Member Article

£1 million Crown Paints site in Hull gets six figure high speed system

Crown Paints has invested a six figure sum on a high-speed manufacturing system, designed to speed up the filling of paint containers by as much as 75%

The new £1 million plus facility based at Crown’s manufacturing site in Hull, will half the amount of water needed to clean paint delivery pipework.

It will also reduce the usage of both electrical power and compressed air by 25 per cent as part of Crown’s bid to introduce major sustainability improvements across the business, under its award-winning Earthbalance® programme.

Joe Devitt, Managing Director at Crown Paints said: “As a leader in the UK decorative coatings market, it’s essential that we seek to continuously improve our manufacturing and operational efficiencies.

“To meet this challenge, the company established a clear manufacturing strategy and the implementation of this new system at our Hull site is a crucial element of that.

“It’s a major investment which will pay huge long-term dividends by helping us to streamline production.”

Complex installation work at the factory, also the site of a major new distribution centre since 2012, took almost 12 months to complete.

It involved the installation of new pumps, filters and more than 60 metres of pipework carried out by the Hull engineering team under site engineering manager Steve Collins.

A major employer in the city, half of Crown Paints’ products are manufactured at the Hull site, which employs 180 people.

Crown has manufactured paints in the city for more than 200 years.

The manufacturer’s Earthbalance® programme centres on a commitment to reduce its Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) by 10% for 2015 and 25% by 2020.

Results to date have seen Crown Paints secure accolades including The Manufacturer’s Sustainable Manufacturer of The Year Award, the Supply Chain Sustainability School Gold standard, the Sustainable Innovation Award from the British Coatings Federation, a Green Apple award and Insider’s Green Manufacturer of the Year title.

Crown is also a UK national champion in the European Business Awards 2013/2014.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .