Market entry · Vela Freight
A Spanish subsidiary, opened mid-operations
9 weeks
From incorporation to the first shipment
The challenge
Between 2021 and 2023 Ferronor’s energy bill doubled while its order book stayed flat. The annealing furnaces ran on a schedule set fifteen years earlier, and nobody could say which line used how much.
The board asked for a plan it could finance: what to change, what it would cost, and what it would save.
What we did
In the two-week diagnostic we metered every line and set a baseline in euros per tonne. The roadmap ranked twelve measures by payback; seven made the cut.
We rescheduled furnace loads around tariff periods, replaced two compressors, and signed a ten-year solar supply agreement for 30% of demand. The investment case went to a development-bank programme, which co-funded 42% of it.
- Line-by-line energy baseline in two weeks
- Seven measures, each with an owner and a date
- Co-funding application filed with the roadmap
- Results reported at months 3, 6 and 11
“Lintel told us on day one which numbers would move and by how much. Eleven months later, they had.”
Inês ValadaresChief financial officer, Ferronor MetalsThe result
By month eleven, energy cost per tonne was 18% below the baseline, in the same units we started with. At current prices that is €1.1M a year.
Ferronor has since asked us to prepare its ISO 50001 energy-management certification.
