Case Study: Maple Leaf Foods Utility Audits
Maple Leaf Foods engaged Enviro-Stewards’ environmental engineering team to thoroughly audit 33 manufacturing plants across Canada and report back with a specific action plan for each facility to achieve environmental benchmarks as well as corporate ROI.
The Challenge
In 2015, Maple Leaf Foods, one of Canada’s largest food manufacturers, set a bold goal for their organization: Reduce the company’s environmental footprint by 50% by 2025.
In the food manufacturing space, where each step in the process from food production and processing to storage and distribution—has some impact on the environment, this is an aggressive target. Achieving it would set Maple Leaf Foods up as a leader in food manufacturing sustainability.
The Solution
Tim Faveri, Vice President of Sustainability & Shared Value, is accountable for achieving this vision. His first step was to set a baseline from which to move forward.
“It was imperative that we have consistency in this process,” says Tim. “So we started with probably the most extensive utility energy audit program in a long time in Canada.”
Maple Leaf Foods engaged Enviro-Stewards to complete 33 comprehensive utility audits at manufacturing plants across the country.
A Holistic Approach to Sustainability
Enviro-Stewards spent a minimum of one week at smaller plants and up to two weeks at larger facilities thoroughly analyzing process—from the first light switch on in the morning to the last faucet turned off at night. Their approach was holistic, encompassing water usage, energy efficiency, and waste management. They reviewed systems, procedures, machinery, output, and more down to their minutia. Beyond asking the obvious—“What does this do?”— they dug deeper, asking “Why are you doing it this way?” Then asking themselves, “Can it be done better?”
Each plant received a comprehensive report that identified 15–30 action items and their perceived environmental impact and bottom line value add upon implementation. Plus, they also received an action plan spreadsheet to help plant managers track their facility’s progress and measure results.
“Their work was top-notch,” says Tim. “That was the feedback from the plants. They got a lot of respect right off the bat for the engineering that they do.”
The Unexpected Happened…
When Enviro-Stewards showed up on-site across the table from Plant Managers and their key teams, they were keen, focused, and two other things that typical engineering consultants are not: really, really passionate and dressed down—like they were ready to get their hands dirty from day one. One of the plant managers called Tim after the first meeting: “Are you sure these guys are the right guys?” He was used to slick corporate engineers in business suits. “I told him to let it run and call me back when he received the results,” says Tim.
He had a good feeling.
And he was right. From the first audit to the last, spanning 13 months, Enviro-Stewards impressed with the quality of their engineering, the thoroughness of their process, and their service.
The same skeptical Plant Manager called Tim back after Enviro-Stewards submitted their draft report:
“He told me it was very refreshing. ‘They just delivered such a high quality job,’ he said to me. ‘They are really strong, good engineers.’”
The Results
Now, two-years into their sustainability plan, Maple Leaf Foods is seeing impressive results—both on environmental impact and bottom-line savings. Each plant has seen some reduction in their utility usage.
“In two years, since we started the audits with Enviro-Stewards, we’ve reduced our energy intensity by over 20%. We’ve reduced our water intensity by over 20%. We reduced our emissions intensity by over 30%,” says Tim proudly.
Although he cannot with 100% certainty attribute all of these savings to the work with Enviro-Stewards—climate change and production variances do factor in— Tim is confident that the work with Enviro-Stewards has been foundational.
“Our goal is 50% in 10 years. So we are making great progress. The value that Enviro-Stewards provided is obviously evident in that performance.”
In 2016 alone, Maple Leaf Foods saved close to $2M on their utility bills, which can be attributed in part to implementation on Enviro-Stewards’ audit findings.
The Benefits of the Audits
- Consistent process and reporting
- Higher environmental standards
- Significant utility cost savings
- Impressive Return on Investment (ROI) of $60,000–$150,000/facility
- Average payback: 0.83 years
- Holistic approach
Is your business a changemaker?