Americold is an expert provider of temperature-controlled storage and logistics for grocery retailers in Australia and New Zealand, and services major international quick-serve restaurants (QSR) and food manufacturers in the region.
With over 2,200 associates supporting customers in 21 facilities in Americold’s ANZ network, the company plays an integral role in the temperature-controlled supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors, quick-serve restaurants, and retailers to consumers.
The company’s mission is to help their customer feed the world.
As part of this mission, Americold is leading by example when it comes to combating the rising energy costs associated with the cold chain and providing relief to the power grid. With the purchase of energy contracts currently increasing up to 100% across the region, this decision was an easy one for multiple reasons.
From solar installations to better education around easy steps to curve energy costs, Americold is helping guide the industry towards a more energy efficient, and sustainable model.
The cold chain industry is one of the highest consumers of energy, as they operate to maintain the integrity and safety of food and beverage products, through maintaining a consistent storage temperature. The sheer size of the warehouses requires considerable amounts of equipment and energy to make this happen.
Americold is leading the charge towards a solution with the adoption of solar energy at their sites. This includes the installation of a new solar farm at their Laverton site, in Victoria, which will reduce energy consumption at this automated facility by anywhere from 30 to 35 per cent.
“Out the front of our facility we have a block of land of close to 5 hectares which has been earmarked for construction, but we have decided to build a solar farm on it,” said Phillip Langham, Strategic Sourcing Manager, Americold.
“It is nearly 1.6 megawatts, and it will work on a single axis tracking arm so it can follow the sun through the day.”
“The panels are bi-facial as well so we will have crushed white rock on the ground to get the reflected sunlight to maximise the energy that we can gain from it.”
Maximising the energy intake was critical in achieving the highest energy offsets possible.
“It’s being installed now, and we are at the stage of installing the DC cabling ” added Langham.
“There is a lot of work in that part of the design, and it’s planned to be up and running by the end of October or early November.
“All in all, it will generate about 30 to 35 per cent of our energy at that site, which is significant. That is one of our larger automated sites, which adds significantly to the energy use
and costs.”
For Americold, savings on energy costs have a positive impact on the bottom line, as with any business.
“In our business, energy cost is one of the biggest costs we have after labour,” said Gerard Hanrahan, Regional Facilities Services Manager ANZ, Americold.
“It’s a big part of our spend and any dollar we can save off our energy usage hits the bottom line directly and assists our customers in keeping their prices down in a challenging financial landscape.”
“Our senior leadership team are proactive in supporting any ways to save energy and they actively encourage the investment of time in looking for solutions in this space.”
“This commitment has led to the installation of energy saving equipment across all the sites.”
This long-term investment, which has been ongoing for seven years, demonstrates Americold’s ability to help reduce energy consumption at a time where energy costs are rising for
the sector.
“We undertake a lot of analysis on how our sites run, and we have different data inputs,” said Hanrahan.
“We look at ourselves compared to other sites in our industry around the world who all supply data to a single point, and we can compare ourselves against these sites and we are proud that we come up favourably in Australia.
“We have some of the most efficient sites in the Americold business, right here in Australia.”
And as suppliers of temperature-controlled supply chain solutions, Americold can use its own energy saving initiatives as proof positive of how to advise customers on achieving the same results.
“There is a big return on the percentage of the energy you can save with solar. We are looking at saving energy by installing solar at any of our sites that have suitable roofs and have recently had four large solar installation projects approved in the ANZ region.”
Hanrahan said the company had already addressed the big-ticket changes, particularly around other energy saving initiatives. These include the installation of LED lights, rapid response roller doors and the updating of the equipment that power the refrigeration systems.
Langham said one area where energy consumption can be reduced is among the people.
“Other things which can help, they are little things, but they all add up. Which centres around changing the culture and the habits of our people,” he said.
“For example, if in one of our facilities someone leaves a freezer door open then that is a lot of energy going out to waste.
“Changing those type of cultures is critical. Something as simple as turning off the lights when nobody is in the room can save a lot of energy. It’s all about educating our people to do the right thing.”
Another positive step Americold has taken in the avenue of changing cultures and habits is by creating site energy champions and teams.
“We have formed energy teams on our site made up of workers on the floor who do energy walks,” said Hanrahan.
“We have a checklist of things to look at each site, are the doors working, do they have strip curtains, are lights being left on, things of that nature.
“Like Phil said, it’s about changing the culture of business to make sure everyone has a mindset of saving energy. That is an initiative from the USA and it’s been driven through our global business. One month each year is dedicated to the message of energy conservation”
Weekly team discussion points provides a constant reminder for staff about the little things each of them can do to help with the journey to reducing energy consumption.
Advocating for improvements in energy efficiency is an ongoing commitment at Americold with environmental stewardship at the forefront of Americold operating principles. Their approach to sustainability is driven by their people, projects, and purpose and demonstrates a willingness to lead by example in the cold chain industr