As part of its ‘continuous commitment to improving environmental performance’, Swish Building Products says it 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. According to Swish, in real terms, that is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 1,000 UK homes; 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 claims it is now 21% more fuel efficient when delivering its products to its customers, an improvement of 10% in just 12 months.
This was reportedly achieved through a ‘comprehensive overhaul’ of the company’s transportation processes and fleet management, including 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 delivery route options and agree on any changes and “the result has been more than satisfactory,” according to 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.”
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 on Twitter.
