(L-R) Gerry Laughran, operations director of 99p Stores; Gus Whyte, sales director of Hoppecke Industrial Batteries; and Dipak Desia, facilities manager of 99p Stores.

UK budget retailer 99p Stores has saved thousands of pounds when it moved to larger premises by using technology offered by an industrial battery maker.

Founded in 2001, 99p Stores has grown tremendously and now has 135 stores in the UK. It thrived during the global economic downturn as shoppers were keen to get bargains. Consequently, the company had to move to a larger warehouse and distribution centre in Northampton.

Hussein Lalani, the company's operations director, says the new 37,000 sqm (398,265 sqft) warehouse at Pineham Industrial Estate is more than twice the size of the old facility. "However, we needed to avoid doubling our handling costs when it came to moving products on and off the site."

The company was introduced to Hoppecke Industrial Batteries and the battery systems specialist identified issues that needed to be addressed for 99p Stores to increase its operations and still improve efficiency.

Hoppecke worked closely with 99p Stores to install a new Trak Air High Frequency charger system that can charge 32 batteries at any one time and incorporate a "call forward" function that signals to operators which battery to use next.

Hoppecke claims the high-frequency charger is about 30% more energy-efficient than traditional systems. The company also supplied 82 Trak Air batteries and will provide ongoing technical and maintenance support.

"The complete system was only installed in May 2010 but we are already on target to save around GBP50,000 (USD80,334) this year. Over the length of the contract, we expect to save around GBP250,000 (USD401,672) in electricity costs alone," Lalani says.

She adds that more savings will come from reduced wear and tear on 99p Stores' forklifts, reductions in downtime and the fact that the firm does not need to hire extra forklifts during peak periods.