Sainsbury's

Sainsbury’s supermarket in the Cornish town of Truro has a 411-space car park split over two levels, which has been successfully served by one of Nortech’s count management systems with available space signs for the last decade.

Sainsbury’s wanted to make it as easy as possible for customers to find a parking space. Having successfully used Nortech’s system they looked into the possibility of an upgrade. This would include full colour, multilevel, 2-tier variable message signs to help customers find free parking spaces in their two-storey car park.

In partnership with Access Automation Limited, Nortech provided a standalone NCT100 Counter Module and two new 2-tier LED Variable Message Signs to go with their existing vehicle inductive loop detectors. Vehicles are counted in and out of each level and the number of available spaces on each level is calculated by subtracting the number of vehicles currently on each level from its total capacity. This accounts for circulating vehicles as well as parked vehicles. In this type of application, the compact NCT100 module operates as an autonomous counting system that can keep up to four independent counts with individual increment and decrement inputs. The signs are controlled over an RS485 bus.

• High intensity, full colour LED sign for clear messages
• Displays available spaces providing customer guidance
• Visible even in strong sunlight
• Bespoke artwork to promote customer’s brand
• Improves the customers’ shopping experience
• Up to 4 signs can be controlled by a single counting module