Leicestershire-based Shield Group (
www.shield-group.com),
a leading Tier One supplier of castings and machined components, has tapped into specialist support to manage its energy costs after seeing its sales increase by £15 million.
The company, which has six manufacturing divisions in Coventry, Leicestershire, Northampton and Oldham, recently achieved a turnover of £80 million for the first time in its 69-year history after securing orders to supply lightweight parts for the off-highway, automotive and power generation markets.
Faced with major increases in production, Shield Group asked Control Energy Costs (CEC) — a specialist in utility management, procurement and support services — to provide a complete audit of its energy usage and review how it could reduce its carbon footprint and cut costs.
The report proposed new working practices, agreeing fixed utility contracts and introducing more-efficient manufacturing processes.
Chris Shield, managing director, said: “We used to look after this in-house, but we recognised the need to get an expert in to take a holistic overview, and we wanted someone who would come up with solutions to give us performance and cost improvements.
That is exactly what CEC did, with Chris Ellis leading a team of specialists that have successfully reduced the amount of energy we use by 15% — a significant achievement when you consider how energy-intensive our businesses are.”
Mr Ellis said: “Working with all levels of Shield’s workforce, we were able to put in place a blueprint for not just saving energy but also making operations more efficient — and identifying Government support that makes introducing these processes easier.”