F. Ball and Co. Ltd is a family owned business and the UK’s leading manufacturer of flooring adhesives and floor preparation products for the contract flooring industry. The company employs over 130 staff at its Cheddleton manufacturing facility near Leek.
F. Ball and Co. Ltd is committed to minimising its environmental impact and has recently achieved certification to ISO14001. The company has been an active member of Staffordshire Business & Environment Network since 1999.
Minimising Energy Usage
The company have developed a structured approach to energy efficiency on site which has identified opportunities to make financial savings, raised the profile of resource efficiency and provided a platform for continual improvement.
Scope to Save
Following recommendations made by the Carbon Trust the company undertook a survey to identify the energy base load for the site. An out of hours survey was carried out and sources of energy demand were investigated.
Awareness Raising
A company wide energy awareness poster campaign was carried out over an 18 month period using free posters and information resources available from the Carbon Trust and Envirowise. Awarenessraising included posting ‘switch it off’ stickers next to light switches, ‘turn it down’ and in some cases ‘turn it off’ stickers next to heating radiators and ‘close it’ stickers next to doors and windows. Part of the poster campaign was also to encourage people to switch off equipment which was not in use (providing it was safe to do so) during the working day.
Energy Saving Initiatives on Site
As a result of monitoring and measurement of energy usage on site a number of initiatives have been introduced as follows.
Lighting Systems
Passive Infrared (PIR) controls have been introduced in some areas to switch off lighting when it is not needed and high efficiency lighting is being installed whenever refurbishments take place. Daylight sensors have also been installed in some areas so that when the natural light is strong the sensors switch off the lighting.
In addition, multiple switching has been introduced in several areas where all room lighting was originally on one switch resulting in whole areas being lit when only one small area was being worked in. This includes larger offices where most of time there is only one person working at a desk.
Battery Charging
Forklift Truck battery charging timers have been changed so that they only use cheaper night rate electricity and only charge on the days they are to be used. In addition, the ventilation for these areas has also been reduced, instead of running from 5pm to 7am it can switch on at 00:30am until 7.30am. This has resulted in a 21% reduction in energy consumption.
Continuous Improvement
In order to maintain momentum the company has set up a Continuous Improvement Forum (CIF) which meets monthly to identify potential opportunities for further energy savings and to log progress with existing initiatives. The groups approach is to examine existing practices, identify potential improvements and to monitor any changes that are implemented.
Further planned energy saving initiatives currently Include:
- Ongoing monitoring of energy bills and meter readings to identify any anomalies
- Installation of a new building heating and ventilation management system that will guarantee a further 30% saving on gas space and water heating
- Specifying the procurement of energy efficient motors when replacements are needed c
- Installation of sub metering throughout the site to identify areas of high usage
- Potential installation of a system for optimising the voltage that comes onto site which could save an additional 10-15% of the sites energy consumption