Published: 20th March 2014
As part of its continuous commitment to improving environmental performance, Swish Building Products has once again cut its carbon footprint, seeing a decrease of 27.4% since 2008; well ahead of the industry target set by the Government.
The company’s electricity consumption proved to be the biggest saving, down 26.2% on the base line year of 2008. In real terms that is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 1000 UK homes; that’s 100 more than in 2012.
The last couple of years have also seen the low maintenance building product specialist make a dedicated effort to improve its delivery performance. While it was 11% more fuel efficient in 2012 than 2008, it wasn’t until 2013 that these efforts were fully realised. Swish Building Products is now 21% more fuel efficient when delivering its products to its customers, that’s an improvement of 10% in just 12 months.
This was achieved through a comprehensive overhaul of the company’s transportation processes and fleet management. This included training staff in efficient driving methods; investing in fleet vehicles to ensure optimum performance – including repair and maintenance, and purchasing new vehicles; improving load capacities and above all, better route planning.
In order to realise its full potential Swish Building Products worked closely with its customers to discuss route options, review the possibilities, and ultimately agree on any changes. This has paid dividends; by combining planning with customer engagement the company has been able to take a hard line on its delivery routes and, “the result has been more than satisfactory,” said Greg Wilde, marketing manager for Swish Building Products.
“Communication was vital in making this a success. We kept our customers up-to-speed with our progress and answered any questions, and because of this they were all very understanding; in fact many were supportive of our efforts. Fuel efficiency and general business improvements should go hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction. When executed professionally and explained clearly, the results can often have a two-way benefit.”
As one of the UK’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of PVC-U and PVC-Ue products, and as part of the Epwin Group, Swish Building Products is at the forefront of post-industrial and post-consumer recycling in its sector. It’s guttering and pipe products, for example, are manufactured from 84% recycled material, saving 70% in CO2 generation when compared to virgin material.
The company was among a pioneering group of building product suppliers to secure the environmental management standard ISO14001 in 2007 to add to its quality management standard ISO9001. The occupational health and safety OHSAS18001 followed in 2009.
Swish Building Products is the first and only roofline and cladding manufacturer to have gained BES6001 Responsible Sourcing Certification ‘Very Good’ for fascia and cladding systems. Consequently, it is also the only manufacturer to offer Maximum points for Mat2 and Mat3 for roofline and cladding under the Code for Sustainable Homes.
For more information on Swish’s full range of rainwater, roofline and cladding products visit www.swishbp.co.uk or call 01827 317 200. You can also keep up to date with news, views and projects by following us @swishbp.
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Registered in England: 7742256
Registered Office: Friars Gate, 1011 Stratford Road, Solihull, B90 4BN.
