A long-term energy management partnership with energy consultancy Orchard Energy has supported growth at pallet distribution firm Freightroute Limited.
Northampton-based Freightroute started working with Orchard Energy over seven years ago to control energy overheads.
Jennifer Short, associate director of Orchard’s Northampton office, said proactive energy purchasing had given Freightroute the budget security necessary to invest with confidence.
“Energy prices have been highly volatile in recent years,” said Ms Short.
“By securing and fixing contracts at the right time we have helped Freightroute reduce its energy spending in spite of some sharp peaks in the market.
“It has taken a number of years for us to align energy contracts across all sites but this has now been achieved, leading to additional savings and a smoother energy purchasing process.”
Ms Short confirmed that further cost reductions had also been achieved through improved energy efficiency.
Michael Hurford, finance director at Freightroute, said: “Minimising energy costs has been an important part of the firm’s growth strategy as it implemented ambitious growth plans.
He said the total amount of inward investment made during 2014 would exceed £3.25m.
The firm employs over 300 staff at nine sites across the UK – the ninth depot at Alfreton, Derbyshire opened earlier this year.
Recent investment has included new IT infrastructure, the purchase of 50 DAF vehicles for freight transportation and the introduction of state of the art forklift trucks as part of an ongoing improvement programme across its depots and storage centres.
“Freightroute has grown rapidly over the past decade and recent investment is aimed at keeping us at the forefront of a fast-moving and cost-driven industry,” he said.
“Energy is a major overhead and we have worked hard to cut usage and implement effective purchasing strategies to release more capital to support our growth plans.”
Orchard Energy operates energy management and energy solutions services for all sizes of businesses across a range of sectors including retail, manufacturing and logistics. It has offices in Yorkshire, Glasgow, Bristol, Newcastle and Northampton and has just embarked on a comprehensive expansion strategy of its own which will see its workforce double in size in the next five years.
The consultancy is currently seeing particularly strong growth in energy solutions as it works with businesses to plan and implement strategies to reduce energy consumption.
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