Procurement News Notice |
|
| PNN | 195 |
| Work Detail | Since 2012 Intertape Polymer Group — including its Danville plant — has been working to become more energy conscious, reduce greenhouse gases and find ways to reduce its power bill in ways small and large. The effort has been paying off — not only has the company as a group, and the Danville plant in particular, been successful in implementing energy and cost savings, but they are consistently getting recognition for those efforts. “Continuous improvement has been a journey for the past four years,” Philip Kauneckas, corporate energy manager for the Danville plant, said. Some of the things the company has done to reduce costs may not sound like a lot, but over time, a lot of small changes have added up to savings, improved efficiency and a company-wide determination to find ways to reduce the plant’s energy footprint. Old-fashioned metal halide industrial light bulbs — that took about 20 minutes to warm up and produce light, Kauneckas said — were switched to T8 fluorescents that tuned on immediately, and now the plant is testing LED lighting. To further reduce lighting costs, areas of the plant — particularly in storage areas — are on movement timers so the lights only come on when someone enters the area. The initiative includes involving all employees in finding ways to save energy and become more efficient, Kauneckas said. The company has regularly scheduled “treasure hunts” led by teams of employees who go through the plant, talk to employees and determine if there is any potential for savings, not matter how small or large. During those treasure hunts everything is inspected — the smallest leak in an air compressor hose is found and fixed so the equipment operates at peak efficiency. Larger issues and ideas for cost-cutting are considered and, if viable, are worked into the company’s budget, plant manager Michael Jones said. Over time, the cost savings have added up. The most recent recognition the Danville plant received is from a competition created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and NASCAR called the Virginia NASCAR E3 Green Challenge. The program that encourages manufacturers to reduce their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, and the Danville Intertape plant was the winner this year. Some of the reasons Intertape won is because the company has been able to reduce carbon emissions by 2,000 metric tons over the past two years and saving $352,000 in energy costs. The GENEDGE Alliance did various energy assessments of the plant and worked with Intertape to find ways to cut costs and emissions, Kauneckas said. Other company-wide awards and recognition have come from Energy Star, which have recognized the plant for sustained excellence and as an energy partner of the year. “That’s the top award a plant can win,” Jones said. Soaring energy rates impact plant, threaten jobs Despite the other efforts to conserve electricity, the Danville plant’s energy costs rose in 2015 when Danville Utilities raised large-industry power rates unexpectedly. At that time, David Bennett, vice president of operations, CST and films, said the increase threw the plant’s budget out of line by $500,000 for the year — and forced the plant to transfer projects to another of Intertape’s 11 plants in the U.S. and lay off employees in Danville to balance the budget. Intertape representatives — as well as representatives from other manufacturers in Danville Utilities’ electric territory — regularly attended Danville Utility Commission meetings, stressing that skyrocketing costs could continue to cost jobs. Bennett pointed out that some of Intertape’s smaller plants had far more competitive electric rates than Danville Utilities and without bringing local rates in line with surrounding utilities there would be long-term effects. As Danville Utilities largest customer, Intertape paid almost $3.7 million for electricity between July 2013 and June 2014. Bennett said in the year that followed, electric rates had jumped by 10 percent. Danville Utility commissioners discussed various options, including allowing large industrial customers to choose another electric provider. In November 2015, Danville Utility Commissioner Bill Donohue — experienced in energy initiatives as the president and executive director of GENEDGE — noted that while that could be an option, lowering their rates would be less costly to Danville Utilities than losing the customer altogether. In January, Danville City Council voted to reduce the rate, and offer large manufacturer the option of switching to another provider. Bennett said last week that the reduction helped get Intertape’s costs in line and the company would continue to use Danville Utilities as its electric provider. But, Kauneckas said the company will not stop looking for ways to be more energy efficient and reduce its impact on the environment. Going forward Kauneckas said the Danville plant worked to create a local chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers, which brings energy professionals together with businesses interested in finding ways to trim energy costs, become more efficient and reduce their impact on the environment — and sharing what they are learning with the community. Kauneckas, who is president of the local chapter this year, said they have visited groups ranging from youth programs to churches, talking about ways to cuts costs both at businesses and at homes. Members of the group share in the “treasure hunts” at plants, giving a fresh eye on operations that employees see every day. Intertape will continue its in-house efforts to keep costs down as well, Kauneckas said — whether that means reminding employees of the most efficient ways to shut down equipment during break times or investigating new energy technologies that would require capital investments. Considering how much the plant spends on power, finding a 1-percent savings is “a huge deal,” Kauneckas said, even while admitting that it gets harder over time to find new ways to save. “It’s harder to find things to fix as we become more efficient,” Kauneckas said. But, Jones said, they will keep looking. “We’ll get new people involved, new eyes, look at a different department we didn’t focus on before,” Jones said. “There’s always something.” |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Energy & Power |
| Entry Date | 02 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://www.godanriver.com/work_it_sova/news/intertape-plant-garners-recognition-for-work-to-reduce-carbon-footprint/article_acf37dfa-6bde-11e6-8b6c-0fdf3ff575a2.html |
