Meet the team

Introducing

Andrew Ball

Andrew heads up our Facilities and Procurement team. Here he discusses managing the environmental impact and sustainability of our business including how we are responding to the current energy price crisis.

Introducing

Andrew Ball

Andrew heads up our Facilities and Procurement team. Here he discusses managing the environmental impact and sustainability of our business including how we are responding to the current energy price crisis.

Hi Andrew, tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m Andrew Ball, Facilities and Procurement Manager at Biofortuna. I’m married with two children and two grandchildren, and for my sins I am an avid follower of Derby County FC.

 

Could you describe your role?

My role has many strands to it but in its simplest form it’s about making sure the right resources are available in the right place at the right time. For a contract development and manufacturing organisation like ours the two most important assets we have are our people and our facilities. My job is to make sure that all the systems within our environment are harmonised to support our people to solve our customers’ problems.

 

What do you enjoy most about your job?

It’s probably a couple of things. Firstly, I think what I do makes a difference. As a company we work with our customers to improve the health and wellbeing of people all over the world. My job is to make sure we do that efficiently and with the lowest carbon footprint possible.

Secondly, I manage a young, bright and ambitious team and I genuinely enjoy passing on my knowledge and supporting their development.

How has the current energy price crisis effected Biofortuna, and what have we done to mitigate its impact?

As a practitioner for the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, I think we should always be looking to improve the way we do business, but the current energy price crisis has certainly helped to crystalise how important it is for every business, large or small, to do what they can.

But because we were already committed to reduce our energy use, we may have been a little better prepared than most.

For example, we have already replaced all our lighting to ultra-low LED and have fitted heat recovery systems to our clean room humidity control equipment.

We are in the process of installing solar panels, which when fully operational will supply around 15% of our total electricity consumption and last year we completed our garden area, planted with native hedgerow and wildflowers to encourage biodiversity and built using materials which minimised the projects carbon footprint.

 

How has facilities management changed over the last ten years?

I think perhaps the biggest change is that sustainability is now accepted as an objective and indeed an obligation of every business, whereas ten years ago it was thought of as something only really relevant to the largest companies.

There has also been increasing awareness of the value of smart technologies to maximise a building’s performance in terms of energy and waste reduction.

And I think overall there has been an acceptance that effective facilities management can provide a clear return on investment; financial as well as social. It’s no longer seen as just changing light bulbs and making sure there is a supply of toilet rolls. Although to be fair the toilet rolls remain non negotiable.

 

Why did you join Biofortuna?

I was looking for a new challenge, Biofortuna are in a similar industry to where I was working previously, but I could see they had ambitious growth plans and were investing in their infrastructure. I felt I could add real value to the business.

 

And finally, apart from following the fortunes of Derby County, what do you like to do away from work?

I like going to the gym, spending time with the family, travelling and enjoying good food and drink.

JOIN THE TEAM

We are a growing company committed to establishing ourselves as one of the world’s leading contract assay developers and manufacturers.

As a direct result of that growth, we are always on the lookout to expand our team with the brightest talent.

Click here to visit our careers page and view our latest opportunities.

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