Operational Efficiency
Operational Efficiency is the core of keeping manufacturing sites running and profitable. You can have the most innovative technology available, but if you can’t run it well and efficiently, the technology may be worthless.
ENWORKS Improving Your Resource Efficiency Programme
The ENWORKS Improving Your Resource Efficiency programme is available to all small and medium enterprises in the Northwest, offering free, specialist advice to help you cut bills, reduce your environmental impact and be more profitable.
To find out more about the ENWORKS resource efficiency programme in the Northwest, visit: www.getsupport.enworks.com
Resource Efficiency isn’t just about minimising waste for the sake of reducing disposal costs. If you have to dispose of out-of-spec material, you’ve also wasted money on processing the raw materials in the first place. The hierarchy for waste reduction is Eliminate, Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Dispose.
If you still have waste to dispose of, there may be opportunities to make it someone else's raw material, see:
- The National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) for more details: www.nisp.org.uk
- Or Envirolink’s Waste Programme: http://www.envirolinknorthwest.co.uk
It’s certainly advisable to try and minimise waste sent to landfill, given the rising costs of landfill tax.
For general free advice and tools on resource efficiency, also see the Envirowise website: www.envirowise.gov.uk
Energy Efficiency - Envirolink NW produce a directory of North West companies operating in the energy efficiency market, offering a range of technologies, services and expertise to help end-users successfully reduce their energy use: Energy Efficiency Supply Chain Directory
Water Efficiency - Envirowise have been running a programme to help businesses improve their water efficiency: http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/uk/Topics-and-Issues/Water.html
Process Innogateway - Chemicals Northwest has just completed a pilot of a wide ranging project to be undertaken to help improve the performance of the NW chemical sector. This project, Process Innogateway, consists of an independent in-depth diagnostic followed by one or more of a series of specialised, innovative interventions individually designed to improve manufacturing performance.
Specific objectives for Process Innogateway were to establish best practice through industry collaboration, benchmarking companies against a defined model, and providing tools and provision to meet the specific requirements of the sector.
This project seeks to do more than just instil lean principles within companies, important as this is, but also to “Optimise, and then challenge the processes.” If you are interested in receiving a summary report of the findings, please contact duncan.simcock@chemicalsnorthwest.org.uk
