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The starting point of a solvent reduction initiative will be the solvent inventory - a summary of all purchases for the previous 12 months. Solvent use should be broken down into that accounted for by stains, sealers, lacquers and thinners etc. A comparison of your company performance can then be made with benchmarking data developed by BFM Ltd.
Furniture manufacturing companies typically spend between 0.5% and 3% of turnover on packaging. Research by FIRA has shown a wide disparity in the importance of packaging to different furniture sectors. Due to the nature of their products, some companies can use minimal packaging and suffer negligible returns. For others, packaging and product return rates are crucial factors which decide whether the company makes a profit or loss. Companies that are unsure of the importance of packaging to their operation should evaluate their site in comparison to the benchmarks developed by FIRA in the guide Optimising Packaging Use in the UK Furniture Manufacturing Sector. This guide also contains suggestions for improvements, as do the many publications available from Envirowise.
As well as taking advantage of the benefits of higher efficiency motors, further savings can be achieved by focusing attention on ensuring that motors and drives are switched off when not in use, reducing the load (eg drive train maintenance) and reducing motor speeds whenever possible - variable speed drives can save 30 - 40% in many situations.
More and more companies within the furniture industry are now finding that their customers are asking questions of their environmental performance with regard to production and processes. An EMS such as ISO 14001 is generally sufficient proof that all environmental aspects of the company’s processes and activities have been considered and managed.

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