While it may be easy for any company to say that they care, Palace Chemicals says it has been putting this into practice for over 45 years – caring for its team, caring for the environment and caring for its customers and other stakeholders.
For internal stakeholders, this approach is said to be exemplified by the fact that so many of the company’s team have been with the business through a large part of its history, with many of the team describing themselves as part of the “Palace family”.
Another important manifestation of a caring attitude, according to the company, has been a focus on sustainability, with particular focus on its manufacturing processes and products. In fact, Palace says sustainability has been a key focus for the company throughout its history, having had a BSI accredited environmental management system in place for almost 20 years.
Wayne Clapham, joint managing director, says: “For much of our history, we have recognised our responsibility to do what we can to improve the sustainability of our operations and reduce our environmental impact in all areas of our operations.
“As a business we now have zero landfill to waste, we have a closed loop manufacturing system which has significantly reduced our emissions and waste output and most recently we have installed a large solar array to self-generate half of all our electricity use, as well as ensuring the remainder is only from renewable sources.”
One of the recent additions to the product portfolio is the EXTRA-LITE range, which is also said to be a more sustainable choice, containing more than 40% recycled materials, comprising sustainable raw materials taken from low carbon production processes. The product reportedly provides the same performance as other equivalents while doubling its coverage capability, which means users only need to transport smaller volumes to each job, according to Palace.
Clapham adds: “Our research and development team continue to focus on new and innovative solutions that reduce our environmental impact. We have recently recruited an additional cement technology specialist to join our team to further enhance our sustainability efforts and reduce our carbon impact.”
Steve Ball, commercial director, says: “As well as the focus on continually improving the way we care about our environment, our team are always looking at how we can improve the service we provide to our customers. In fact at Palace we believe these are two sides of the same coin – ‘We Care’ means we care about the sustainability of our products, our manufacturing processes, our people who work for us and also our customers. We know that looking after our customers, maintaining their trust and their support, is our most important task to secure the continuing strength of the business.”
The company has recently introduced shortened ETA delivery slots including live tracking for some customers – meaning customers will reportedly get either an approximate two-hour delivery slot or be able to live track the delivery vehicle on the way to them. “This is one example of how we are continually looking to serve our customers better,” adds Steve.
“Our continual investment in sustainable projects clearly demonstrates our caring approach across all aspects of the business,” says Ball “The closed loop dust extraction and recycling system helps to ensure zero waste is produced during the manufacturing process by ensuring all airborne dust emissions are contained and collected within a complex network of extraction and recycling into the manufacturing process. The technology also includes advanced information on the collected emissions. We’re caring for the environment and we’re also caring for our team and improving the standards in our manufacturing plant.”
“We have been innovating since 1978 and our success has been underpinned by this continual innovation, our aim for quality, value for money and continuous improvement which will continue for the years to come demonstrated through our care for our people, our customers and our environment.”
