The charge for manufacturing

 

By Lee Marie Reinsch, Marketplace Magazine

Manufacturers wishing to jump on the green bandwagon might get there by hopping aboard the green-saving bandwagon first.

Companies successful in streamlining their operations to increase profits more often than not decrease the amount of energy they use, says Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership regional manager Don McDonald of De Pere.

"The [return on investment] results are significant," he says.

Part of the National Manufacturing Extension Partnership, WMEP counsels businesses to expand their reach, profits and goals. Yearly, it helps around 250 companies tighten up their budgets and improve their profitability by saving in the neighborhood of $225 million, McDonald says.

Nowhere in WMEP’s name are the words "green," "energy" or "environment."

That’s because WMEP doesn’t focus exclusively on energy conservation, as does its cousin organization, Focus on Energy. But the two work together.

Not all of the estimated $225 million in savings enjoyed by WMEP participants comes from energy savings.
Savings comes from a variety of areas — reduced costs of waste disposal, labor costs, water, etc., after streamlining.

But a lot of the savings does come from reduced energy use, McDonald says.

"WMEP’s programs have been very effective for identifying hidden energy usage and environmental costs and developing plans to dramatically reduce those costs," he says.

It all starts with an energy audit, McDonald says, which is where Focus on Energy comes in.

Focusing on energy

Focus on Energy — a statewide public/private partnership supported in part by We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Alliant Energy — can work with businesses to help them identify cost-effective projects to help reduce energy use, said Focus spokesperson Amanda Wollin.

Wollin says Focus on Energy can help manufacturers with:

Focus on Energy also provides technical support through energy advisors, educational and training information, Wollin says.

Some business owners don’t know what their energy use is in a given area; others come close to estimating.
It’s always good to know for sure, though, McDonald says.

After an energy audit, a company can get its priorities straight as where to start reducing energy usage, McDonald says.

"The successful companies develop an implementation plan and take action to reduce their energy costs," he says.

One company that’s made strides in saving energy is Hoffmaster, manufacturer of paper products.

Hoffmaster project manager Tom Glaeser estimates his company is saving $100,000 a year in energy costs by making changes in lighting and HVAC in its 500,000-square-Oshkosh foot facility.

"It’s only been a year, so the savings are inconclusive at this point, but it has helped a lot," says Glaeser.

Just switching from T8 fluorescent lighting to T12 is saving $50,000 a year, he says. "That was a major undertaking," he adds.

Hoffmaster is saving another estimated $50,000 a year by reclaiming heat from an air compressor room and using it to heat the warehouse in winter, replacing natural gas ovens used for drying pulp with infrared ovens, installing a separate cooling system in its IT department to keep computer equipment cool.

"We were running our air conditioning in the winter and our boiler in the summer," says Glaeser.
Combined, the changes at Hoffmaster, made last year, cost around $300,000, Glaeser said.

"We went so far as to put motion sensors in the lighting in our vending machines, so the vending machines that have refrigerators still work but the lights go off if there’s no activity," he says. "It’s a small thing, but yet, it’s a savings."

Saving electricity usually requires changes in processes or equipment.

Processes:Changes made to manufacturing processes typically result in the shortest return investment and the lowest cost. "They just have to change things today to make things more efficient tomorrow," says McDonald.

Such changes usually lead to other cost savings. For example, making changes not in the equipment but when and how it’s turned on can reap huge rewards. Since energy costs are determined by a company’s highest usage rate, it’s better to stagger the start-up times of motors and equipment.

"Even staggering them by five minutes can save a lot of money," says McDonald.

Instead of turning on all machinery full blast at once, turn machines on low or medium, one by one, and run them longer. That way, the power company charges a lower rate for the power used. It’s called peak shaving, says McDonald.

Equipment: Equipment changes involve things like motors, machinery and lighting. It’s a no-brainer here, but get the highest-efficiency motor possible that uses less electricity, McDonald says. Go from standard speed motors to variable speed motors.

Lighting: Orion Energy Systems of Manitowoc helps companies reduce the energy they use to light their facilities.

One tack: moving the light closer to where it’s needed and being used, getting it closer to the operator, says McDonald. "These are more efficient bulbs that require some capital investment."

Tax credits and grants available through Focus on Energy to help reduce the cost of capital investments, McDonald says.

Compressed air systems can have lots of leaks or just plain be inefficient. Oftentimes, larger compressed air systems produce a lot of compressed air that is just leaking out into the plant, McDonald says.

"Find those leaks and reduce the amount of time the compressors run," he says. Large compression systems are expensive to operate.

Companies can save money by buying several smaller compressors and putting them closer to the point of use. Putting variable speed motors on the compressors helps save energy, too, McDonald says.

Some companies use natural gas in their processes, but most natural gas use is for heating buildings.

"Many buildings quite a few years ago had these huge fresh air makeup systems installed to produce good air quality in the working environment," says McDonald, back in the days when natural gas cost less. "Many processes, especially welding, produced fumes that aren’t healthy, so companies invested in air exchangers that brought in fresh and unheated air and released the heated air."

Over the years, companies have improved their air quality by putting vents near each welding unit, so that the air is removed where it’s needed rather than en masse.

The large air exchange systems aren’t necessary anymore, McDonald says, but many are still operating. Such heat exchangers can capture the heat and return it to the building — up to 85 percent of the heat they paid to produce, McDonald says.

No half-baked ideas here

What started as an energy audit for potato processor McCain Foods, which has sites in Appleton, Fort
Atkinson, Rice Lake and Plover, has resulted in an $875,000-per-year savings on its energy bill, thanks to Focus on Energy, according to Wollin.

Focus helped McCain get upgrades to its lighting, HVAC and compressed-air systems. McCain also got a variable-speed drive for its wastewater-treatment system and — the crown jewel of improvements — a heat-recovery system at the Plover plant.

By recovering heat that otherwise would have been lost in exhaust, the company is able to use it to preheat water for its boiler system. It saves $594,000 a year, according to Mark Treichel, spokesperson for McCain Foods.

Focus awarded McCain Foods a $300,000 incentive to help get the project started.

"In today’s tough economic climate, businesses cannot afford to overlook energy efficiency practices," says Wollin. "Unlike many business expenses, energy costs are a controlled cost."

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