Lube Stop Case Study
One simple change dropped Lube Stop’s annual energy expense by $3,500, and its introduction of more environmentally responsible products have drawn customers and industry acclaim.
Company Profile
Industry: Service (oil change)
Annual Revenue: $18 million
Size: 250 employees
Space: 11,000 sq ft (Corporate Headquarters)
Website: http://www.lubestop.com/
Ideas from Lube Stop
• Go for quick wins first
• Communicate the effects of poor practices
• Communicate the effects of responsible practices
• Educate employees
• Ask employees to educate customers
• Work with community members and students for a wide range of recommendations
• Cut out warehouses with more efficient shipping
• Speak to employees directly
• Engage industry peers to improve your entire industry
Other Innovations from Lube Stop
• Offers extensive employee training program on sustainability (detailed in sustainability report)
• Offers e-refined anti-freeze that requires less energy to produce and is less harmful to the environment
• Offers 15% discount on all products and services to hybrid owners
• Offers significant fleet discounts to companies focused on the environment
Lube Stop's Success Story
The catalyst for Lube Stop was learning an alarming statistic: motor oil from one oil change can contaminate 1,000,000 gallons of water. Lube Stop president Thomas Morley says, “This is an important message for our employees, customers and the community to hear, especially being on the shores of Lake Erie. Becoming more sustainable and adopting energy efficient practices made sense because it engaged employees, reduced costs, and addressed our environmental risk.”
Lube Stop started small, making simple changes like turning off computer monitors during the evening and weekends. The energy savings added up quickly, dropping Lube Stop’s annual energy cost by $3,500. Morley encouraged all employees to speak with him directly regarding the business, including ideas to reduce Lube Stop’s environmental impact, and as more good ideas arose, he implemented them. Moving forward, creativity was key in finding affordable educational resources so the company could learn more and do more. Lube Stop leveraged the intellectual power in the Cleveland community by engaging university student teams to perform an environmental audit and offer strategy and marketing recommendations.
These efforts also uncovered areas for cost saving and energy efficiency improvements in Lube Stop’s supply chain and inventory management system. In recent years, Lube Stop’s suppliers had become more accurate in the delivery of products, so instead of maintaining a warehouse to store products, Lube Stop had them shipped directly to stores. In doing so, the company eliminated the energy usage and transportation costs of weekly product deliveries to its stores. Morley explains, “From both a footprint standpoint and a financial standpoint, the warehouse did not make sense. We created an opportunity by eliminating the need.”
Beyond Lube Stop’s headquarters in Berea, Ohio, the company also extends energy efficiency improvements to its 37 service stations. Each station employs approximately six workers, all of which have completed a company-wide sustainability training program and as a result are conscious of their energy usage and knowledgeable about the environmental and business benefits of energy efficiency.
All of the sites offer EcoGuard®, a re-refined oil change service, which Lube Stop launched in 2008. This service offers customers the same quality with less environmental impact since it requires 85% less energy to produce re-refined oil than conventional oil. Customers have caught on quickly to the benefits of the service and it now represents 50% of the oil changes performed by Lube Stop. A key to this high adoption rate has been employee training and communicating the product’s environmental and performance benefits to customers. As a result of these innovations and customer interest, annually Lube Stop now recycles more than 400,000 gallons of motor oil, 325,000 used oil filters, and 35,000 gallons of use antifreeze.
In December 2007, Lube Stop formalized its practices by launching the Lube Stop Sustainability Program (LSSR), which tracks sustainable practices and activities, achievements to date, and goals for the future. In doing so, Lube Stop established itself as an industry leader in sustainability. Also noteworthy, Lube Stop has saved over $500,000 in expenses since launching LSSR in 2007. Moving forward, Morley looks to leverage this status to help other businesses in Northeast Ohio as well as the broader quick oil change industry adopt similar practices to raise the environmental standard of the entire region and quick oil change industry.
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