• Short-term and long-term return on investment
• Innovation and breadth of applicability
• Problem-solving technique

The Plant Services Best Practices Awards for Energy Efficiency recognize work processes and products that improve energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, lower energy costs and/or improve energy supply sustainability of industrial energy-consuming facilities, processes or equipment.

Click here to submit a case study, or direct any questions to rkratowicz@putman.net with “Best Practices Awards” in the subject line.

• Engine plant cuts costs with cogeneration
  Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 10%.
• Drive belt maintenance
  Precision alignment, tensioning and reengineering of HVAC, blower and cooling tower belts gave high ROI in reduced energy and labor.


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>View more winners

• Reduce space heating energy consumption by replacing steam with space heating and hydronic heating
  A manufacturing facility in Plymouth, Mich., replaced its steam boiler heating system with direct gas-fired space heaters for the plant and a hydronic boiler system for the office. The conversion reduced average annual natural gas consumption by 6,700 million cubic feet (67,000 therms), thereby reducing CO2 emissions by 393 tons.

• Reconfiguration reduces RTO consumption
  Central Motor Wheel of America reduced the energy consumption of its paint line emission controls by reconfiguring its regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) systems to idle the least efficient RTO and more fully load its more efficient RTOs. Natural gas consumption was reduced by 80% (7.25 million Btu/h). Projected annual savings is $427,000. ROI was less than 12 months.
• Steam generators recover oven heat
  Frito-Lay added roof-mounted heat recovery units to its corn chip toasting ovens, producing steam for process heating. ROI was 18 months.


>View more 2010 nominees
>View more 2010 nominees

• Systemic analysis identifies energy opportunities
  GlaxoSmithKline’s Cidra, Puerto Rico pharmaceutical plant used value stream mapping and interrelationship analysis to identify and prioritize 17 undesirable effects that affect energy consumption. From 2007 to 2008, energy consumption was cut 34% without capital investment, with a further 25% reduction coming for 2009.
• Controller cuts compressor energy costs
  Lacks Enterprises, an automotive supplier painting facility in Grand Rapids, Mich., performed a compressed air energy audit using a purpose-designed datalogger to evaluate overall efficiency and indicate potential improvements based on CAGI compressor ratings. Based on audit results, Lacks installed a controller that raised efficiency from 25.8 KW/100 CFM to 17.88 KW/100 CFM. Payback was less than seven months.
• Welders ventilated by closed system
  Toyotetsu’s America’s Somerset, Ky. metal-stamping plant installed a point-of-source, closed, air filtration system for its 330 welding stations, cutting its natural gas consumption by as much as 85% for a savings of close to $60,000 in one month (December) alone.
• Performance contract pays off
  Coating and laminate company Soliant LLC, Lancaster, S.C., replaced inefficient regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) with an efficient unit that uses 85% less energy with no capital expenditure under a performance contract. At its current contract natural gas price, the project saves the company an average of $56,500 per month.

• Air filtration
  A global manufacturer learns exactly how to reduce total cost of ownership of air filters.
• Pump seal upgrade
  Reducing internal friction and losses improved process water pump efficiency from 46% to 80%.


>View more 2009 nominees
>View more 2009 nominees

• Lighting upgrade
  Replacing metal halides with fluorescents gives two-year payback and annual energy savings of $382,000.
• Boiler upgrade
  Replacing aged oil-burners with high-turndown gas-fired condensing boilers provides significant energy cost savings.

• Closed-transition transfer switch safely supports peak-shaving program
  A utility’s program to shave peak loads by offering discounts to customers willing to operate standby generators during periods of peak demand languished because of the power interruptions that manual open-transfer switches caused. A new closed-transition transfer switch design safely and automatically transfers load to local generators without interruption, revitalizing the program and reducing energy costs for both the utility and its customers.
• Data loggers identify excess energy consumption
  A metal products manufacturer paired up with a consulting engineering firm to perform runtime monitoring on its air compressors to understand usage patterns on a 24/7 basis and identify reduction opportunities. Two weeks of data was collected with data loggers, offloaded to a PC and analyzed using the datalogger software. Unusually high compressor runtimes were correlated with excessive usage. Correcting the excessive usage "will save the client a substantial amount of money."


>View more 2008 nominees
>View more 2008 nominees

• Save energy by recovering heat from drain water
  Hot water from thermally-intensive processes can be drained through a heat exchanger that pre-heats incoming cold water. Approximately 40% of the heat can be recovered this way, which allows plants to reduce energy costs, increase capacity and downsize water heating equipment.

The Plant Services Best Practices Awards for Safety recognize work processes and products that improve worker health, safety and security.

Click here to submit a case study, or direct any questions to rkratowicz@putman.net with “Best Practices Awards” in the subject line.

The Plant Services Best Practices Awards for Management, Staffing and Training recognize management initiatives, work processes, training methods, and software and service implementations that improve efficiency, build skills and foster professional, proactive equipment and facilities asset management.

Click here to submit a case study, or direct any questions to rkratowicz@putman.net with “Best Practices Awards” in the subject line.

• A mobile asset management solution that incorporates RFID technology
  To address deficiencies in its processes and improve profitability and customer service, Byrne Group utilized COINS Plant Manager module to automate its plant, stock and equipment, with Assettagz RFID (radio frequency identification) technology to manage, track and get visibility of these assets.
• Start-up services
  An experienced services company rapidly brings a new facility on line and up to capacity.


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>View more winners

• Cut production costs with preventive and proactive maintenance
  A plant was experiencing high production costs due to lost productivity caused by excessive machine downtime due to lack of preventive and proactive maintenance. It engaged a consulting services company to implement work order management, root cause analysis, preventive maintenance procedures and continuous improvement. These increased overall machine availability to 99.7%, reduced scrap by 38%, and resulted in the lowest machine downtime hours on record.

• Can you beat the ABB Reliability Challenge?
  What better way to appeal to the video-gaming generation than with an online training tool that “talks the talk” of the target audience, yet teaches the lessons of the maintenance world?
• Auto voice message on DECT, SMS on mobile phones for breakdown notifications
  To reduce information receipt time, Bosch leveraged available Interactive Voice Response technology to transmit breakdown information to its maintenance departments.


>View more 2010 nominees
>View more 2010 nominees

• Four years since last oil change
  Learn how filtration helped one engine last more than 40,000 hours without an oil change.
• Eliminating compressed air/gas leaks using ultrasound technology
  See how Medtronic developed an in-house ultrasound air/gas audit to help identify air and gas leaks in its clean rooms and production areas.
• Implementing industrial controls and automation technologies to address energy management concerns
  TIn an effort to trim its energy bills in the most cost-effective way, Opto 22 recently deployed its own products in its facilities in order to acquire relevant data and more closely monitor and manage its energy consumption.

• Oily smoke
  Mist collectors solved maintenance and air-quality problems with electrostatic precipitators.
• Clean assembly
  Contamination problems were minimized by using curtain walls to control dirt and dust in a key manufacturing area.


>View more 2009 nominees
>View more 2009 nominees

• Safety system
  Roof railing system installs without penetrations to improve safety by reducing risk of falls.
• Wire dispenser
  Wire and cable storage and dispensing system saves time, labor and floor space.

• Save time and cost by in-situ machining of large seal surfaces
  During a scheduled maintenance outage, a power plant found that the steam generator man-way opening seals in a Class 1 pressure boundary area needed repair. The hemispherical head’s material properties proved extremely difficult to work with and the man-way was located in a tight space. A portable boring machine was adapted so it could be set up quickly, operate within the port’s extremely tight spaces, and perform a precise dry cut through the challenging material.
• Minimize machine tool downtime with outsourced repairs of way covers
  CNC machine tools may be taken out of production by worn, dirty, bent or corroded way covers, or covers damaged by lift trucks, falling parts or flying parts that weren’t properly secured in the machine tool. Way covers are shipped to an outside repair shop where they are analyzed for damage, quoted, repaired and shipped back to the company, usually the same day.


>View more 2008 nominees
>View more 2008 nominees

• Crew size for 24/7 operation minimized by CMMS
  A 47 million gallon-per-year ethanol uses computerized maintenance, work order tracking, scheduling and inventory management to allow it to run 24/7 with very little downtime. Software tells the six-person in-house maintenance crew when and how to complete scheduled maintenance tasks, complete with safety procedures. Conscientious maintenance and production teams result in never having a total shutdown due to equipment failure.

The Plant Services Best Practices Awards for Sustainability recognize work processes and products that improve sustainability and green practices, reduce waste, support efficiency and lower costs.

>View More Associations and Organizations

• American Association of Engineering Societies
  The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) is the umbrella organization for engineering and engineering-related professional societies in the United States.
• American Chemical Society
  ACS is a congressionally chartered independent membership organization that represents professionals at all degree levels and in all fields of chemistry and sciences that involve chemistry.
• American Evaluation Association
  The American Evaluation Association is an international professional association of evaluators devoted to the application and exploration of program evaluation, personnel evaluation, technology and other forms of evaluation.