|
Suspend belief
(company profile from Director magazine)
 If anyone could inject new life into the old phrase "waste not, want not", it is specialist wire manufacturer Ormiston Wire. After two centuries in manufacturing, the business has shifted wholesale to sustainable business practices, recycling packaging and adopting "green" electricity provider Ecotricity to keep costs down. The driving force behind this approach is Mark Ormiston, who has been managing director since 1992. In March this year, the company achieved ISO 14001 standard for environmental management systems.
But Ormiston, the sixth generation to manage the family business, is the first to admit that it was potential to conserve cash that galvanised him.
Ormiston Wire started out making spring wire for wigs and corsets. Today, it supplies to a range of industries from medicine to marine suppliers to the media - its wire suspended the Thunderbirds puppets, as well as Christopher Reeve in the 1980s Superman films.
When the company moved from its previous base in Ealing, West London, to its current site in Isleworth in Middlesex, Mark Ormiston saw the opportunity to rethink its energy spend. "That was a big change because we moved from a big old rambling factory with lots of open doors, hidey holes and inefficient heating to a small, modern unit," he says. "The move allowed us to control our cost savings. On a personal level I've always been aware of the environment and global warming, so I didn't go down the green road completely blind. But I can't say that when I became managing director that I suddenly thought: 'Ah, we're going to make it a green company'. It sort of evolved because of the evidence I saw concerning costs. The costs obviously end up on your balance sheet and that's what it is all about: the bottom line."
Profits on the company's £1.4m turnover last financial year, as Ormiston puts it, "enough to keep the shareholders happy". He estimates that he saves £10,000 a year since he decided that the company should practice energy-saving measures.
"I suspect that some chief executives would be a bit sick if they got a report on their company and found that it had been spending £50,000 a year on electricity or gas or packaging that they needn't have spent," he says. "Green issues equal savings. Once you've gone down that route that are saving forever. Chief executives have to be aware that being green is a good thing. The should be educated. They should look at their balance sheet and have a waste audit and an energy audit. It makes sense."
But in order to help business save costs and help protect the environment, Ormiston feels the government must do more, either through financial aid or legislation. As an example, he points out that the high cost of buying and installing solar panels to generate electricity for his factory is too high. There are some government grants available, but they are usually for large-scale projects and can be difficult to find. Ormiston believes if government grants were readily available, more companies such as his would opt for sustainable energy sources, which would go a long way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 Calling the law
More radically, Ormiston would be in favour of more legislation on energy reduction. He suggests that all new factory buildings should be required to have a minimum level of heat insulation, for example. Higher initial costs would be balanced by subsequent savings to the business, he argues. Likening the business world's aversion to environmental legislation to the way that drivers complain about speeding fines, he says: "People don't like legislation, but some things, I think, you have to legislate."
In keeping with this belief, Ormiston has, in one area of his company's operation at least, created a policy of reusing packaging to minimise the quantity of refuse it creates. Instead of discarding the cardboard in which raw materials arrive at the factory, the company uses it to wrap the finished goods. Small and simple measures such as this one can save the company nearly £6,000 each year.
The company's policies on sustainability also have the advantage of being good for public relations. A centuries-ol engineering operation may seem an unlikely company to be conscious of its image, but half its customers work in creative industries and are people who, reckons Ormiston, are likely to care about environmental issues. Art galleries, for example, use Ormiston Wire products to hang pictures.
"It's good to save money and also it's good to be thought of as a company which is not poisoning people with its muck," says Ormiston, mindful of the way that a seemingly poor environmental record can reflect on a business's reputation with potential clients.
A small advantage
When it comes to implementing green policies, he believes large firms may be at a disadvantage compared with small businesses. "I don't have to approach a chief executive and say: 'I think it is a good idea that we do this, only to have it paychecks and end up getting despondent and fed up. A small company has its finger on the pulse much more than a big company because you can actually see where the costs are going. It's amazing where you can pick up these small savings."
As a majority shareholder in Ormiston Wire - and with many of the company's other 12 shareholders his relatives - Ormiston has had little trouble clearing his policies with the board. Yet he still had to convince board members of the significant cost-savings his initiatives should bring.
"I did look at really ground level costs. I think a lot of people (in management in large companies) sit in their ivory towers and don't realise where money is spent. They might see it in a balance sheet under 'administration', but they may not really want to know what that means. If you run a small business you do know."
Ormiston also points out that the savings an environmentally conscious company can make are obvious benefits when times get tough. "Were quite lucky now," he says, "because (British) manufacturing is in recession. One of the things that people don't look at properly is that (during a recession) the green umbrella is something which can save money and reduce carbon dioxide emissions without a company having to cause hardship through measures like redundancies".
On the reels Ormiston Wire uses to carry some of its products to customers, it has stamped the words: "Recycling works". While calling himself "just another boring businessman" and "no green crusader", Mark Ormiston is outspoken in his belief that business must take responsibility for environmental protection.
"I think that if we look after the environment it will, hopefully, look after us. It's not for me now - future generations will possibly look back and say that people in the past were wasting money and energy to the detriment of us. I believe we aren't owning the world at the moment - we have some sort of stewardship," he says, adding: "Everyone wants to be Superman at one stage in their life," he says. "You know - save the planet."
Read more ...
Wire Straights ...
From Sieving to Saving ...
|
|
|
