For manufacturers, it’s been difficult to grapple with the climate crisis. The focus on being greener, reducing consumption, and generally reducing waste has meant that more and more firms are falling under scrutiny. The upside of this change is that firms can find efficiency savings that not only enhance their green credentials but also ensure that they’re saving as much money as possible, reducing overheads and paying less for energy and water. This short guide is about finding those savings and enacting smart strategies to make your firm more efficient in the future.
Materials
All manufacturers use a large volume of materials when producing goods. They’ll know that there is a certain amount of waste that they’re always going to generate – no production line is perfect, after all – but they may be unsure of just how much they can reduce material waste. One way to ensure that waste is kept to a minimum is to increase the proportion of waste that can be recycled in your facility. Whether disposing of plastics or cardboard, crushing waste in a baler and fixing it with baling wire from Baling Wire Direct can ensure that your firm is doing all it can to make its waste recyclable. That means feeding it back into the system instead of condemning it to a landfill.
Energy and Water
You’ll be paying a high business rate for your access to energy and water, and it’s this cash that you could be saving by finding strategies that help you reduce your consumption. For instance, putting all of your staff through a training program designed to teach them how to be smart with their water and electricity use could help you generate three-figure monthly savings. Even changing your machinery and your systems could reduce waste – a high upfront cost that you will redeem quickly in efficiency savings.
Overview
Another way to reduce your overall use of materials and energy is to think about your whole facility from a bird’s eye perspective. Consider your firm from the widest possible angle, including all the materials and goods that flow in and out of your facility daily, to understand better where there may be efficiency failings throughout your firm. This could reveal aspects of your firm that you’d like to change or parts of your system that a consultant might be able to help you tighten up and improve.
Modernizing
Modern firms use systems that are more efficient and less wasteful. New machines are produced daily to help firms reduce their energy use or increase their production with the same energy use. Digital systems can track every part o your production line to ensure that waste is kept to a minimum. All of these modernizing impacts are serving to make manufacturers more efficient businesses, which will generate more products for your firm at a lower cost to your pocket and the environment.
Make positive changes to your firm to become a green manufacturer, taking efficiency into account in your overall business plan for 2023.