Manufacturing adviser cash gives Rolls-Royce supplier "green" wings

Citation

(2007), "Manufacturing adviser cash gives Rolls-Royce supplier "green" wings", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 79 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2007.12779daf.008

Manufacturing adviser cash gives Rolls-Royce supplier "green" wings

Manufacturing adviser cash gives Rolls-Royce supplier “green” wings

A UK aerospace firm based in Derby which supplies one of the world's biggest names in aerospace is making great strides towards securing its long- term future and winning more orders.

Owing to support it is received from the Manufacturing Advisory Service in the East Midlands (MAS EM), Trac Baker is well on its way to earning the environmental credentials which could soon become mandatory for businesses supplying this demanding sector.

The firm, which employs 49 people at its Pride Park base on Millennium Way in the city, supplies aerospace giant Rolls-Royce with a variety of precision components. It is also earned the prestigious status as one of R-R's prime tooling “integrators” which means that it gets to manage its own supply chain through Rolls-Royce delegated approvals.

Trac Baker's Managing Director Rob Crocker said: “We like to stay one step ahead of the game. We operate in a vastly competitive market and customers are becoming increasingly keen that their suppliers reduce their impact on the environment.”

“It's only a matter of time before this environmental certification becomes mandatory across our industry. As a result of help from MAS, we've made sure that we're in a very strong position to respond before this happens.”

The five days of support to train Trac about the environmentally friendly procedures it needs to adopt to win the ISO14001 certification came through MAS EM's LiftOff scheme, which helps aerospace businesses in disadvantaged parts of the East Midlands to boost their profits.

The environmental management system standard is awarded when a company can systematically show its commitment to protecting the environment by, for example, working to restrict carbon emissions, reduce electricity consumption and recycle more waste products.

The certification will also help open up the global aerospace market to the company. Trac Baker has recently recruited its first quality supply chain manager. Ian Taylor is responsible for putting together the company's environmental management system at the Pride Park factory and then rolling this out across Trac's six other manufacturing sites scattered across the country.

With the environmental audit scheduled for later this month, Ian is quietly confident. He added: “ISO14001 can potentially be a technical minefield, so getting funding to bring in consultants with expert knowledge in this area was priceless. BTSS found out exactly what we were looking for and were able to come up with specific proposals for integrating our existing environmental systems with those which would meet the rigorous accreditation standards.”

“Tackling this area without outside help would have been costly and extremely time consuming, and although we already had a reasonable understanding of environmental considerations, the whole exercise has clarified many of the issues we still needed to tackle.”

The LiftOff programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund is heavily subsidised and is available to manufacturing companies, which are connected to the aerospace industry and based in an Objective 2 area of the region. It can provide help on a range of business areas including developing new workforce skills, introducing new business competencies and processes plus marketing support to look at new markets and diversification.