Profile: Manufacturing "It's a Budget that'll get him into Number 10", according to an enthusiastic Sandy Barr yesterday.

Profile: Manufacturing

"It's a Budget that'll get him into Number 10", according to an enthusiastic Sandy Barr yesterday.

The managing director of RHI Refractories, the Clydebank manufacturer of ultra-high temperature ceramic parts for the steelmaking industry, said: "It's one of the most pro-active Budgets for industry I've ever seen.

"From the cut in corporation tax, to the investment and R&D incentives, and even the tax regimes for biofuels and tax cuts for gas guzzling cars. It's all going in the right direction."

However, here the enthusiasm starts to flag. Mr Barr wants to know why factories like his were not better rewarded by Gordon Brown, for delivering so comprehensively on his pet agenda: carbon-busting.

The products manufactured at the Clydebank factory are ceramic tubes and valves used to control the flow of molten metal in continuous casting processes. They have a limited lifespan, typically two-to-12 hours, and are treated as a consumable by steel industry customers.

The production process at the Clydebank facility is a high-volume one, with more than 800 different designs and a production run of 250,000 units per annum, 98% of which is exported to around 40 countries. Turnover is £16m a year and the factory employs 196 workers.

However, in 2001, production costs, wage inflation and especially energy bills threatened to sink RHI. It responded by investing £6m.

One of the main drives was RHI's energy reduction initiative. It has been so successful that it has been published by the Carbon Trust as a best practice case study. RHI's energy usage is now 30% less than in 2000 for an increased production output, saving approximately £400,000 a year, and carbon dioxide emissions down by almost 2500 metric tonnes a year. "That's the equivalent of 20 jobs", Mr Barr said.

In April 2001, the government introduced the Climate Change Levy - an energy tax that adds approximately 15% to typical energy bills of UK businesses. Mr Barr did not see any moves to cut that for the likes of him.

"What we have saved would pay our levy for the next 10 years," he grumbled. "I do think he has to get tougher with companies that don't take tough action on their emissions. Why was there no, cut your emissions by 50% or we'll shut you down' message?"

Back on the upside is Mr Barr's belief that the Chancellor's inflation targets and his tighter grip on public-sector spending will help curb RHI's wages bill. He said: "Depending on the index you use, wage inflation is currently running at 4%. We're in competition with factories in China and India, and can't afford our workforce to expect such rises. If he can hold down inflation, that's good enough for me."