Founded in 1985, Michael Smith, Switchgear Limited (MSSL) is a Leicester-based SME that manufactures low-voltage switchgear for a range of sectors across the UK.

Over the past eight years, the business has executed a sweeping transformation around sustainability – one that has put it seven years ahead of schedule on industry net zero targets set by manufacturing trade body Make UK.

In the process, MSSL has greatly enhanced its resilience and value. As well as boosting its status as an attractive employer and supplier, the company has reinvented its systems to be far more efficient and self-sufficient. Altogether, those efforts have strengthened its reputation – to Royal effect.

Here are the four steps for how MSSL has done it.

1. Start small and go from there

In 2013, Chartered Accountant Emily Smith (former Chair of ICAEW’s Manufacturing Advisory Group) joined MSSL as Finance, HR and Health and Safety Director. Three-and-a-half years ago, she became Operations and Finance Director.

“When I first joined the business, we weren’t doing anything towards sustainability,” she says. “But it’s always been a big part of my outlook from how I was brought up. It took five years to get everything right on the finance side. Then, in 2018, we really started to focus on our sustainability journey.”

With Managing Director Sean Smith overseeing MSSL’s product development, Smith led the way on sustainability. Initially, the business started small, equipping its factory with recycling bins and getting staff onboard with using them. From there, the mission took on a life of its own and quickly spread to the company’s suppliers.

2. Use nudge theory to improve supply chain efficiency

“In 2020, we sent a sustainability questionnaire to our supply chain and explained that we wanted to consolidate deliveries,” Smith says. “One supplier delivered to us every single day, yet was based nearby in Nottingham. So, we got that down to twice a week, then made the deliveries more sustainable by asking the supplier to switch from cardboard boxes to reusable plastic containers.”

Consolidating deliveries didn’t just cut emissions. It reduced transport costs and improved operational efficiency. It also imparted a touch of ‘nudge theory’ into MSSL’s supply chain, Smith says.

“In their feedback, another supplier remarked that they weren’t working with any other business that was as forward thinking on these issues, and that we’d made them rethink their own ethos.”

3. Generate your own energy

In 2021, the company attached 284 solar panels to its factory roof. “Luckily, we’re south facing,” Smith notes.  It also implemented other initiatives, such as a full changeover to LED lighting and the installation of charging points for a fleet of locally used electric and hybrid vehicles. This has insulated the company from some of the impacts of sudden rises in energy prices.

Around the same time, while preparing to submit MSSL’s switchgear for testing to the British Standard, Sean Smith worked out how to strip 25% of the copper out of the company’s products, yielding significant efficiency gains. In October 2021, ahead of COP26, UK Net Zero Champion Andrew Griffith MP held a special showcase to celebrate MSSL’s efforts to tackle climate change as an SME. “That really accelerated our profile,” Smith says.

Another breakthrough came in 2022, when MSSL was certified as a net-zero company. “We worked with Carbon Neutral Britain on that and asked them to backdate it to a 2018 baseline,” Smith says.

That work has continued apace: last November, the business announced that it had cut carbon emissions by more than 60% over seven years. Smith points out that this was achieved despite consistent business growth throughout that period.

4. Keep the conversation going

MSSL has maintained productive sustainability conversations with suppliers – particularly smaller ones. “We work with a lot of microbusiness and sole traders, some of whom haven’t factored sustainability into their processes,” Smith says. “As such, we support them and try to absorb their activities into our own carbon cutting. We also encourage them to have environmental policies, monitor their energy use and – for those who work with steel – review how they get rid of scrap.”

Last year, the company’s comprehensive approach to sustainability netted a flurry of milestones. In the spring, MSSL announced that it had successfully renewed all four of its ISO certifications: 14001 (Environmental Management Systems), 9001 (Quality Management Systems), 45001 (Health and Safety) and 45003 (Psychological Health and Safety at Work).

Two months later, the business received a prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise, in honour of its work on sustainable development. And in June, Smith attended a Windsor Castle reception for King’s Award recipients, where she met King Charles III.

Improved talent attraction and retention

Asked how the company’s ethos has enhanced its resilience and value, Smith says: “We’re definitely more attractive to work for. One question we ask in job interviews is, ‘What are the Top Three things you want from us as an employer?’ Sustainability or environmental practices are always among them. So, we’ve set ourselves apart there, and have a low staff turnover. Plus, we’ve had more customers come onboard. One advantage with switchgear is that it has a long shelf life anyway – it can last 30 to 50 years.”

The company doesn’t usually sell directly to big corporates; direct relationships are primarily with middlemen such as electrical contractors, Smith explains. “They can say to end users, ‘Look – this is an environmentally friendly product made by a sustainable business and would sit really well within your own sustainability profile.’ I believe we’re the only UK switchgear manufacturer that’s carbon neutral – and we’re certainly the only one that’s won a King’s Award for sustainability.”

Turning to what other SMEs could learn from MSSL, Smith says: “It’s not hard to make a start. Some owners may be concerned about how much effort it will take. But the small things don’t take up much time. There are lots of quick wins to be had if you sit down and think about how to rework some of your processes. You can sort out some issues in 10-minute chats with your suppliers. Start small – then you can build up to bigger projects.”