Historically based in Chantonnay in Vendée, OCF (Ouest Construction Frigorifiques) is a key player in custom-made refrigerated display cases. A leader on the French market with a turnover of more than 11 million euros in 2022, this company is recognised for its technical know-how in carpentry and “invisible refrigeration”, but that’s not all! In 2007, the company was taken over by Mr Guillaume Zanlorenzi, to whom value creation is a key strategic focus, to face the competition and to stand out in the commercial refrigeration market. In addition to continuing to manufacture high-quality customised display cases, the company’s objective is to “reinvent the customised refrigerated display cabinet so that it becomes secondary to the showcasing of products and can generate better commercial performance”, explains its director.
OCF currently employs 90 people and carries out around 400 projects per year, showcasing the creativity of bakers, pastry chefs, chocolate makers and other food professionals (butchers, cheesemakers, caterers, etc.) in prestigious locations, supermarkets and convenience stores. These refrigerated displays are marketed throughout the world, except South America.
Design and customised production of the cabinets
Each refrigerated display case project is managed collaboratively from an internal and external viewpoint. Listening to the customer’s needs is essential for OCF as the company is particularly involved in non-standard projects. Their speciality “is to be able to provide refrigeration where the competition cannot, and to take up new challenges every day”, as Guillaume Zanlorenzi explains. Innovation is therefore at the heart of the company’s mission to satisfy its customers’ requirements and find appropriate and efficient solutions to promote their products. All skills are integrated within OCF to carry out projects at their production site and the company handles the different materials perfectly to meet everyone’s needs and deliver display cases and refrigerated furniture with beautiful finishes.
Optimal management of humidity and cooling
A pioneer in the French refrigerated cabinet market, OCF has more than mastered thermodynamic and aeraulic technologies. The substitution of refrigerants is fully in line with the company’s social responsibility commitments. New options have recently been considered to meet regulatory requirements and offer solutions with very low environmental impact, without increasing the cost of the display case for the end customer. For medium temperature cooling, OCF had already replaced R-134a with the transition refrigerant R-513A and for low temperature, R-452A replaced R-404A.
David Baudinet, Refrigeration Manager at OCF, approached Antoine Chakar, OEM Market Manager at Climalife, to jointly explore long-term solutions that would achieve the lowest GWP and meet the requirements of stationary or fan assisted cooling proposed by the manufacturer. The aim was to be operational as soon as possible and to always be one step ahead of the market.
After testing Solstice® yf (R-1234yf) for medium temperature and Solstice® L40X (R-455A) for low temperature, the challenge was to be able to find approved components, available for implementation without adding extra components to the circuit design. R-455A showed the best performance of all the alternatives currently available.
« The transition to very low GWP refrigerants is an integral part of our environmental and social approach. As a responsible business, it is something we have to do, and do with the other materials we use on a daily basis, such as glue or wood. Since January 2023, we have therefore added this new offer to our range. We are convinced that our customers will make it a selection preference if there is no price difference. » concludes Guillaume Zanlorenzi.
The workshop for manufacturing customised refrigerated display cases in Chantonnay
David Baudinet, Refrigeration Manager at OCF.
