Beware the unknown costs!

• Textile business discovers inefficiencies in production and important cost-management gaps
• TOP 20 follow-up helps the company reduce energy consumption by over 5 %

Oritex is a small dyeing and knitting house based in Lodz, Central Poland. As part of the company's broader mission to lower its impact on the environment and improve production, its management requested a TOP 20 input-output analysis.

TOP 20 has been widely used in cleaner production projects since the 1990s. It is now an integral part of the 'Eco-innovation Diagnosis and Implementation Tool for increase of enterprise Value' (EDIT Value) developed within PRESOURCE project. EDIT Value, including updated TOP 20, was piloted in 18 companies and six European countries.

 For Oritex, the analysis helped to identify problems that the company had struggled to pinpoint previously.

Key results

The audit proved useful in highlighting both process efficiency problems (i.e. excessive water used compared to benchmarks), as well as strategic problems related to the company's cost management.

As part of the follow-up advisory services, TOP 20 identified gaps which demanded significant investment for an SME, but also where changes in work practices could yield cost-effective and rather immediate results.

These actions helped Oritex to decrease its energy use by more than 5 %. An increase in environmental awareness among employees was also observed thanks to the experience.