MAS Advice Benefits Texfelt
Texfelt Ltd becomes first UK manufacturer to quote low carbon footprint of its Envirolay underlay range.

Texfelt Ltd of Elland, a subsidiary of James Robinson Fibres Ltd (which has its head office located on the Euroway Industrial Estate, near Bradford) has become the first UK manufacturer to quote the extremely low carbon footprint of its Envirolay range of carpet underlays, (made from 100% recycled fibres that are also energy efficient and highly insulative - reducing the energy needed for domestic heating).

Pictured (left to right) Sasha Beaumont, director of Texfelt Ltd; James Taylor, managing director of Texfelt and a director of James Robinson Fibres and Richard Southwell, sales manager of Texfelt.

 

James Robinson Fibres Ltd is one of the oldest established textile companies in the UK and exports 50% of its products. The family run business (which has 40 employees and a group turnover of £15m) wears its green credentials with pride and turning to the Manufacturing Advisory Service Yorkshire & Humber (MAS Y&H) has led to the group becoming more efficient, with projected reductions in its carbon footprint (saving 30 tonnes of CO2 energy savings per year) and increasing value-added by £250,000.

 

James Taylor, the fourth generation of the family to be involved in the business, explained: “From our Bradford base, we transport some of our recycled fibres to Texfelt which are then turned into carpet underlays. Running the businesses from two sites was giving us all sorts of logistical and strategic problems and we made the decision to get advice from MAS, which was the first time that the firm (which celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2003) had called in external business consultants.”

MAS Y&H is a BERR initiative funded by Yorkshire Forward and managed by YFM Business Development, a subsidiary of YFM Group, providing ‘hands on’ advice and support to manufacturing businesses to improve productivity and efficiency.

 

MAS adviser, Dean Morgan from MCCR & Associates undertook a diagnostic review that highlighted areas where the business could improve manufacturing and environmental performance and seven members of staff were trained in Lean manufacturing techniques (check detail). One of the review recommendations was to carry out a detailed analysis of the business carbon footprint. This was carried out by Roland Arnison an Environmental Specialist for MCCR & Associates and the resulting report not only detailed all the process impacts affecting the carbon footprint but also made proposals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

 

James added: “With assistance from MAS we also purchased a new computer accountancy system which has made a marked difference to the level of efficiency and led to much better communications between the two sites. Before its installation, we used to generate a vast and expensive paper trail which had to be mailed out. Now, everything is emailed (including external invoices, statements etc) which has led to a marked saving in paper and dependency on postage.

 

“Thanks to MAS we have reduced our impact on the environment and reduced costs. We are also able to access and analyse data much more easily, which is more important than ever during the current challenging economic climate.”

For more information about MAS visit www.mas-yh.co.uk

 

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