Stewart Signs are a company with about 50 employees who manufacture a wide range of self-adhesive and sign products. Their EMS was certified to ISO 14001 in 1998. Even in a company which is relatively small, the benefits are substantial, including a 50% saving in the amount of solvent bought with the introduction of a distillation process for solvent recovery.

Stewart Signs also realised that major corporate clients were interested in their environmental performance, so by having an EMS in place they could easily satisfy any customer requirements.

Stewart Signs only use a small amount of water in their production processes, but  till reduced their demand by over half within the first six months. Energy consumption was also reduced and continues to decrease as more efficient measures are introduced.

A range of long and short term objectives and targets meant that Stewart Signs could achieve some goals quickly and maintain motivation. Having had their system in place for nearly three years now, they are concentrating on continuous improvement by looking at new ways to reduce the amount of waste produced, and improve the method of monitoring and measuring this.

• 50% reduction in the amount of solvent purchased.
Over 50% reduction in the amount of water used.
Environmental performance continuously improving.
Complying with customer requirements.