Energy, where you get it and how you use it, may impact your bottom line more this year than ever before. With the right knowledge, food and beverage plants can dramatically reduce these costs.
Of all the energy consumed in US food and beverage plants, corn milling, beet sugar, soybean oil, brewing, and canned food operations use the largest share. Everywhere you look, companies are trying to reduce energy costs and improve their bottom lines. Nestlé, for example, reported to its investors that its energy and efficiency programs targeted savings of hundreds of millions of dollars over a six-year period. Other major food processors have similar initiatives, many of which were re-energized by the rapid rise in natural gas prices. Energy prices have risen so rapidly during the past three years that even ambitious dollar savings targets need to be revised upward.