In our quest to keep our carbon footprint small and environmental impact low, we have recently undertaken some key improvements at our Melksham factory, which have already delivered energy & cost efficiencies.
The recent measures include:
- Installation of LED lighting across 59,391sq foot Production & Warehouse facility
- Electric car chargers fitted to staff/visitors car park
Factory lighting replacement
Since moving to our new premises in 2017, we have been keen to update the lighting that we inherited. The old, flourescent-tube and halogen style lighting was insufficiently bright, prone to flickering, required constant maintenance and was costly to run.
Straight after the move, we replaced all the existing lighting in the office building with LED lighting. This immediately made a huge difference to the light quality for our office staff. But, to replace the 84 lights across the entire 59,391sq feet of our Manufacturing shop floor was a much bigger undertaking.
Earlier this year, with our priority to limit the downtime of operations, the work took place in stages over 3 weeks, with lighting replacements sweeping across the factory one area after another.
Seeing the results already
The new LED lights have a higher lumen output and immediately improved the working environment substantially. The factory is more brilliantly lit, which is better for clarity of vision, with reduced shadowing and improved colour recognition during printing and production.
From a health & safety point of view, there is now a reduced risk of eye strain or headaches for our operatives. Staff feel more alert, are more productive and the feedback from the factory floor has been extremely positive.
In addition, energy savings have been made due to the efficiency of the new lighting. The LED bulbs last much longer and an automated control system manages the lighting requirement according to occupancy and time of the day or night.
Electric car chargers
Another exciting change to the factory can be found outside in the car park, where we now have 4 electric car charging points installed for staff and visitors to use.
The AC chargers provide 22 kW of power per charger and are in high demand, with staff and customers using them for hybrid or all-electric vehicles on a daily basis. Our aim now is to move all of our fleet over to electric vehicles within the next 12 months.
Alan Jane, Head of Operations, commented on the investments:
“We are delighted with the new LED lighting and car chargers and are beginning to see fantastic results in terms of energy savings and increased productivity. It’s put us in an excellent position moving forward as a modern, efficient business.”
Other investments
These new measures come off the back of previous investments that we’ve made over the last couple of years to improve efficiency:
- Cardboard waste management system
- Forklift fleet management
LED lighting in the offices- Other waste materials recycling
Other eco-improvements in the pipeline include:
- Transitioning our entire car fleet to electric vehicles
- Bulk gas storage rather than small tanks, for greater efficiency on site