ATS Secures ISO:14001 Accreditation

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 27th October 2021

During October, our SHEQ department have been extremely busy overseeing the audits to secure our ISO:14001 accreditation and maintain our ISO:9001 accreditation.

This month we were externally audited in a 2.5-day, in-depth ISO:14001 assessment in order for the assessor to make a decision if we could be awarded our full ISO:14001 accreditation.

This is great news for the business, with another formally recognised accreditation under our belt, one which we feel will become important in the months and years to come given the strong focus in the outside world on environmental matters. We have made great progress through the introduction of electric cars and our conscious project delivery approach, both of which were recognised by the assessor as excellent steps forward in reducing our impact on the environment and making the standard work for us.

A special thanks goes out to our SHEQ assistant Emily Cooper for working hard in developing our environmental management system, her efforts in the lead up to the audit and ensuring all ran smoothly.

ISO:9001

The month also saw us externally audited for continuing accreditation of ISO:9001 in a shorter 1-day audit.

Again, we successfully passed the audit and have maintained our accreditation successfully – thanks to all those involved during the day.

A great achievement for ATS – well done team!

ATS Academy – AHU’s Explained

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 16th September 2021

Another installment to our ATS Academy Scheme…

As part of our in-house ATS Academy Scheme, our very own Design Manager, Craig Shaw, delivered a presentation on Air Handling Units.

Not only does this increase our internal expertise but it also provides a basis for all employees new, existing and whom may be working in different departments, a detailed overview of the amazing services we are so fortunate to be involved in here at ATS.

The training sessions have been met with overwhelming success with high levels of engagement, positive feedback as well as suggestions for further sessions and subject matter. This is an area of continuous improvement that we will support, grow, and promote such that it is and will be available to all who work at ATS. All sessions will be re-run upon request as well as periodically as to ensure maximum learning.

Women in Engineering – Interview

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 9th September 2021

Name: Laura Baker

Job Title: Senior Design & Estimating Engineer

Area of work: Industrial

Q. How or why did you choose Engineering as a career path?

“The main reason I chose this industry is the fact it’s so definite – there are only set answers, and outcomes aren’t dependant on the moods of others. I also chose mechanical engineering as there’s so much more flexibility to it and there will always be a demand for engineers.”

Q. What inspires you about Engineering?

“There’s always room for improvement; I’m constantly finding new areas to develop in and apply existing knowledge to. Even outside of work, I enjoy spotting connections between two things which wouldn’t usually be connected.”

Q. What challenges do women face in the Engineering professions?

“Well there’s the obvious – it’s so heavily dominated by men! I find it funny when I’m talking to a client and they ask when the Engineer is turning up, and then I tell them I am the Engineer! Aside from this, a real challenge is how engrained processes are within the industry and so getting a buy in from a client on a new solution can prove to be… difficult.”

Q. What is the most exciting thing about your job?

“The constant opportunity to grow and develop, with new problems arising each day. As I predominantly work on modifying existing solutions, it requires a lot of problem-solving skills on my behalf, which I love. As part of a recent project I spent a week on site, conducting surveys, looking at the whole process and the modifications that needed to be made; it’s great to be involved in providing a wholesome solution.”

Q. What would you say to girls in school/college who may be considering Engineering as a career choice?

“Go for it! There are still not enough women in the industry, and we have so much to offer. Women can bring a different approach to a situation and the ability to think outside the box – which we need more of.”

Exciting things for the Design Team!

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 30th March 2021

As a business, we understand that as part of our strategy to grow and be the very best at what we do in the markets we work within, we need to be at the forefront of current technology and techniques.

Due to this core objective, ATS committed to the investment and on boarding of a new thermal modelling software (IES), to calculate and model heating and cooling loads.

The task to implement this software was courageously undertaken by our very own Stephen Hems & Jordan Walsh, both of whom have committed to providing the role out of training to the wider organisation by April.

ATS Upgrade Lighting at Himbleton Village Hall

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 1st February 2021

As part of our emerging Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy, an opportunity arose within our local community to give back. We have replaced the outdated fluorescent lighting with modern LED fittings. These fittings will last much longer and give significant energy savings. Thanks to all involved with completing the work and if you have any ideas about how we can do more work like this to help in our local communities please let us know. We will be publishing more details in relation to our CSR Strategy during this year and ways we can improve our company contributions to the environment, the local community and improving our procurement strategies by buying more locally and ethically.

St Mary’s Hospice Support

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 3rd July 2020

ATS featured in the internal newsletter of St Mary’s Hospice following the charity work we did on their ventilation system.

A huge thank you to Graham (a retired heating, ventilation and air conditioning engineer), along with Scott and Miles (engineers from Air Technology Systems) who voluntarily came in one Saturday morning to undertake works on our roof.

The Corporate Services Team are incredibly thankful for their kind support and it’s fantastic to see local people offering their expertise to support the Hospice – thank you!

Great Audit Results

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 9th June 2020

During May we faced 2 external audits; our annual Achilles audit & our continuing BSI ISO:9001 audits.

Normally we are assessed in each case by an external auditor attending the office where our operating procedures are reviewed and checked and the paperwork on various projects sampled, along with a visit to a nearby site.

This year looked very different with the Achilles audit undertaken remotely via MS Teams with the team answering questions and presenting evidence. We are pleased to report that we scored 100% on this audit. The site visit element was postponed until a later stage.

For this audit we sampled work from the recent DHL project and were able to demonstrate great compliance with the questions asked. The Achilles audit / assessment is a requirement of many of our clients in the utilities and nuclear sectors, with specific questions asked by their board, with the board being assembled through various stakeholders in the industries so really focusses on what matters to them. This is a fantastic result and a good improvement on last year’s score.

The BSI audit was done using WebEx, this is important to demonstrate that the systems we use and high standards are distributed amongst our teams and the auditor likes to hear from a range of people across the business. The BSI audit is a lot more in-depth – we have 2 per year, across a total 3-year cycle with each audit focussing on a different area of the business.

This audit focussed on:

· How the business is faring through Covid-19 & Business Continuity.
· Our internal audit process.
· Progress of the Maintenance department/improvements
· The Approved Vendor process.
· Sampling of project work against process within Team JETFLO.

The audit went really smoothly and the auditor was very complimentary in all of the sampled areas and gave special mention as to how resilient our business is proving to be during the current pandemic.

Overall a fantastic result, special thanks to all those involved.

The Big Move (Towards Collaboration)

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 13th January 2020

ATS’s recent office move at the end of October has allowed us to bring together the design department with project delivery to improve communication and collaboration on the projects and offer smoother delivery for our clients.

With an ongoing remit to put the customer at the centre of what we do, we hope this change goes some way to ensuring this is the case. As well as bringing our designers downstairs we have also endeavoured to seat people amongst or close to the people they are working with on the projects. We are confident this will result in better decision making, earlier involvement of the project teams and a more efficient delivery for our customers.

This is just the first step towards implementing world-class project management and customer service. Other improvements to the office include a larger downstairs meeting room with a fit-out of the second upstairs office which will become a wellbeing space. We also have laid a new gym style floor which has been put to good use already for our in-house yoga classes.

UK Pharmaceutical Warehousing Shortage – An Opportunity?

By: Adam Westbury

Date: 3rd October 2019

The Government is continuing to work closely with pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, trade associations, the NHS and others to try and meet the demand for pharmaceutical warehousing storage in the UK, ahead of a potential no-deal Brexit.

However, procuring extra warehousing to stockpile medicines is no easy task right now. Peter Ward of the United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) told the BBC Newsnight programme “the market, as represented by our members is full.”

According to warehouse data compiled by Savills and seen by the BBC Newsnight team, the estimated vacancy rate across the UK for warehouses over 100,000 sq ft is just 6.8% with the highest vacancy rate (10.6%) in the West Midlands and the lowest (2.1%) in the East of England. For comparison, in 2009 the UK-wide average was around 23%.

With warehouse supply clearly falling short of demand, there’s a big opportunity for any organisation with the potential wherewithal to convert existing buildings, to realise excellent Government-guaranteed returns.

Obviously, storing pharmaceuticals is not as straightforward as storing non-perishable goods. There are strict temperature control and monitoring standards needed, to meet the regulations and requirements of the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), as well as those of the manufacturers. But this shouldn’t put anyone off exploring the opportunity.

HVAC expertise in this sector is a necessity and that is exactly what ATS offers its clients. We specialise in the design and installation of high quality, cost-effective temperature control solutions for pharmaceutical warehouses of all shapes and sizes.

If you’d like to explore this opportunity and talk to one of our experts, please contact Kevin Gillen or Ryan Walsh on 01527 833383 or email kevin.gillen@atsclimate.com or ryan.walsh@atsclimate.com.