Forklift truck manufacturer Jungheinrich UK Ltd has announced that during 2007 consumption of electricity and gas across its UK business was cut by 5 per cent while emissions of carbon dioxide from its fleet of service vehicles were reduced by the same figure.
Furthermore, the company has targeted an additional 5 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and gas and electricity use during 2008.
Jungheinrich operates a fleet of  some 500 service vehicles in the UK that undertake routine maintenance and repair operations for the company’s hundreds of customers. The entire service fleet already runs on diesel fuel for optimum efficiency, but last year Jungheinrich developed bespoke engineer dispatch software that enables the company to determine the most effective way of placing its engineers each day to ensure that the mileage between calls is kept to a minimum.
Where gas and electricity is concerned, the company has introduced a system that monitors ambient light to minimize electricity needs at a number of its sites, while the introduction of a monitoring system for heating has meant that energy use can be more accurately controlled.
“We are continually looking for ways to do business that reduce our impact on the environment,” says marketing manager, Craig Johnson. “Our commitment to the environment is not just about making a statement. It is about defining the standards by which we do business, setting a methodology for continuous improvement in environmental performance and empowering our staff to act,” he added.
In 2006, Jungheinrich UK attained BSI accreditation to ISO 14001 (the international standard for environmental management systems. ISO 14001 mirrors the standards already held by the group’s manufacturing sites in Germany.