Trim waste with proactive environmental program

Industrial waste, its impact on the environment and regulation by governments have become significant areas of interest for medium and large manufacturing companies.

Manufacturers continue to see an increase in the costs associated with waste management. These costs are driven by factors like disposal, risk mitigation and human resources. Managing waste (along with other environmental issues) has become such an important part of the business landscape that many manufacturers have formed teams dedicated to environmental management.

To drive continuous improvement and standardization, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has put forth the 14001 standard. ISO says this standard “maps out a framework that a company or organization can follow to set up an effective environmental management system.”

Cardboard has value as scrap if it is baled. We generate enough cardboard waste that the money generated from recycling offsets the cost of a bailing machine. Image courtesy of C. Tate.

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas (MHPSA) is dedicated to environmental sustainability. To ensure our approach is proactive, we have completed the actions necessary to be ISO 14001-certified.

The foundation of MHPSA’s environmental program is the identification, ranking and control of “significant aspects.” ISO 14001 defines a significant aspect as an “element of an organization’s activities, products or services that can interact with the environment.” The entire process is audited, along with the site, to verify we have identified all of them.

The significant aspects at MHPSA are electrical usage, waste oil, petroleum spills, solid waste, regulated waste and storm-water discharge. Each significant aspect must have an associated program that works to mitigate the impact. The company must provide evidence that the programs exceed minimum regulatory and statutory requirements. Companies that are certified must also demonstrate a spirt of continuous improvement related to the identified aspects.

Saving Power

Electrical consumption is MHPSA’s most-significant aspect. Most of our manufacturing space—more than 350,000 sq. ft.—has a beam height of 90′ (27.4m). Because of the precise nature of our work, all this space is climate-controlled. We also have a high-speed balance machine that uses an 8,000-hp (5,884kW) electric motor to rotate gas turbine rotors at 4,500 rpm. In short, we use a lot of electricity.

To mitigate this aspect, we have undertaken several power-saving initiatives. Some are simple. For example, we have motion sensors to control lights in office spaces and set our climate-control system to temperatures that consume less power. We also cut power to equipment that is not in operation and lower the operating pressure of the compressed air system.

Larger, more-complex projects include changing the lighting in the manufacturing bays from conventional florescent and metal-halide sources to high-efficiency LEDs. Energy conservation in the manufacturing environment is not much different than at home.

Reducing Fluids

MHPSA builds some of the world’s largest gas turbines. The very large machine tools we use to build these turbines require copious amounts of lubricating oil, hydraulic oil and cutting fluid. Because of the tens of thousands of gallons of petroleum products on-site, waste oils and petroleum spills are a significant aspect at MHPSA.