Audience Systems Ltd is the UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of retractable and auditorium seating for theatres, schools, sports venues, and arenas around the world. The business’s HQ and factory operates from the West Wilts Trading Estate in Westbury. Having moved to their current premises in the 1980s, the manufacturing facility is home to cutting, welding and fabrication lines, with a wood shop, spray shop, powder coating facility, chair assembly line and warehouse.
‘We take our impact on the local environment and community seriously,’ explains Compliance Manager Paul Rigby. The business aims to lead the industry on environmental management, actively reducing waste, building their products for long term, sourcing responsibly and upgrading equipment to continuously improve energy efficiency. The company had already introduced a number of energy efficiency measures including LED lighting in the factory and split air conditioning in their offices, so it was no surprise that they acted quickly to contact Severn Wye when they found out about Target 2030.
Our business energy specialist noted that 80% of the company’s gas use was for the oven and burners for powder coaters and pre-heat tanks, and identified a number of areas across the operation where further savings could be made. Despite their active interest in energy efficiency, Audience Systems found a few surprises in their report.
‘We’d upgraded to LED in the factory ages ago but had forgotten about the office,’ says Rigby. ‘We didn’t replace like-for-like in the end as we realised we just had too many lights. Then there were the cost implications of installing updated technology, including the air compressor.’
After carefully considering how to move forward, Audience Systems applied for a Target 2030 grant of just under £18,000 and matched this with their own investment of around £42,000 to complete the LED upgrade, install more efficient boilers, upgrade their air compressor, and install new gas heaters. The measures will return at least £200,000 of savings over their lifetime.
The report prompted the management team to think about other opportunities and they have since installed a wet-spray facility – a room within a room – having carefully considered the different providers available and opted for more energy efficient catalytic gas infra-red drying technology. They are also considering improvements to their powder-coat line, which will reap even more savings in reduced gas consumption.
