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Ocean Spray Saves $500,000 Annually by Outsourcing Energy Operations and Keeps the Regulators Happy

By John Harney, Business Writer

Outsourcing Journal, April 2008

Ocean Spray was steamed. The fruit juice manufacturer had issues with steam generation at its Bordentown, New Jersey, facility. "We would lose steam pressure, which would shut down our packaging operations. That downtime was having a disastrous impact on us," reports Michael Browne, director of engineering at Ocean Spray.

Processing and packaging juice is Ocean Spray's core competency at Bordentown, Browne continues, and the problems with its steam system were negatively affecting the heart of its production in that plant. The company, which had fiscal 2007 gross sales of roughly $1.7 billion, has 300 of its 2,000 employees working in the Bordentown facility.

Ocean Spray solved the problem by outsourcing the management, operation, maintenance, and repair of the Bordentown powerhouse so it has a continuous supply of steam.

Ocean Spray signed an outsourcing contract with Armstrong International Inc.'s subsidiary, Armstrong Service, Inc., to optimize the Bordentown powerhouse. Armstrong is uniquely qualified to service the power plant because many of its engineering, operations, and maintenance personnel have food manufacturing backgrounds, and all managers have broad experience in utility operations and maintenance. Also, about 60 percent of Armstrong's operations and maintenance contracts in the United States are in the food manufacturing sector.

Read the full article that appeared in the April 2008 issue of Outsourcing Journal by clicking here!