A PERFECT STORM

A GROWING MOVEMENT
Another reason to view America’s growing focus on the greening of manufacturing operations with hope is the surge in partnerships between academia and industry. One program growing in prominence is the Green Manufacturing Initiative at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) that received a $1 million grant from the DOE in late 2010. Their goal is to establish a consortium between the school and industry partners to solve “green” related issues and assess what projects they should tackle to reduce the environmental and energy impact of their designs, materials, processes and facilities.

Launched in early 2010, that school program has already produced numerous real-world results. For example, two students reviewed a local company’s overhead doors and the efficiency of door heaters. They provided design solutions that involved differential steam control valves and proximity sensors to automatically operate the doors. An initial investment of $5,100 now generates annual energy savings of $28,400.

A different emphasis that enhances green industrial development is the new partnership between the Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY) and Caterpillar, Inc. (Peoria, IL). A $650,000 gift from the company will fund the Caterpillar Professorship in Remanufacturing that focuses on promoting research, education and outreach in remanufacturing, the technical process through which components and parts are restored to “like new” condition and reused.

Multiply the inspiring work of these two schools to the many other U.S. universities tackling the green manufacturing issue and one begins to feel quite upbeat about how America’s young people are responding to the challenge. That’s not all. U.S. manufacturing trade groups have made sustainability initiatives a priority and a surge in press coverage devoted to green practices is complementing the work conducted by government, academia and industry. Many magazines now devote editorial space to such topics, indicative of the continued, growing interest of manufacturers to join the green movement.

FROM THEORY TO REAL WORLD
Research, projections, initiatives and editorials are all well and helpful. But what is really inspiring is how these discussions and programs are applied in real-life manufacturing situations. For example, energy savings have long been a mantra for the automotive industry when designing new cars. Now, this goal is a priority in the production process as well:

• More than half of General Motors’ global manufacturing facilities are achieving landfill-free status. At a landfill-free plant, more than 95 percent of waste is reused or recycled. Further underscoring that green is both good for the planet and the pocketbook, GM reports it generates more than one billion dollars in revenue from recycle scrap metal alone.
• At the Ford Motor Co. plant in Wayne, MI, solar panels are used to generate about 500 kW of power to augment the conventional power sources in the plant’s electrical system. The pilot project may be extended to other Ford plants. Ford will also install 10 electric vehicle charging stations to charge trucks that transport parts between buildings.
• Taking it one step further is Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. (FCCC; Gaffney, SC). Once the local landfill’s best customer, the nation’s largest producer of diesel-power chassis for van, buses and other vehicles, now dumps zero waste in any landfill. Essentially, FCCC reduced the waste with reusable packing and product redesigns and identifying recycling recipients for all of its remaining solid waste.

For many companies, changing the lighting systems in their plants represents an effective and relatively elementary method to save energy:

• Aqua Lung (Vista, CA), a manufacturer of diving and snorkeling equipment, installed a “daylighting” system that harnesses natural daylight for its 60,000 sq ft facility. Through the use of photocontrols and a dedicated phone line to the local utility to monitor usage, the site achieved an immediate electricity consumption reduction of 33 percent.
• United Displaycraft (Des Plaines, IL) a manufacturer of point-of-purchase displays, turned to the sun to generate “green” electricity and take advantage of government incentives with the largest privately-owned commercial photovoltage solar panel installation in Illinois. The solar system will pay for itself in four to five years.

Metal fabricators are among the leaders in aggressively implementing green tactics:

• DeWys Manufacturing (Grand Rapids, MI) is a precision fabricator that learned from an environmental audit that reducing wastewater was an area it should target. Through increased employee vigilance and better monitoring of equipment, the company cut its annual water usage by 58 percent.
• Rapid-Line Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) is a full-service fabrication and tooling shop that initially focused its green efforts on natural gas consumption. Implementing a variety of measures, such as installing insulation and industrial-grade fans to capture and redirect excess heat from its paint line ovens, Rapid-Line reduced gas consumption significantly while saving $46,000 annually.
• Colson Caster Corp. (Jonesboro, AK) illustrates how manufacturers can begin efforts modestly. An analysis revealed that installing a new air compressor and dryer would be an extremely effective first step. A year later, this single initative resulted in a 25 percent annual energy savings, a savings of $2,000 per year in repair costs, a three-year ROI, a reduction in use of 700 gal of non-biodegradable oil per year . . . and an even safer working environment.

It’s quite apparent that more and more manufacturers understand the value of sustainability initiatives. Nearly nine of 10 respondents (88 percent) in the MHIA study say that sustainability initiatives will be of even greater importance over the next 14 to 18 months. Similarly, 81 percent of those surveyed by IFS expect green supply chain initiatives to become more important in the next three years. Such numbers truly are overwhelming.