Let’s talk Sustainability, with Rototek Director Shaun Mills

Before we get into the questions, tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Rototek.

As the Operations Director at Rototek, I am responsible for developing and overseeing the company's operations strategy, aligning it closely with our delivery targets and overarching mission. My role encompasses managing daily operations and customer interactions, as well as ensuring compliance with our Group mission statement.

I handle a broad spectrum of operational tasks including health and safety management, environmental inspections, risk assessments, and maintaining up-to-date policy and safety documentation. My leadership extends to steering the senior management team, optimizing supply chain management, and spearheading initiatives for operational improvements such as the implementation of new MRP systems and integration of AI and robotics to enhance efficiency and sustainability.

I love what I do, and Rotational Moulding is a brilliant industry to work in, pushing the social, economic and sustainability of the company is one of my favourite elements of my role. I have become an ambassador in the industry by causing huge disruptions to the industry’s foundation by moving towards robotic, sustainable, low-energy systems not know in the industry, which we will talk more on today. 

Why is sustainability important to you personally?

I wish to leave this world knowing that things are going in a positive direction, knowing that we are repairing and improving what humanity has begun to destroy. I want to promote a better way of working that continues to incorporate a sustainable culture within Rototek, creating better environments in which we can all thrive. We need to conserve our resources, so looking at different markets to eliminate the use of oil, coal and gas in the energy sector is something I wish to promote so the future will hold a better quality of life that can be enjoyed by future generations.

Talk me through Rototek’s sustainability journey, when did it start?

At Rototek, we started our sustainability journey many years ago without really realising it. We brought in LED lighting and begun reducing the amount of waste going into our skips, this was purely from an economic standpoint to reduce our costs. We then begun looking at how we could reduce our energy consumption, as well as how to reprocess scrap products and then reuse the scrap materials in our products, removing the need to buy virgin materials.

Our sustainability journey started by focusing on reducing costs, but as we begun to explore more sustainable practices within our factory, we realised that the more sustainable choice isn’t always the most cost-effective solution, but it is the best long-term solution in terms of what is right for our planet, which we see as a very justified cost.

How are Rototek reducing the carbon footprint of their rotational moulding process?

An important first step was to measure our carbon footprint, so we had a baseline figure to measure any progress against. Although we have always monitored our energy consumption, we begun measuring our Scope 1, Scope 2 & aspects of our Scope 3 carbon emissions in 2021. This ensured we encompassed elements such as our company car fuel consumption, employee commuting, hotel stays etc. within our baseline figure, alongside our gas and electricity consumption.  

In the factory we have reduced our processing times by introducing faster processing materials, therefore reducing the energy consumed to produce each product. We have also made simple changes such as reducing or shutting down ovens between turns to reduce energy consumption. In the short term there are so many simple changes a manufacturing company can make to reduce their carbon footprint, which will also help to reduce costs. We found that having discussions about sustainability with the factory team in our daily shift briefings, explaining why we are making certain changes and trying to bring everyone along on our journey has led to even more positive change within the business.

Give us some specific examples of positive changes that Rototek have made, that have directly resulted in a reduction of energy use.

One example is updating our ovens – upgrading to more reliable ovens with better burners has reduced the energy use within our factories. Of course, there are huge carbon emissions associated with the purchase of new machinery, so we ensure that the annual energy saving warrants this.

We are currently investing in robotics – this investment will reduce our energy consumption by 15-25% and the robotics will run off green electricity, therefore reducing our use of gas. Our use of robotics will also lead to a 20-30% reduction in materials used, further reducing our carbon footprint.

What are some simple sustainable switches that a manufacturing company at the start of their sustainability journey could make?

I think the first and most simple thing a company can do is review what they are currently doing, there will be a lot of low hanging fruit that can be dealt with by process and programming changes before starting to look at more expensive changes to equipment and machinery. Look at where you are wasting energy, as you will be surprised at the cost of a small air leak in a compressor pipe, for example. 

How do you engage the Rototek team on sustainability?

This has been surprisingly simple, as the team know that the manufacturing industry must change and be able to adapt to changes, and they all seem to take this move towards a more sustainable future as the norm now. It has been important to explain why we are making changes driven by sustainability, for example explaining why it’s important to look for air leaks, why we decided to work towards B Corp Certification.

In January, we announced our successful B Corp Certification to the team by taking B Corp cupcakes and notes about our certification round to all the sites. Along with our Sustainability Manager and Group Chairman, Jasmin & Steff, we chatted to the team and answered any questions they had about B Corp. It’s important for us to communicate such big changes around the factory, rather than just focusing on the leadership teams. We also run quarterly newsletters where we update the team on sustainability, B Corp, our carbon footprint, and most importantly the ‘why’ behind sustainability for the Group.

Training is also important, which is why we are working with Climate Fresk to deliver sustainability training firstly to our leadership team.

What does Rototek’s B Corp Certification mean to the business? How did you find the process? 

We are so proud to be a B Corp and join such a brilliant community of likeminded businesses! B Corp Certification has cemented Gusto Group and Rototek’s commitment to sustainability into our Articles of Association and the process encouraged us to improve areas of our business in order to achieve certification. It wasn’t an easy process to undertake, but once we realised that in most cases, we were already doing all or part of the system, any changes were easy to implement.

Alongside the internal benefits, we have already had so much positive feedback from new and existing customers since announcing our B Corp Certification in January this year, and have won work off the back of this!

What future plans do Rototek have to further reduce their carbon footprint?

Cost will play a huge part in the speed at which we will be able to continue to reduce our carbon footprint. Reduced energy compressors are being fitted into our ovens and all machinery is having energy efficient motors and inverters. We have stepped up the servicing on our gas burners to ensure that we are burning as cleanly as possible as we begin to transition away from these carbon burning machines and bring in low-energy, low-emission robotic machines for the future.

We are looking into solar and green energy suppliers to continue to reduce the carbon footprint of our operations.

What does the future look like for the manufacturing industry? 

For most companies using the traditional energy methods, it’s going to become more and more difficult to continue with business as usual depending on how energy use is legislated. One thing is for sure, energy costs will continue to increase, and customers will want to move towards more sustainable production methods as they will need to reduce their own carbon footprint.

At Rototek, we are paving our own way and negating the need to make these decisions in years to come by already changing and shaping our own future before this is forced upon us through legislation.

How can rotational moulding be the low carbon solution for the future of manufacturing? What needs to change?

We are already well on the way to inspiring the industry and its cliental in the direction of sustainability and low-energy manufacturing. At Rototek, we believe the future of rotational moulding is in electrical tooling and robotics, to not only enhance the industry but to create a disruption to encourage other manufactures to follow suit.

Manufacturers need to see the benefits and begin to diversify their machinery now before it’s too late, as investment in low-energy manufacturing methods by traditional companies is not only the right thing to do but without investment into new methods of work, it will leave them redundant in the industry in the future.