Lachlan Buirds

What was once framed as a sustainability investment is now a commercial necessity. With energy costs pressuring margins, manufacturers are treating efficiency less as a ‘spend to save’ initiative and more as a core requirement for protecting margins, strengthening resilience, and maintaining competitiveness.  

The most resilient manufacturers are those treating energy efficiency and sustainability as the same operational challenge. Building that efficiency into processes helps reduce exposure to energy price volatility and creates a more stable cost base.  

In label and packaging production, this is particularly visible in curing and drying technology. The move from conventional arc UV to LED UV systems, for example, can deliver power savings across the press, reducing energy bills and carbon output at the same time. That kind of tangible, measurable return is what’s driving investment decisions on the shop floor today.  

The opportunity goes beyond capital investment. In label and packaging environments, reducing setup waste, improving job changeover efficiency, and rethinking how products are demonstrated to customers can all lower energy and material consumption whilst improving throughput and cost control.  

With margins under pressure and energy costs unlikely to fall, manufacturers who build efficiency into their processes now are better placed to protect competitiveness.

Lachlan Buirds

CEO, Edale