The world’s leading cable cleat manufacturer, Ellis has been awarded ISO 14001 accreditation – an achievement that recognises the steps taken by the company to significantly lessen its environmental impact.

The processes involved in achieving ISO 14001 took close to two-years and involved Ellis analysing the environmental impact of every aspect of its business, and putting in place a programme of continual improvement, which incorporated formalised versions of pre-existing environmental practices and a raft of new measures. Ellis’ operations director, Danny MacFarlane said: “Recognising your impact on the environment and taking steps to significantly reduce it is now viewed in many quarters as being as important as the products you manufacture.” “ISO 14001 is the world’s most recognised environmental management standard and so it was the obvious accreditation to seek.” Amongst Ellis’ key achievements during the process were:

• Maintaining energy consumption at the same level as 2007 despite having doubled turnover in that time

• Halving water consumption in just one year

• Adoption of a machine replacement strategy that ensures all ageing machinery is replaced with new, energy efficient models

In addition, the £450,000 redevelopment of its office facilities in Rillington, North Yokshire during 2013 involved the incorporation of a number of environmentally important aspects that also played an important role in Ellis achieving ISO accreditation. These include sun pipes that maximise natural lighting; the use of energy efficient LED lighting throughout the building; a heat exchange ventilation system that reduces energy consumption; and the installation of solar and thermally efficient glazing. “ISO 14001 looks at every single aspect of a business, no matter how small, and what can be done to reduce its environmental impact,” added Danny. “Therefore, to receive and maintain this accreditation you really have to be wholly committed to environmental good practice.” For further information on Ellis visit www.ellispatents.co.uk or call +44(0)1944 758395