Baltimore, Maryland (PRWEB) June 19, 2014
Over 250 manufacturing stakeholders came together last week at RMI's Energy Forum in Timonium to learn about RMI's new energy efficiency program, which was launched last fall, and heard directly from the first two groups of companies who are participating.
The event was hosted by the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland (RMI) in partnership with the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) and the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and featured an address by Governor O'Malley, an address by MEA Director Abigail Hopper, an executive panel discussion, a town hall meeting and networking.
Companies like Maritime Applied Physics Corporation (MAPC) highlighted the value of the RMI Energy Efficiency initiative.
"Before we engaged RMI we were spending $140,000 annually on energy," said Mark Rice, President of MAPC. "Now in just six month's time, we have committed to both small and large energy upgrades which will cut that spending by one third. The best part is that within five years, we will be generating $40,000 in cash with no out-of-pocket costs."
Participants involved in RMI's Energy Efficiency Program must agree to commit to a six-month program that provides $30,000 worth of services including: RMI engineering experts to audit their facility and present findings and recommendations to management; RMI management consultants that help establish green teams and help firms become more energy efficient; and executive leadership meetings to share best practices on lessons learned from each company in the program.
The audience heard how the establishment of the green teams has been very successful, not only in helping companies' bottom lines, but also in improving company morale.
"Waste is the enemy," said Tyson Aschliman, General Manager of Green Bay Packaging in Hunt Valley. "RMI's Energy Efficiency Program helped us to look internally to eliminate the cost of waste."
Green Bay Packaging was involved with RMI's pilot energy effort (in 2012), and while the company only decreased its kilowatt usage by one percent, over that same period of time, it increased its production by 20 percent through new business growth. The cost reductions coupled with that business growth led to increased employment.
"By adopting RMI's culture change initiatives, we now have institutionalized a green team to regularly review and come up with better ways to eliminate all kinds of waste," Aschliman said.
The twelve featured firms are on a path to collectively implement annual electrical savings of 5,360 MWh, an annual summer demand savings of 1.2 MW, and annual cost savings of $597,000.
During Governor O'Malley's remarks, he thanked the manufacturers in the room for their hard work and encouraged them to continue to innovate in order to help the next generation. The Governor praised the efforts of the twelve companies in the program and helped recognized the respective green team employees who all received certificates of recognition.
"I have a strategic goal to grow my business," said Ken Sanchez, President of the Sparrows Point-based Chesapeake Specialty Products. "What has amazed me is that RMI's energy efficiency program has helped me to realize a 20% energy savings while also helping me to increase production. This is allowing me to hire five additional employees. For a small 30 person company, that's a big deal."
"We are very pleased with the overall progress of the program," said Mike Galiazzo, President of RMI. "As manufacturing continues to grow and change in the state of Maryland, it is a pivotal time for the industry to focus on innovation and to become more energy efficient. Overall, we have seen Maryland manufacturers greatly reduce their energy spending, which in turn can lead to the creation of more jobs, improvement in productivity, better bottom lines and much more."
RMI is currently recruiting for its fourth group of six companies, which is forming now. Companies wishing to participate in the initiative should contact Mike Galiazzo at (410)-771-8111 or Peter Gourlay at (443)-275-2489 to reserve their slot in the program.
RMI also offers Maryland manufacturers with a call line to get answers to all of their energy efficiency-related questions. For more information, call (443)-200-6100 or visit http://RMIenergysolutions.com.
