Keep Innovating

Keep Innovating

Growth is a natural ambition for many manufacturing businesses. The challenge is ensuring that growth is achieved in a way that continually improves the products we make, the resources we use and the environmental impact we create. Innovation is how we meet that challenge.

Growing Responsibly

Our commitment to manufacturing in Portadown, Northern Ireland, means innovation is closely connected to the future of our home. As demand for our woven carpets has grown, expanding production capacity has become an important part of securing that future. At the same time, we recognise a responsibility to ensure that growth does not simply mean using more energy and resources. Growing our business should also mean reducing the environmental impact of every square metre of carpet we produce.

Working alongside Griffith Textile Machines Ltd (GTM), part of the Ulster Group, we developed a new generation of weaving looms designed to increase manufacturing capacity while improving energy efficiency. The result is the addition of eight new looms to our weaving operation, enabling us to produce more square metres of carpet than ever before while using less energy overall. Alongside other operational improvements, this investment has contributed to a 21% reduction in energy intensity against our 2025 targets*, demonstrating how innovation can support both business growth and environmental progress.

Valuing Existing Materials

The same approach extends beyond our looms. Innovation also challenges us to think differently about the products we make and the materials we use. Wool Felt is one example. By transforming waste wool fibre from our manufacturing process into a high-performance contract underlay, we created a new product while extending the useful life of valuable natural materials. At the end of its life, Wool Felt can be returned to us and recycled into Axfelt Triple Layer underlay, creating a continuous journey for wool beyond a single product.

Innovation through Everyday Ideas 

Innovation also happens through the everyday ideas of our people. Across our business, we encourage teams to Make with Purpose, continually looking for opportunities to improve the way we work, use materials and manufacture our products.

Rug size optimisation is one example. Woven rugs are manufactured from broadloom carpet, which is produced in three standard loom widths. While wall-to-wall carpet is typically planned to make full use of these widths, bespoke rugs are specified in a wide variety of dimensions, creating opportunities to make better use of materials through careful planning.

During Carbon Literacy Training, our planning team identified a simple but effective way to optimise rug dimensions to our available loom widths. By working closely with customers and, where appropriate, making only minor adjustments to the overall size of a rug, we can often achieve the same design intent while using significantly less material. On some projects, these changes have reduced manufacturing waste from almost half of the material required to less than two per cent.

What began as one person's idea has become part of our everyday planning process, demonstrating how thoughtful planning, collaboration and practical innovation can reduce material use without compromising the finished design.

Innovation takes many forms. Sometimes it is a major engineering investment that shapes the future of our manufacturing. Sometimes it is a new product that extends the life of valuable materials. Often, it is a simple idea that changes the way we plan, design or manufacture. Together, these improvements help us grow responsibly while continually reducing the environmental impact of every square metre of carpet we produce.

*Baseline Target 2019