Future of energy, people and direct to consumer manufacturing

By Made In Group
schedule24th Mar 22

At Backing Britain Virtual Breakfast Mornings, we invite leading industry figures from our membership to share ideas and best practices. The Made in Group organises these bi-weekly virtual events to spark conversations and keep the community connected. Members can listen to inspirational speakers and join themed breakout rooms in which they discuss best practices and the latest innovations within manufacturing.

Jason Pitt said, "Our virtual breakfast format has proven popular; it fits perfectly into the Net Zero agenda and helps members engage productively whilst reducing our carbon footprint."

Today;'s talks and discussion groups focussed on energy, people and success in direct to consumer manufacturing

This week's speakers were Dave Chappell, Sales Director from Crompton Controls; Michael Whitfield, Commercial Manager from Alpha Manufacturing and Neris Salehi, Managing Director from Pro Enviro.

100 years of history

Dave Chappell introduced Crompton Controls to members and explained how they continued to expand and develop during the Covid era.

Crompton is a privately owned business in West Yorkshire and part of Compton Holding with a heritage of 100 years.

Dave said, "Through Covid, we manufactured essential products every day; we supported customers to enable them to stay open. In April 2021, we continued to invest and acquired Constant Systems, which makes Human cell splitting machines for laboratories."

Flatter structure

Dave explained how the business structure changed during COVID from a manager-led system to a decentralised system. More people are involved in decisions, and customer touchpoints are now between more people.

Dave continued, "After the challenges of Covid, we enjoyed a certain level of loyalty and are an employer with a good reputation. We look after people, but that loyalty will be tested as people shortages increase the scarcity of people employed. As people's pressures continue, some will resort to poaching staff from other companies"

The business also changed its approach to digitalisation. Dave added, "Before Covid, we submitted data via reporting to a manager. This has now changed to being able to access live data; everyone shares the same data, and everyone knows what we are working on and working towards."

Manufacturing direct to consumer

Alpha Manufacturing shared an exciting story about their diversification into the business to the consumer market.

Michael Whitfield, Commercial Manager from Alpha Manufacturing, said, "Our business has grown significantly in recent years. Alongside our in-house metal fabrications and powder coating capacities, we invested in a brand new chemicals technology factory 35,000sq ft manufacturer for electrochemical solutions. 

As many have found, recruiting a new team is one of our biggest challenges, although we are fortunate to have hired some great people. 

An exciting announcement I am pleased to share with members includes launching the manufacturer HEX Living (hexliving.co.uk), a new manufacturer to consumer business. We saw an opportunity for garden storage products and are selling them online and via selected retailers; products include mental sheds and planter solutions.

Diversification into business to the consumer will add a new dimension to our capabilities. 

Engineering a greener world

Nersi Pro Envio was our final speaker of the morning. He discussed 'Engineering a greener world' and shared a case study of how his company has helped reduce fellow member TWP energy consumption by 21%.

Nersi said, "We have been members of Made in the Midlands for more than three years and worked with TWP several years ago. We reconnected via one of the Backing Britain Virtual Breakfast Mornings and have successfully developed a plan for decarbonising and integrating that into their business growth planning.

"There is an urgency for manufacturers to reduce their energy consumption, let me share with you some facts; in the last six years, gas prices have risen 300% and electricity by 250%. 

"When we began working with TWP, we started by mapping energy consumption by each station - when this information was available, it was easy to see where the opportunities were and how we could develop a low carbon strategy.

"TWP has already reduced consumption by 21%, which equates to reducing carbon emission by 30 tonnes.

We can also discover the company had overpaid climate change tax."

TWP have used a software tool developed by Pro Enviro that gives considerable visibility of their energy use, from benchmarking operation, macro consumption, micro consumption of each injection moulding machine.

Their Carbon footprint measured monthly gives TWP considerable visibility of their energy use and guides them to where they are versus their target, making future growth ethical.

Are you ready to build invaluable relationships with like-minded business leaders within the Midlands and Yorkshire manufacturing community?

Join the Made in Group by registering as a member via www.madeinthemidlands.com 


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