Solar Sock Manufacturer: Great choice for a greener supply chain
UK Government issued The Climate Change Act (2008) this lays out their action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The overarching target is to reduce emissions by at least 80% from 1990 to 2050 and this requires collaboration from all kinds of organisations and from the public.
K V Manufacturing, as a part of the UK manufacturing sector, would like to take any initiative possible to help achieve such national goals and be a small part in making a global contribution. We strongly believe that it is important to minimise our environmental impact by implementing small but effective measures into our day to day production.
Solar energy for our factory
We introduced our solar project as an initiative to reduce our energy consumption. The solar panels are installed on our warehouse roof. This is an efficient way to implement an additional alternative power source because we are using available space on our roof for the panels and subsequently saving energy. Therefore there is also no need to invest in additional land to implement the system.
Some people might be sceptical about how much K V Manufacturing, or a factory, can save from implementing solar panels. The amount of cost saved and the percentage of energy from a solar project replacing traditional energy vary from factory to factory. However, we can say for sure that the initiative does really help our business to save energy. Our solar panels allow our factory to reduce the energy consumption from conventional power plants by 55,400 kWh per year, or 20% of our traditional electrical consumption. This contributes to a reduction of our carbon footprint by 28,753 kgCO2. We are very proud of this achievement.
Setting the right tone for the organisation
As well as the benefits of being cost effective and reducing our conventional energy consumption, we believe that the solar project initiative sets the right tone for sustainability awareness. We would like to create an organisational culture where everyone has ownership and responsibility in saving energy. With the solar panels, we send a strong message to our staff, partners and other stakeholders that we are striving towards energy saving and moving towards sustainable and innovative ways to manufacture socks for the future.
Benefits to our partners
The demand for brands that are doing environmental and social good has been increasing. A recent international study by Unilever reveals that a third of consumers are now choosing to buy from brands with clear sustainability credentials. The survey mentions that 53% of UK shoppers feel better when they buy sustainably produced goods. This survey result aligns with the survey by Nielsen that shows millennial shoppers can be considered as the ‘green generation’ because they are willing to pay more for products that are produced with a positive environmental and social impact. The percentage of the respondents supporting such statements has increased from 55% in 2014 to 72% in 2015.
Thus, it is not a question of whether brands should try to make positive environmental and social impacts but how to match appropriate environmental / social causes with different consumer segments.
Make our supply chain ‘greener’
Although solar energy is used only partially as our energy source for the factory, we believe that we are successful in integrating environmental thinking into the supply chain that we are a part of. We aspire to do more in the future to be a good corporate citizenship and a great partner. If you have any queries about the factory and our environmental initiative or about our products and services, please feel free to contact us.
