Rachael Horton
Western Michigan University
Timothy Palmer
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In 2017, American Metal Fab will be installing over 400 new lights throughout their plant to reduce their light energy usage by 60 percent. American Metal Fab is a custom-fabrication manufacturer that is working hard toward reducing their carbon footprint on earth. By reducing their carbon footprint they have learned that they can be a more sustainable yet a profitable business. "Those of us at American Metal Fab are learning that it is important to be aware of environmental issues and sustainability. We are working toward reducing our carbon footprint one step at a time and our new lighting system is one step closer to our goal," said Kelly Crowell, president of American Metal Fab.
American Metal Fab will be replacing inefficient fluorescent lights that use 324W with efficient LED lights that use 95W. This innovation will pay off itself in less than two years, but it will also help them reduce their carbon footprint. "Once the power company came in and explained that a new lighting system would be best for us we had everyone on board. The president was the most excited about making these changes for the company and for the environment, but it trickled on down, and everyone from the plant manager to the purchasing agent were wanting to be involved in every step. It was exciting to see that everyone wanted to be involved. It makes you happy as a president to see that your staff wants your business and the environment to strive for excellence as much as you do," said Kelly Crowell.
"We were having "brownouts" where the power becomes limited and our heavy equipment such as lasers and presses would shut down. There are many factors that could cause this such as a storm or an animal getting into the power transformer. When we have these "brownouts" our equipment shuts down improperly which is not good for the machines. So we had our power company come in to see about them installing a master power backup system. Long story short, the power company brought to our attention that our plant was running on fluorescent lights and not LED. After many hours of research we decided that for our own benefit and our carbon footprint, it was a good idea to get LED lights installed," said Kelly Crowell.
A benefit to any company is the reduction of employee errors. Before the installation there were many employee errors attributable to poor lighting conditions. Employees often had a hard time reading part numbers. The new LED lights provide a vibrant hue, making daily tasks easier for employees. This has also helped significantly with shipping products, ensuring consumers are getting the correct product.
Other short-term effects are significant amounts of paperwork and having their maintenance team work many hours over the weeks to make sure the lights are installed in a timely manner. Although the short-term effects may seem tedious, the long-term effects are really what matters. They will be able to benefit the most for American Metal Fab, the society, and most important, the environment.
The power company will be granting a rebate to American Metal Fab that will pay for a quarter of the installation of the lights. Currently, about 30 percent of their electricity bill is for lighting energy. When these new lights are installed the lighting energy will decrease by 60 percent, reducing the firm's overhead. As overhead decreases, they will be able to spend the saved resources creatively on employee wages, their profit-sharing program, and more sustainability innovations.
American Metal Fab is a manufacturing plant that has energy sources running through the factory for about 18 hours a day. They are able to install these new lights that can reduce the light consumption of the plant by 60 percent, which will ultimately reduce their carbon footprint. On the other hand, the social benefits are mostly for the employees. "I hope that our employees can use this as a learning tool. I want them to see that we are putting money, time, and effort into making our plant more sustainable for them and the earth. I hope that we can be a leader and push our employees to take these actions at home also," said Kelly Crowell.
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Kelly Crowell, President
