A more sustainable cu瀀瀀a In 2020 Eastern Produce Kenya (EPK), one of the weather, when more thermal energy was required to country’s largest tea producers and exporters, invited remove surface moisture from the green leaf. the IfM to apply the Cambridge Sustain 8 to help refocus its e昀昀orts on reducing the amount of energy However, when the data (on good and bad days) used at its Chemomi and Kepchomo tea factories. was analysed and correlated with the weather, they found that the factories were having good days in wet Through online meetings and workshops carried out weather and bad days in dry weather. “So, we asked over the course of 12 months, the team worked with them to come up with the key reasons why they had EPK to identify where energy could be saved and how good days,” says Gary. “And the top three reasons to make sustainability relevant and understood by the were things they could control. So, their usual mantra factory workers. about ‘it’s all about the weather’ didn’t apply.” Having established drivers for the good days, Gary and his Gary Punter, IfM Engage Industrial Associate, explains team were able to build on simple changes and include how the method (developed at the Institute for sta昀昀 in the journey. Manufacturing’s Centre for Industrial Sustainability) makes energy saving easy to understand and apply Simple steps = big impact because it aligns sustainability with business success: Some of the straightforward actions immediately “The Cambridge Sustain 8 Method is eight simple steps impacted 昀椀rewood and electricity improvements. that can be implemented over 12 months to deliver “Because fuel wood stored in the open has a high sustainability improvement with minimal investment. moisture content,” Gary explains, “we suggested First, by looking at factory data, the method identi昀椀es improving 昀椀rewood storage by expanding covered the key drivers of the factory. We then help the factory wood storage areas. Steam usage was also reduced to pick the areas where sustainability aligns with by eliminating steam leaks and cleaning dust from business success.” radiators and heat exchangers. We also helped to Gary explains that the 昀椀nal part of the method is to get develop an energy dashboard to delve further into the teams focusing on the “good” days and to discover withering and drying. opportunities to build and deliver action plans: “We “To reduce electricity, we encouraged the simple don’t focus on the problems,” says Gary, “but we ask: actions of switching o昀昀 lights and sockets and using What happened on the good days? It’s always more natural lighting instead. At Chemomi, this has reduced motivational to ask them to focus on the ‘good days’ consumption by 25%. within their data and attempt to build on these good periods, rather than solving the bad days.” “In addition, we suggested that tea reworking should Gary goes on to say that when the Sustain 8 method be minimised to avoid additional re-processing energy, asked why energy consumption was higher on some which damages KPIs, and the use of clear roo昀椀ng days than others, the explanation given was the wet sheets to use solar thermal to reduce the moisture of green leaf in the withering troughs.”