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Oxford Brookes does eco business with a global British superbrand
Stannah Stairlifts is something of a special company. Described as a ‘global British superbrand’, it sells to more than 40 countries from its base in Hampshire where it both designs and manufactures its world-leading products
An independent, fifth generation family firm, it retains strong core values around ethical business; and now a unique partnership with Oxford Brookes University is helping it to improve its care for the environment, with a project that is also making sound commercial sense.
Stannah’s engineering director Steve Leathley initially sought out Oxford Brookes for its expertise in sustainable vehicles, figuring that the same techniques could be applied in their own design and manufacture. Two years on, with a successful Knowledge Transfer Partnership behind him, Leathley’s reasoning is fully vindicated, and the company has reduced costs while developing a demonstrably more eco-friendly product.
Key to the project was a life cycle analysis of a typical Stannah product, in which the materials and processes involved in making a stairlift, from major components down to fittings and fastenings, were rigorously scrutinised. The lifetime running costs were factored in, as were the opportunities for dismantling and recycling at the end of its useful life.
The results showed where significant energy savings could be made and where waste could be reduced, and led to new eco-design guidelines for the company’s engineers. Marketing literature will benefit from ‘carbon labelling’, and the work has also highlighted the possibility of new business models from remanufacture and recycling of components.
Charlie Symonds was the young engineering graduate who was recruited to lead the project as KTP associate. Employed and supervised by Oxford Brookes, he made such an impression during his time on the project that he was permanently taken on by Stannah to develop the work still further. He was recently announced as runner-up for Graduate of the Year by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, for "single-handedly providing his company with a framework for its sustainability strategy for the next five years".
Charlie Symonds, KTP associate
For more information about KTP with Oxford Brookes, see details below.
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www.brookes.ac.uk/business_ employers
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www.wilkinskennedy.com THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2012 40695 WK Business Magazine ad
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