On Wednesday, June 24, the
Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center hosted the state's
first manufacturing summit on sustainability. The program, "Sustainability--People, Planet, Profit," included officials from the U.S. Department of Energy, the EPA, and even the Philadelphia Eagles. We spoke with Mark Basla, VP of marketing and business development for the DVIRC, about how local manufacturers can get a leg up by being more efficient.
Keystone Edge: How does the DVIRC help manufacturers become more "sustainable"? What does that mean, exactly? Mark Basla: We’ve worked with several manufacturers to go in and assess their energy consumption, go in and assess their material use, both the raw materials going in and the waste going out, and then their process efficiencies. That’s what we bring to the table, in terms of our lean side, which is based on the Toyota production system, where it kind of all converges.
KE: how can Pennsylvania manufacturers, small and medium, position themselves to take advantage of federal investments in alternative energy, next generation vehicles and mass transit? MB: It depends on what type of manufacturer you are. So if you are a supplier to a renewable energy product, or maybe you produce an alternative or renewable energy product, then there could be some additional incentives or programs for you to take advantage of. Or as a manufacturer that isn’t in that game, maybe you have nothing remotely related to taking advantage of any of that, but are there advantages to reducing your energy costs? ... I think there are going to be two different points of view: one is, what’s available to support me to become more efficient? Right off that bat, that’s what it’s all about: what’s more efficient. And then, what’s available in terms of, maybe I want to get into that game as a manufacturer. Maybe I’m a contract manufacturer and maybe I can produce parts for some renewable energy products. Maybe there’s some incentive there for me to do that or look into that.
KE: Whether that's solar panels or parts for wind turbines... MB: Yeah, exactly. We know companies that are doing that. Anything from a very non-technical, something that’s being used as an absorption material for when the blades of a wind turbine, which are like a tractor-trailer bed long, are transported. Obviously they can’t bend, there can’t be any kind of damage to that blade, so the material that it lays on is being manufactured by someone locally, [a company] learned about it and had a solution and went for it and got the contract.
KE: you mentioned the electricity rate cap expiration. How could that effect local manufacturers? MB: The way I understand it is that the electricity costs are going to be market-driven... So I think that potentially your utility or energy costs could go up as a manufacturer, so why take the chance and wait and have that happen and have your utility cost go up ten percent? Why not do something now to reduce your energy costs and become more efficient now, and at the very least you’ll at least have a fighting chance if your rates do go up. It’s just like being at home; what if there’s an incentive for me to put in new, more energy efficient windows?
[...] It’s tough for small and mid-sized companies. We know that companies are now holding steady in terms of not wanting to let go of any more of their people because they know they’ve already cut enough and they want to hold it because they can’t afford to let other people go. When the economy does turn around they’re going to need those people. So if they can reduce their costs that’s a good thing. And certainly we want to help them grow their business. We offer services to help them do that, too, and that’s really important. They’re doing really well as a matter of fact.
John Davidson is the managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.To receive Keystone Edge free every week, click here.