Established in 1865, family-owned business Camerons Brewery are award-winning North East brewers with a constantly expanding retail estate of bars and managed pubs, and a century long passion for providing high quality drinks.
Facing rising popularity and significant growth, the business was starting to see greatly increased operational rates and output. Over a period of time, LPG-powered forklifts were used to move kegs in the warehouses, resulting in between 20-30 gas cylinders being used each week to maintain operations. Clearly, this model was not energy or cost efficient, and left the business with extended downtime periods when employees would have to change over the LPG tanks for the forklifts and dispose of the used versions safely.
With a specific need for a faster, and more energy efficient solution, Camerons Brewery collaborated with Jungheinrich as part of an established and integral five year relationship to trial lithium-ion forklift trucks in July 2020. Following a successful pilot, Camerons has now implemented four lithium-ion powered trucks into its warehouse, leveraging in excess of £15,000 cost savings per annum over three to five forklifts.
Besides these extraordinary cost savings, the energy efficiency of lithium-ion batteries compared to LPG is vast. The technology delivers fast charging times and a particularly long product life. The fast and short interim charging times enable the virtually continuous operation of fleets on a 24×7 basis and no gases or acids are emitted by lithium-ion batteries, meaning that charging stations equipped with expensive exhaust systems are no longer necessary.
For Camerons Brewery, switching to lithium-ion immediately reduced the levels of air pollution within the indoor spaces, as well as noise pollution, enabling a cleaner and more pleasant working environment. Manual handling was reduced too, with no need for gas cylinder changes, giving Camerons increased uptime to meet high demand at a greater speed.
Richard Forster, Logistics Manager at Camerons Brewery said: “The switch to lithium-ion trucks was simple and seamless, we were able to see the benefits straight away and it works perfectly with the attachments and clamps we require to move our kegs. The cost savings were a no-brainer for us, and we’re very pleased to be doing our part in reducing our carbon footprint.”
Neil Warren, Region One Business Director at Jungheinrich says: “We were delighted to be able to support Camerons in improving its warehouse efficiency from an economical and environmental perspective. Lithium-ion technology is constantly improving, and already far outweighs LPG in operational benefits, so it’s great to see Camerons taking advantage of this. We look forward to supporting the business further as it continues its expansion.”