N-K Manufacturing Technologies: Industrial Energy Assessment Yields Savings of More than $27,000 Per Year for Molded Plastics Company

摘要

The University of Michigan's Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) performed an energy audit at the N-K Manufacturing Technologies' plastics manufacturing plant in Grand Rapids, Michigan; implementing many of the audit's recommendations could save the company more than $500,000 each year. The IAC, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Technologies Program (ITP), is one of 26 across the nation in which faculty and students provide eligible small- and medium-sized manufacturers with no-cost energy assessments. This assessment project was sponsored by ITP and The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI), a DOE Allied Partner. Opportunities for saving electricity identified in the N-K Manufacturing Technologies assessment involved installing several devices to control the use of both motors and electric heaters. Ideas for saving natural gas involved making changes to the plant's heating system. The assessment team noted that installing grinder chutes, high-efficiency lamps, and destratification fans would reduce energy consumption by more than 1,783 MMBtu and reduce energy costs by more than $27,000 each year. The team also found that installing large storage tanks with environmental controls would increase productivity and efficiency and reduce material costs, for an additional substantial cost savings of $573,000 per year.