Given that compressed air leak management programs are meant to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions, and generate ROI, DENSO’s Maryville, Tennessee, manufacturing facility can definitively say it has scored a trifecta when it comes to results – and reaped benefits beyond hard numbers alone.
FS-Elliott and FS-Curtis are a combined force, yet each comes to the table with well-established and highly reliable brands of compressed air products. This means they’re fully prepared to tackle customers' goals individually or by working together seamlessly and all with the backing of Fusheng Industrial and parent company Fusheng Group, a Taiwanese-based corporation with annual sales in excess of $2 billion and 20,000-plus employees.
To continue meeting demand for air compressors, Doosan Bobcat invested heavily in U.S. manufacturing facilities including its one-million-square-foot manufacturing operation in Statesville, North Carolina. The $70 million expansion of the facility amplified its operations, where it now employs 930 people in office and factory positions and manufactures its line of portable air compressors from 185 cfm to 1,600 cfm, in addition to other Bobcat products like compact tractors, generators, light towers and mini track loaders. It also assembles and stocks the expanding line of Doosan Bobcat industrial air compressors.
When Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. (HIES) announced Sullair, Hitachi, and Champion Compressors (Australia) have come together under the umbrella of Hitachi Global Air Power (HGAP), many wondered what it would all mean.
A focus on sustainable products and packaging, in combination with a passion for quality, has resulted in considerable growth for the firm. Plans to add production lines at facility #1, in turn, drove the need to address the plant’s faltering compressed air system.
Logoplaste, based in Cascais, Portugal, introduced its embedded wall-to-wall manufacturing model to reduce waste and increase efficiency. The model also results in a more economically and environmentally sustainable method of production of rigid plastic packaging since it eliminates the need for a separate secondary packaging plant and the logistics associated with transporting empty bottles.
If there was ever a place where manufacturers can save energy using compressed air and make measurable gains toward sustainability, it’s with pneumatics that power a seemingly infinite variety of machines and processes.
The U.S. air compressor market has a compressed air installed base of at least 15 million horsepower. Further, it evaluated various air audits across different customer types, sizes and segments and determined U.S. manufacturers stand to save around 13 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) annually in electricity associated with compressed air. That translates to a savings of $1 billion in energy costs per year, which would remove nine million metric tons of CO2 annually. That equates to more annual energy usage of more than 1 million homes in the United States.
Headquartered in Noblesville, Indiana, SMC Corporation of America has grown exponentially since the company began operations in the United States in 1977. Today, the Noblesville campus occupies 345 acres and encompasses 2.6 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space.
Today Kaishan USA, operates its global manufacturing and engineering center in Loxley, Alabama. The goal of the company, said compressed air industry veteran and Kaishan USA CEO Keith Schumacher, was to put the right pieces in place from the very beginning.
“To that end, we’ve invested $20 million in our facility and created a team allowing us to develop technologies and manufacture products not only for the Americas, but also for export globally,” Schumacher said.
When the design capabilities of an installed compressed air system didn’t align with real-world production needs at its ore processing mill in northern Michigan, Eagle Mine decided to move beyond theoretical compressed air concepts and deal in reality. After thorough analyses of its compressed air challenges and implementing a variety of solutions, the team at the mill bolstered the operation’s ability to efficiently mill approximately 2,200 metric tons of ore per day.
“I’ll say this politely. At the end of the day, we shouldn’t have to worry about compressed air, right? We’ve got more important things to worry about,” English said, adding how a recent partnership with Atlas Copco Compressors and other decisions associated with compressed air have hit the mark. “Without clean, compressed air we wouldn’t be able to complete our day-to-day activities. We’re relieved it’s something we don’t need to worry about.”
Today, leading automotive makers rely on the plant for parts used to produce some of the most sought-after vehicles. Additionally, the nearly 600,000-square-foot manufacturing facility achieved ISO 50001 certification in 2021. Here’s a look at how the plant grew for the better over more than 25 years – and its compressed air system along with it.
Uptime. Profitability. Quality. Sustainability. Those goals are shared by leading manufacturers who have another thing in common: They use compressed air to achieve their goals, which is why those who make, sell and service compressed air systems say anything less than top-notch training of sales engineers is unthinkable considering how the sales team directly influences whether a compressed air system will fall woefully short, or deliver immeasurable value for years on end.
Since completion of the system upgrade in the fall of 2020, PC Forge is on track to save an average of 1.9 million kWh and $266,000.00 per year in energy costs – and increase the production capability of its forging operation by 40%. The project also achieved a one-year payback with a $245,000 incentive from Government of Ontario’s utility Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).
At the paint booths, FRM team members typically use conventional High-Volume Low-Pressure (HVLP) paint sprayers to prime the chassis and car bodies. Paint pressure pots (also called paint tanks) feed paint to the paint sprayers. The compressed air system supplies air to the paint pots at a steady 65 psi. The tanks regulate air output for the sprayers at 12 to 15 psi in order to deliver the precise amount of paint to a given chassis or car body.
“Our view is always from the perspective of the value chain from the raw materials to the end product,” Wellendorph said. “How do we work with our suppliers who supply us? How do we look at our own manufacturing to avoid waste? Then, how can our equipment minimize the amount of energy or water it uses when processing and packaging customers products? It’s more than just focusing on ourselves.”
Sullivan-Palatek’s products include electric air compressors from a five horsepower (hp) unit that delivers 22 scfm at 125 psi up to a 450-hp machine rated to provide 1,770 scfm at 125 psi. It also manufactures Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) air compressors from 15 to 450 hp, which can deliver anywhere from 43 to 1,910 scfm at pressures ranging from 100 and 125 psi.
The Sussex plant operates no less than 22 air compressors to keep pace with demand, which ranges from 11,000 to 16,000 cfm. The water-cooled, rotary screw air compressors, which are predominately 200-horsepower (hp) machines, in addition to a select number of 100-hp and smaller units, are strategically located throughout the sprawling complex to consistently deliver clean dry air where needed. A total of 18 air compressors are fixed-speed machines while the remainder are Variable Speed Drive (VSD) machines. The plant’s system also includes 26 refrigerated dryers, as well as various receiver tanks.
When compressed air is essential to the production of up to one million plastic containers per day there’s little room for error. That’s why Schoeneck Containers, Inc. (SCI) leaves no stone unturned to ensure its compressed air systems run smoothly at all times and without fail at its bustling facilities in Wisconsin.
A major producer of cement and building materials, CalPortland’s energy management efforts have reduced the company’s overall energy intensity by 17.5% since 2003, avoiding $149 million in unnecessary energy costs – and over 3.3 million metric tons of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In 2020, the company achieved what no other U.S. Industrial company has: It earned the ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Award for the 16th consecutive year.
For decades, a major meat processor and packaging operation in Northern England did what many growing companies do when more compressed air is needed to meet demand: added another air compressor and then another air compressor and so on. Yet the company decided the strategy of adding equipment had run its course, especially given a positive outlook for continued growth and the need to resolve nagging issues with system downtime and compressed air quality.
For Imerys S.A. there’s little question about the importance of managing dust collection systems it uses to control and reduce harmful particulates in its worldwide minerals processing facilities. And now there’s zero doubt about the tremendous energy savings it stands to save by reducing the amount of compressed air needed for these same dust collectors.
Products manufactured at the 100,000-square-foot plant in Kentucky include columns, I-shafts, covers, keylocks, and other dressings, along with shifter applications, such as straight, tap-up/tap-down and gated shifters. In all, the facility supplies automakers with products used in more than 100 different applications, all of which are designed keep vehicles operating safely, smoothly and reliably.
The Ford Motor Company Kentucky Truck Plant (KTP) not only manufactures upscale SUVs and pickup trucks painted in wide variety of stellar, high-quality colors and finishes – it does so cost-effectively by conserving annual compressed air energy of approximately 9.2 GWh thanks to a major overhaul of the plant’s compressed air system.
