The future of manufacturing must be sustainable, says Fabweld Steel Products
Fabweld Steel Products is flying the flag for sustainable production for this year’s National Manufacturing Day.
FSP, which designs and makes standard and bespoke access (manhole) covers for the construction and built environment industries, is embracing a cleaner, more intelligent future for manufacturing and the company has already invested £0.5 million in capital expenditure projects to bring its plans to life.
The latest addition to Fabweld’s facility is a nitrogen generator, run predominantly using solar energy generated by the PV panels fitted to the factory roof, which Managing Director Wayne Carter says is important for both sustainability and self sufficiency:
He says: “Large amounts of nitrogen are used in the precision laser cutting of steel products and in the past, our Telford site received bulk gas deliveries up to three times a week from a supplier in Banbury. With an onsite solar-powered nitrogen generator in place, over 40 gas deliveries a year have been eliminated, while also controlling the cost of making our products.”
What Wayne and his team are doing in terms of sustainability goes above and beyond what businesses of comparable size are doing in the industry.
Wayne continues: “Steel is a very energy intensive to make so we are supporting the steel industry’s transition to a more sustainable future by switching the majority of our steel supply to a stockholder that sources material from Scandinavia where the carbon footprint associated with steel production is much lower than India, China and Eastern Europe.
“We are also actively trying to use less steel in our products, but without compromising on quality or performance. This year, our R&D team has focused on creating more intelligent, sustainable products looking at what material content can be removed from new and existing product designs to reduce the steel content while maintaining load capability.”
Over the next five years, Fabweld has ambitions to grow 70% by maximising efficiencies and utilising new technologies and renewable energy.
Wayne adds: “Working with an external partner - Involved Social Impact Projects - we are developing our Net Zero Road Map to address our current and future sustainability challenges, including implementing effective, practical solutions and metrics to reduce our scope 1 & 2 emissions. Our customers want to do business with sustainable suppliers, and our ultimate ambition is to continue to expand our operations while reducing our impact on the environment.”
Our Chairman, Lee Henley, has recently been asked to attend the committee for the Specification for leak tightness of covers for manholes and inspection chambers.
Other FACTA members who have a presence on this committee are Wrekin, R&B, Clarkdrain and EJ.
Member FSP attended the inaugural meeting of TSEC (Telford Sustainability and Energy Cluster) last week.
Businesses came together to help shape the future of sustainable and clean growth within the borough of Telford and Wrekin.
Read further here -
Business leaders take Telford a step closer to reaching carbon neutral vision
All FACTA Guidance Notes have now been reviewed and updated to reflect the current situation and standards.
Go to .... https://www.facta.org.uk/Guidance/GuidanceNotes.asp
We expect to be able to offer our new FACTA CPD - A Guide to specifying the right Fabricated Access Cover, from the beginning of next year!
Developing the understanding of the FACTA Specification along with promoting the relevance of FACTA within the Industry is vital to the association.
Look out for the next big announcement!
MEPS International have published a really interesting article stating ' . Copyright © 2022
The rising costs of raw materials is being felt across all industries, not only in the UK but globally. The anticipation of a stable recovery from the pandemic has been unsettled by the war in Ukraine and rising inflation.
During the recent FACTA Board Meeting, members reported that steel has experienced a continuous price rise over the last 2 years, increasing on average by 48%.
In April, WorldSteel reported ‘Steel demand in the developed world is forecast to increase by 1.1% and 2.4% in 2022 and 2023 respectively, after recovering by 16.5% in 2021.’ Full article here.
Russia is the worlds 5th biggest steel producer, as such, the sanctions against them will continue to play a huge part in pushing the costs up from other countries. Fundamental economic principle of when demand exceeds supply at its finest.
Ukraine is also a significant producer of both iron and steel and production has been halted following Russia's invasion. The war has also caused major disruptions to logistics routes.
This leads to an uncertain outlook for steel using industries, at least until the end of 2022, and growth in output is expected to gain only modest ground in 2023.
To quote Benjamin Franklin…"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."