First MAS-Auto forum focuses on greening suppliers

The theme for the event was 'Greening the Supply Chain' with an introduction from MAS-WM on the low carbon assistance available to firms, which ranges from business reviews by specialist advisers to process improvement techniques and access to green opportunities through its sourcing service. Jaguar Land Rover's then presented its intentions to cascade environmental responsibility down to its suppliers. Crucially, JLR are not only considering its own performance but that of its supply chain and stressed the importance that goods and services providers must be operating at similar levels to its own green performance. With 75 per cent of automotive component suppliers in the West Midlands identified as significant suppliers to Jaguar Land Rover, the car maker's review of how it accelerates environmental responsibility was the main talking point. Headline targets include a 25 per cent reduction in operational CO2 emissions by 2012 and a 15 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions from transport. The event also had a presentation from Steve Chilvers of Brockhouse Group, a metal forging and heat treatment business, which has been suffering with ever increasing energy costs. Mr Chilvers explained how "with the help of Business Link's Improve Your Resource Efficiency (IYRE) programme and funding from MAS-WM, we were able to implement improvements on certain areas of the process and this has already resulted in a 60 per cent reduction in energy usage – recouping our investment in just one month." Another example of Business Link and MAS support came from Barkley Plastics which achieved a significant efficiency saving from its injection moulding operations to take around £60,000 a year out of its electricity spend.