How to Work Sustainably & Grow Your Manufacturing Business
There is a common misconception that you cannot work sustainably and grow a manufacturing business at the same time. So, we’re here to prove just how easy it is to grow your business alongside introducing and maintaining sustainable work practices.
In this article, we take a look at how sustainable manufacturing can grow your business and give you some simple tips on how to get started!
How Sustainable Manufacturing Can Grow Your Business
Sustainable manufacturing has the ability to completely revolutionise your business, in terms of just how environmentally friendly your business is, right through to how quickly your business can grow. Here are three of our top tips when it comes to growing your business, utilising sustainable manufacturing techniques:
Improve Your Company Image
Improving your company’s image to potential and existing customers is probably high on your list of priorities, and you can certainly do this by adopting more sustainable manufacturing practices. Making small changes to minimise your carbon footprint can go a long way with your customer base as environmentally friendly companies are looked upon favourably, especially by larger companies from around the globe.
If you are able to quantify the amount of energy you have saved over time, we would recommend using this as a major part of your marketing efforts moving forward. Being able to state that your company has saved X% of energy throughout the year ensures that existing and potential customers see your company is forward thinking and completely committed to preserving our planet. In the increasingly environmentally aware world we live in, companies will take notice when you show that you’re making an active effort to save energy and lower your carbon footprint.
How To Start – Start with some basics at first. We would recommend something as simple as swapping any outdated light bulbs you have around the office with new CFL or LED models. Once you have covered everything you can think of, start thinking bigger. Could you look to replace some existing and inefficient equipment, or maybe it’s time to start looking outside your company and encouraging other businesses in the local area to start reducing their carbon footprint? No matter what you do, you can rest assured that your business will receive plaudits from individuals and companies outside of your own.
Lower Energy Costs
What business doesn’t want lower energy costs? There are actually many ways you can reduce your energy usage throughout your business, and it’s not that difficult to implement the necessary changes. Not only will your business lower their energy costs, but you’ll also receive plaudits for doing your bit for the environment too. Lower energy costs can come about from making a whole host of changes to your business, from small changes like encouraging your staff to be more conscious about using energy during the workplace to larger scale changes such as investing in state-of-the-art, energy efficient equipment.
How To Start – To start small, we would suggest starting a campaign throughout your business on saving energy by turning off any machinery or lights when they’re not in use. You’ll be shocked at just how simple this is and it’s worth remembering that everything you do to minimise your carbon footprint will have a profound effect in time. If you want to go one step further, we will definitely suggest installing some solar panels for your business to utilise. Whilst the initial outlay that your business will need to pay is considerable, over time you will recoup your money and do your bit for the environment too.
Reducing Wastage
Reducing waste products throughout your business can be a daily struggle, but getting a real grip on this as early as you can, could stand to save you a significant amount of money, whilst also saving resources in the process. In most cases, product wastage is completely avoidable, so your business could begin implementing changes almost immediately to reduce your overall waste.
There is a real problem with wastage in all sectors, but especially in the manufacturing industry. By doing your bit to reduce the amount of material wastage, especially when it comes to products that are derived from natural resources, you can make a genuine impact on the way in which we manage the natural resources available to our planet.
How To Start – When you are looking to reduce the waste, especially when it comes to product wastage, we would definitely recommend starting by reviewing the design of your products and the materials used to make them regularly. For example, as custom spring manufacturers, we have taken great pride in ensuring that we consistently review our spring design process and the materials used within this. This helps our team to ensure that we are reducing the amount of waste products that are being created on a daily basis, whilst also reducing our impact on the environment.
We hope that you found this article useful and you now feel ready to start taking some steps towards making your business even more sustainable, whilst also growing your company along the way. Be sure to check in on our blog regularly as we will regularly update it with some of the latest news coming out of the engineering and manufacturing industry.