Lucozade Ribena Suntory strives to quench energy usage

Soft drinks firm Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has introduced an energy management partnership in a bid to reduce its UK factory's annual energy consumption by 5%.


Industrial software company Wonderware UK & Ireland is providing LRS with energy management solutions at its 53-acre facility based in Coleford, Gloucestershire, which annually produces more than 1.2 billion bottles of drinks, including Lucozade Sport and Ribena.

LRS energy and sustainability manager Gary Burford said: “Energy management is a continuous improvement activity and we’ve already undertaken in excess of 26 energy saving projects in the last four years. To make further improvements, we need to understand where we are using energy across the site and improve the visibility and accessibility of that information to allow us to make changes.”

‘Big results’

The list of solutions includes industrial automation software which can be attached to LRS’s individually metered systems to convert the raw energy data into actionable information, allowing LRS to better understand its energy consumption patterns and costs and to identify potential inefficiencies.

LRS is also using intelligence software dashboards to raise awareness of energy consumption and promote behavioural change. The real-time feedback and live usage data on the dashboards will allow team members to see how their individual actions can have an impact on energy use across the site.

Burford continued: “We believe the graphical interfaces and real-time data offered by the Wonderware solutions will engage our people, giving them an immediate awareness of their impact on energy usage and empowering them to make the small changes that can, over time, deliver big results.”

Drink to success

LRS has previously worked in partnership with behaviour change experts Hubbub to launch the first litter shop in the UK, as part of a rural anti-litter campaign in The Forest of Dean. The collaborative effort was aimed at bringing together businesses, the Forest of Dean District Council, community groups, local littering charities as well as local residents.

Meanwhile, other major drinks suppliers have also been ramping up efforts to boost energy-saving initiatives. Last month, soft drinks giant Coca-Cola became the first Fortune 500 Company to replenish all of the water it uses globally back to nature and communities.

This followed the news that Diageo had noted substantial improvements in its water efficiency goals, showing an increase of 12.5% efficiency in its latest CSR report.

George Ogleby

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