Aerospheres

AEROSPHERES I PROFILE

Since 1990, Aerospheres (UK) Ltd has been providing the commercial airline maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry with all its chemical and consumable requirements. But the company wanted to do more to improve its own sustainability. Hannah Barnett spoke to Quality & Sustainability Manager Bryan Thornton and E-commerce Manager Sandra Lorgeron about how it achieved that goal.

Aerospheres is now an ISO14001-certified organisation. This reflects the company’s objective to become a greener supplier in the years to come.

“Implementing ISO 14001 should be a consideration for any organisation that i s serious about sustainability,” explained Bryan Thornton, Quality & Sustainability Manager. “It’s not a one-stop solution, but with committed leadership and desire for continual improvement it sets a strong framework for the journey ahead.”

A brief history

Based in North West London, Aerospheres has always emphasised customer service by holding the products its customers need and providing a very responsive service. Following a takeover in 2019, the company now operates as part of FDH Aero, a global group of companies offering multiple supply chain solutions for the aerospace industry. This ushered in a cultural shift from a family-run enterprise to more corporate operations and a period of sustained growth has followed.

Operating from an 18,000-squarefoot warehouse and offering over 5,000 product lines, the company provides

same-day shipments to customers all over the world. And despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the company has recovered well and grown by nearly 80 per cent in the last two years.

To drive further growth, the company has recently invested in state-of-the-art racking providing a 60% increase in storage capacity. It also implemented online purchasing, which already accounts for more than 20% of total sales.

“Our endeavours have yielded an i mpressive 98 per cent customer satisfaction rating in terms of service,” explained E-commerce Manager Sandra Lorgeron.

An accreditation overview.

Aerospheres recognised the growing expectation for all organisations to manage their impact on the environment. Obtaining ISO 14001 accreditation was seen as objective evidence that the company is taking these responsibilities for sustainable operations seriously.

“Being part of the aviation and chemical industries – both of which are identified as having a high impact on the environment, it’s important that Aerospheres recognises our responsibility to manage

AEROSPHERES I PROFILE

our business in a sustainable manner,” reflected Mr Thornton. “We wanted the ISO 14001 accreditation because it advertises to our customer base and stakeholders that we’ve implemented effective processes to manage and minimise our environ mental footprint.”

With full corporate support, Aerospheres achieved the distinction of being the first company in the group to obtain accreditation and intends to mentor its sister organisations through the process in due course.

As Mr Thornton explained, implementing ISO 14001 did not require a dramatic overhaul of operations. In fact, the company found that much of what was required was

already in place. The process simply drove i mprovement within the organisation in a more formalised way.

“We were already an ISO 9001 accredited company,” he said. “Once you’ve attained that, achieving an additional ISO standard is relatively straightforward as most of the structure is similar. It’s probably half of what you already do.”

The road to ISO 14001

To achieve accreditation, Aerospheres needed to demonstrate the practical steps i t was taking to reduce its environmental impact. This meant identifying all the ways it interacted with the environment and then using a ranking mechanism to establish

Aerospheres are now compliant with the ISO 14001 standards

t hose that were most significant. Mitigations and controls were established, and measurable targets for improvement were implemented.

This process identified that Aerosphere s already had many sustainable practices in place. These included a basic recycling scheme, LED lights, the replacement of paper archives with online storage and using biodegradable packing chips.

But is also identified new initiatives: “We receive and unpack a lot of products which are shrink or polythene wrapped, and this currently contributes a large proportion of our common waste,” explained Mr Thornton. “Therefore, one of our key priorities is implementing a recycling stream for these soft plastics. The problem is this is not commonly recycled, so one of the challenges is finding a waste management company to provide this service.

Fortunately, these now seem to be coming onstream as interest and demand grow.”

Another initiative to reduce plastic waste is the replacement of packing tape with paper versions. Alongside this, the development of an advanced forecasting system not only ensures improved stock availability for customers but also reduces waste from expired products.

Then there is recognition of CO2 emissions from transport: To mitigate this, the company is significantly reducing the number of individual air shipments by developing a growing number of consignment agreements with its major customers. And on the domestic side, it is also offering staff incentives to use alternative transport rather than commuting by car.

Once targets and controls had been identified, a further requirement was to ensure the company was aware and

compliant with all the relevant environ mental legislation. Aerospheres recommends seeking professional advice to help with this process, but there are also good resources to be found online.

The final stage was to ensure adequate emergency, containment and emission controls were in place and that the business had the procedures and training to manage these. Again, Aerospheres had implemented most of this already due to existing health and safety measures.

“Fundamentally, ISO 14001 requires a business to develop an Environmental Management System with the three prime objectives of one; identifying measures to reduce its environmental impact; two, ensuring it is fully legally compliant and, three, providing controls to prevent pollution,” said Mr Thornton. “If you can do these three things, you will have the basis for a successful accreditation.”

The fundamental requirements of an ISO 14001 environmental management system:

1. Reduction of environmental impacts such as emissions, waste and energy consumption.

2. Demonstration that the company understands and is compliant with all relevant environmental legislation.

3. Ensuring controls are in place to prevent pollution and manage emergencies.

Going forward

After six months of work, Aerospheres successfully passed its audit in March 2023.

Of course, as with any company challenges remain when it comes to implementing sustainable measures.

As Mr Thornton put it: “Driving behavioural change is just as important as an investment; and while we offer customers

greener products wherever available, there is often an inertia to change in the aviation industry which can sometimes make this easier said than done.”

And the attempt to encourage change does not end with customers: “We now ask our suppliers what they are doing to improve sustainability – the momentum for change is growing,” said Mr Thornton.

Sustainability is also now part of our investment decisions. Historically, investment criteria were largely about pounds and dollars. Now, we are also thinking about its impact on the environment. So, if we invest in new equipment, we will consider spending a bit more to get the most energy-efficient version.

Similarly, if we expand into new premises, we would be asking what the heating and insulation are like. We must consider all these things.”

With this ethic of continuous improvement in mind, those who work at Aerospheres are proud to have achieved the accreditation and are keen to keep on evolving.

“We see the ISO 140001 as a solid demonstration to our customers that we take sustainability seriously,” Mr Thornton concluded, “but it’s only the first step on a journey to continually improve. We would recommend other organisations to consider doing the same and hope our story can give some insight and encouragement .” n