With the recent additions of a new building and a new automated powder coating line, Draper knew our carbon footprint and energy costs were bound to take a big hit. But our years of experience with Lean Manufacturing principles helped us take a positive approach to dealing with the problem. In the end, we’ve turned possible negative impacts into positive outcomes.
“One of the biggest impacts on the sustainability of any building is its efficiency,” said Harold Seib, Director of Engineering for Draper. “Improving efficiency reduces a building’s carbon footprint and impacts the cost of heating and cooling and other energy needs.”
Draper instituted an energy monitoring and control system to shut down or reduce building systems in areas where they are not in use – including lights, air compressors, and HVAC, the three biggest energy users – during weekend and overnight hours.
“By just shutting off the air compressor, we saw a 5 to 10% reduction over the weekends,” said Seib. “We also changed to highly efficient motion-sensitive LED lighting through most of our factory. They save energy by shutting down in unoccupied areas so they aren’t drawing power.”
But the Draper facility management team wasn’t through. After the 2023 completion of Building 10, we began installing solar panels on the roof of the new structure. The installation is now complete and the panels are online. Not only will the addition of these solar panels offset the new building and powder coat line, it will actually reduce the company’s dependence on purchased outside electricity by 40%.
And there is still more to come.
“One of the things we’re looking at right now is a building automation system,” said Facilities Manager Chris Field. “This would take everything we’ve done on a building- and campus-wide level and drill it down to the equipment level. That will be a very powerful tool for us to continue our sustainability and efficiency efforts.”
Of course, the Draper commitment to efficiency and sustainability should come as no surprise. We’ve been in the business of making buildings more sustainable since 1902!
Learn more about our history in the new Draper Experience section of our website!
