Sustainability has become an increasingly important aspect of UK manufacturing and material handling. Manufacturing is the largest emitting industrial sector, generating 16% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 and 81 megatons of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are generated by manufacturing each year.
But many companies are realizing the importance of reducing their carbon footprint and promoting sustainable practices in their production processes and supply chains. According to recent statistics, the UK manufacturing industry has made progress in this area over the past few years.
Make UK’s report Manufacturing: Stepping Up To The Sustainability Challenge, shows that 50% of manufacturers are making headway with their sustainability programmes. Moreover, 70% of those reporting that they have benefited from a reduction in costs.
The Benefits of Sustainable Practices
The benefits of sustainability in manufacturing are manifold. Reducing CO2 emissions and waste not only benefits the environment but can also lead to cost savings for companies. In addition, demonstrating a commitment to sustainability can help attract customers who are increasingly seeking out eco-friendly products and suppliers.
Research, undertaken in partnership with leading energy company EON indicates that sustainability and profitability go hand in hand: 40% of manufacturers who put sustainability at the heart of their businesses reported increased profit margins. 30% also said their competitiveness had increased as a direct result of making energy efficiencies.
What Does Sustainability Look Like In Manufacturing and Manual Handling?
One of the most important types of sustainable activities for manufacturers to consider are sustainable opportunity activities.
Sustainable opportunity activities includes identifying needs such as developing technologies and creating products to reduce carbon emissions and move towards a low-carbon economy. For example in material handling, we know that an effective storage system will result in significant time and cost savings for a company. Order throughput times can be reduced and logistics processes can be efficiently coordinated. This avoids downtime, increases warehouse productivity and reduces storage costs.
Alwayse go further when it comes to developing smart solutions in a sustainable way. Alwayse products don’t require an energy source to operate, giving them a major environmental advantage above powered conveyors and similar alternative products. That reduces their carbon footprint and your energy consumption. Our power free, low friction Movement Solutions can not only reduce your business’ carbon footprint but also reduce physical effort of staff, resulting in reduced exposure to health and safety risks within your business – whilst reducing total operational costs.
If your business involves manual handling, crane operations, forklifts or conveyors, you should consider switching to an Alwayse Ball Unit solution and reduce your costs significantly by:
- Reducing capital outlay on plant equipment
- Reducing business reliance on carbon-based energy sources
- Reducing the costs of continuous staff training and certification
- Reducing costs of legally required ongoing maintenance
- Reducing insurance costs by reducing staff exposure to machine and physical injury
Conclusion
Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important aspect of UK manufacturing and materials handling. The latest statistics show that the industry is making progress in reducing its carbon footprint and waste output, and that companies are increasingly adopting more sustainable practices in their supply chains. By continuing this trend, UK manufacturers can not only help protect the environment but can also benefit their bottom line and meet the growing demands of eco-conscious customers.
The businesses which were most successful in driving sustainability and environmental improvements and cost-savings adopted a boardroom to shop-floor approach to promoting change, ensuring they took the whole of the workforce with them on the sustainability journey. That is where Alwayse comes in.