Industrials group sets out expansion plan after energy saving
A West Midlands industrial groups has set out ambitious plans for expansion after enjoying strong trading results over the last twelve months.
Rubery Owen, which was established over 130 years ago in Darlaston, has announced investment in a new facility at its Land Rover and Hyundai dealerships in Aberystwyth and a testing laboratory for its material testing division in Brierley Hill. The latter will specialise in bespoke materials testing across a variety of industry sectors.
This growth is throwing up a number of new energy management challenges and that is why the firm decided to tap into the expertise of Control Energy Costs (CEC) after an introduction by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.
CEC worked with the senior management team to provide a complete review of its current and future usage, exploring the possibility of bulk buying as a group whilst also identifying solutions to bespoke issues at individual companies.
It is a decision that is already paying off, with over £16,000 of annual costs already saved, with the potential of more to come as new energy management techniques are introduced.
“Our seven businesses are all growing and with that expansion comes an increase in the amount of energy we use,” said Kevin McGuigan, group finance director at Rubery Owen.
“Traditionally, we were purchasing it separately for each division, but quickly realised that this wasn’t the best approach and that we should really be looking to buy as a group. In order to do this, we wanted to work with a partner we could trust and that’s where Control Energy Costs came to the fore.”
He continued: “Our existing broker looked a more cost-effective option to begin with. However, it soon became clear that after a comprehensive review and complete transparency on the deals we could see that CEC could save us £16,000 immediately.
“With the increasing cost of power, it is important that we are able to access competitive energy prices. In addition, having an expert on board allows us to obtain the best economies of scale.”
Rubery Owen, which records annual sales of £55m and employs 187 people, operates seven companies, including Merlin Power Characterisation, Phoenix Materials Testing, Rotech Laboratories, Rozone, Rubery Owen Holdings, Shukers and Techtron.
Liam Conway, head of CEC Direct, said: “Our success with manufacturers comes from our ability to get under their skin and understand current and future energy requirements. We can then use our expert brokers to come up with the best possible deal, with transparency being key to all discussions.”
