globe. And the top ones have bagged some awards too.

At the beginning of the local manufacturing wave earlier last decade, companies stuck to just learning how to make quality refrigerator bodies to accommodate imported compressors in a cost effective way, from where to procure the best raw material and components, and how the refrigerators should be designed to win over the local market, said Meer Muzahedin Islam, head of plant at Orion Home Appliances Ltd.

That phase passed long ago, he said, adding that following a pro-active discontinuation of environmentally harmful refrigerants like CFC and HFC, the industry players are now competing over how to minimise electricity bills of the users, how their food will be best preserved for longer, and what further conveniences should be offered, said the industrial and production engineer who started his career in the refrigerator industry 15 years ago.

For example, successful research is helping manufacturers offer more internal space while keeping the exterior size the same and how cooling can be proportionately distributed inside the refrigerator.

Customers who want to pay a little more are getting modern non-frost refrigerators at affordable prices. Inverter technology is helping reduce electricity consumption by up to 65%.

An increasing base of customers are loving the new benefits that already made the billion dollar local market an almost sole playground of local manufacturers.   

Singer, once an importer and seller of reliable frost refrigerators over the years, now offers locally manufactured internal lighting technology that helps preserve vitamin A and vitamin C better by mimicking natural light.

Singer's "Fresh O Logy" technology helps preserve vegetables and fruits for 20 days and its market leading competitor Walton comes up offering the same for 30 days.

"It is a genuine R&D war. Brands love to play to offer more to their customers," said Walton's Deputy Chief Business Officer for refrigerator Anisur Rahman Mollik.

Walton, having started refrigerator manufacturing with imported Italian compressors in 2008, has already grabbed over two-thirds of the market. Furthermore, it acquired the Italian brands in 2022 to manufacture inverter compressors and raise its annual compressor manufacturing capacity to 4.8 million from that of 3.2 million it had in the first ever South Asian Compressor plant built in Gazipur in 2017.

Nurul Afsar, deputy managing director of Electro Mart, which manufactures popular Konka and Gree branded electronic appliances, said using quality raw materials, best technologies, and keeping food safety in mind is important in the industry as user experience speaks for a brand.

Better control of odour, humidity, and bacteria is also a big part of the local refrigerator industry war and has led to a significant improvement from that a decade ago.

Refrigerators with the ability to survive electricity voltage variations have rendered voltage stabilisers a thing of the past.

The latest and biggest leap of the Bangladeshi refrigerator industry is developing models that use smart technologies, AI and IoT.

Starting in 2018, Walton introduced a series of IoT refrigerators that let the censors read the internal environment and let the smart refrigerator itself decide how to run.

For instance, Walton's engineer Anisur Rahman Mollik said, a Walton refrigerator having nine cooling modes would select one in line with the internal situation.

Connected with an app and online server, the refrigerators can also be controlled remotely and continuous data generation can help the AI capture and utilise usage patterns.

One may have notifications on the phone about which food item is still in stock and which needs to be bought immediately. 

Allowing smart e-commerce apps would enable automatic online order generation in Bangladesh too in the coming years.

Walton most recently introduced a technology that sends signals to the nearest service centre if a refrigerator needs their attention — a big relief offered to customers who could barely identify technical issues before a machine stopped functioning. 

Having its international R&D centre in South Korea to chase its global ambition, the homegrown electronics giant is competing with global brands in the international market.

Anisur Rahman Mollik said the mass market has yet to ask for smart refrigerators for more money, but his company is preparing for the future — both home and abroad.

Right now, nearly 10% of the Walton refrigerators being sold are smart ones and it will only rise as long as more people will become tech-savvy, he added.

Kamruzzaman Kamal, marketing director at Pran-RFL, which manufactures Vision refrigerators, said like others, his R&D team is also working on next generation technologies to compete in the upcoming AI-driven future.

The major shift ongoing in the market is adoption of energy efficient inverter compressors as people are desperate to minimise energy bills since the Ukraine War and all the companies are gearing up.