Somerset County council help with Scope 3 Sustainability goals
We’re delighted to report £37,500 in funding from Somerset County Council has been approved. This will be utilised for the sustainable development of Scope 3, where it will be spent in the purchase of two cutting-edge RTM injection machines and the redesign of one of our high-volume cabinets to make it more sustainable.
Net zero carbon is one step closer
Lead times being what they are, there was quite a wait for the new 20KW solar panels. These have just been fitted to the roof of the Jo Bird warehouse. Slightly frustrating perhaps after such a great summer but already they were producing 30 Kilowatt hours of electricity. These panels join the ones on the other side of the warehouse roof which were installed back in 2013. Solar panels will now generate enough electricity for half the energy needs of the Jo Bird factory. This is another useful step forward to achieving the company’s ambition to reach net Zero carbon as a key part of their sustainability strategy.
Jo Bird and company shortlisted by Composites UK
Jo Bird have been shortlisted for the Composites UK 2022 Industry awards in the category of Sustainability / Net zero . The winners will be announced at the forthcoming award dinner at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on the 2nd of November. Everyone at the Jo Bird factory will be keeping their fingers crossed until then.https://compositesuk.www.spacabinets.com/composites-uk-reveals-awards-shortlist-for-2022/
Dr Laxman Sivanathan
Jo Bird have long been believers in the benefits of training and education for all members of staff. Sometimes though, the necessary skills do not exist in the company, so it is necessary to look outside. In this instance, to help drive the development of new advanced composite materials as well as improve the efficiency of the production processes.
In 2015 the decision was made to sponsor a graduate from Bristol University, Laxman Sivanathan. We must now congratulate Laxman on completion of four years hard to work in achieving his engineering doctorate at Bristol University!
“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Guy Atkins, the managing director at Jo Bird, for sponsoring this EngD programme. He took a bold step in sponsoring me as a research engineer and has since played an instrumental role during my research activity. He trusted and gave me all the freedom I needed to carry out the research activities in the company. I also want to extend a special thanks to all the staff at Jo Bird, who were supportive and encouraging during the implementation phase of the research”
Dr Laxman is now a key part of the team and has fully justified the faith shown in him through the work he has done on new materials, improving the manufacturing processes and playing a key role in the company winning the Queen’s award for Innovation in 2018. He’s going to be busy that’s for sure as the R&D pipeline is as full as it ever was! More news to follow on this in due course.
To our commitment to net zero targets and environmental protection.
We changed the primary raw material resin used in our products to Lloyds Approved Low styrene sustainable resin made from recycled plastics. Every year, we use about 44 tonnes of resin, which saves about 360,000 plastic bottles from ending up in landfills. In addition, this helps natural resource conservation. It also provides manufacturing energy savings, as well as reduced greenhouse gas emissions and chemical use.
Jo Bird are winners at the recent Inspire Business awards
Jo Bird and company won the category of the company who made the most progress towards achieving carbon net zero at the recent Inspire business awards held in the prestigious Winter Gardens in Weston-Super-Mare. Alan Adams, operations manager and his partner Carolyn were on hand to enjoy the black tie event and meet other businesses taking part in the competition.
National Apprentice week
Jo Bird is committed to employee development; another example is one of our employees Harry Spencer who joined the company in 2018 as an apprentice and has now not only completed with distinction in September 2021 but has also secured a job at Jo Bird as a composite technician. #National Apprentice Week
No easy task but a number of measures to reduce waste and energy usage have already been taken and the company. For example, the warehouse roof already features 10KW of solar panels which were put up on 2013 and we are looking at increasing by 20KW later this year.
Plans are being worked on to improve the insulation of the older sections of the factory and to explore alternatives to the use of gas for heating.
Other improvements are a reduction in waste by improving the production process so less trimming is required and so fewer offcuts need to be disposed of. Alongside this is more use of closed moulds which help reduce airborne pollutants but have the added benefit of creating more rigid doors and a better standard of finish too. This is a gradual switch due to the high costs of the specialist moulds required to make them.
The R&D department has already tested and implemented the successful use of recycled materials and are experimenting with new recycled or non fossil fuel sourced materials to test their suitability at withstanding long exposure to harsh environments.
Fire extinguisher cabinets being produced by Jo Bird & Co Ltd, Highbridge, Somerset. Picture by Clint Randall www.pixelprphotography.www.spacabinets.comJo Bird and sustainability
We are fortunate that the Jo Bird factory is surrounded by the beautiful Somerset countryside and are keen to help protect it. Jo Bird were one of the first companies in the South west to sign up to the Future Net Zero initiative to achieve carbon net zero by 2050 and are working closely with Balanced energy https://www.balanced-energy.www.spacabinets.com/ to identify the steps required to achieve this goal. The major milestone is to halve CO2 by 2030.
The factory is also striving to reduce its environmental footprint by working with other companies to help recycle waste from packaging and general waste from the office. This is now nearly completely paperless. Fewer staff drive to the office these days with more working from home and employees who need to be at the factory are actively encouraged to cycle there. This is helped by the flat terrain in this part of rural Somerset.
In recognition of the progress the company has made, Jo Bird were featured in a Lloyds bank UK Manufacturing now to Net Zero Report. A Practical guide to SMEs (2022) encouraging other companies to follow suit https://lnkd.in/dc5NVACN