Mars UK - Case study: Water efficiency
Water is one of the vital ingredients of life. At Mars, water preservation and
conservation is a top priority.
Mars in the UK reduced its annual water consumption at its confectionery factory
in Slough by almost 25% from 2007 to 2009. This massive reduction was achieved
following a £60 million investment in the Dundee Road. It entailed the
decommissioning of one factory and installation of three new production lines in the
company's remaining factory. Given their greater reliability, downtime is
considerably reduced and with it the associated water use necessary to restart the lines.
The Slough factory placed in-depth focus on monitoring and measuring the water
consumption throughout the site, enabling staff to identify increases and
therefore maximise efficiency on site.
In addition, two water towers at the site were removed as a new state of the art
cooling system was now integrated into the site. This resulted in significant
reductions in water loss through evaporation.
Finally, Mars' Melton factory set in place improved measurement processes by
installing water meters. This will help conduct a comprehensive analysis of water
use at this site and enable it to develop a strategy to drive down water usage.
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Last reviewed: 22 Dec 2009