PBR Columbia, LLC
Columbia, South Carolina
Overview
PBR Columbia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pacifica Group, with
sister companies in Knoxville, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand
and Italy. The Columbia facility was built in 1999 and opened
its production lines in July 2000, producing aluminum brake calipers,
Banksia park brakes, and corner modules for Corvettes and Cadillacs.
PBR has 250 employees in its 22,300 square meters facility located
in West Columbia, SC.
PBR’s parent company has been successfully providing innovative
automotive braking solutions for more than 70 years and has won
many manufacturing awards during that time.
The Challenge
PBR was looking for a consulting company to support its goal of
achieving ISO 14001 certification and to lead it through the process
successfully. It was then that Human Resources Manager Phil Simmons
and CFO Lou Krause met EnergySC's Technical Specialist Vivian Harper.
The Solution
Harper helped PBR management achieve certification by walking them
through each step of the process.
We offer a JumpStart program that expedites a
company’s
preparation for ISO 14001 certification. A process that usually
takes about 18 months to complete, we help companies prepare
for certification in only four months. During those four months,
our technical specialists and third-party resources are on-site
at the client’s facility a few days each month to help the
company identify areas where they need to focus their improvement
efforts. PBR took advantage of the JumpStart program and reports
an overall positive experience with the process.
Through the program, we challenged Simmons to focus on electricity,
wastewater, and gas production and drove him to find unique ways
to increase plant capacities while handling byproducts effectively
and in an environmentally sound manner. For example, we advised
PBR to install evaporators to process wastewater and to install
coolant spinners as cost-saving measures.
During this time, we also engaged in other projects
with PBR, such as an overall energy audit. We conducted an assessment
of energy consumption and expenditures as part of a Department of
Energy grant under the Industries of the Future (IOF) Program to
determine if there were any areas where PBR could reduce energy
consumption and save money. Annual electric consumption and expenditures
for electricity had grown steadily since plant startup due to increasing
load requirements. These expenditures ran between $30,000 and $40,000
per month, or approximately $420,000 annually. Natural gas consumption
had also grown since plant startup, with annual expenses running
approximately $600,000.
A walk-through audit of the plant was conducted to assess whether
there were any areas of operational concern warranting further detailed
study of equipment or systems to determine efficiency of energy
use or opportunities for energy savings.
The Impact
PBR reports many instances of cost avoidance as a result of our
project implementations, in addition to quantifiable cost savings.
PBR is able to report cost savings of $6,000 to $7,000 per month
resulting from evaporator installation. More dollars were saved
through coolant spinners and gas and electricity usage reductions
in the cast shop. PBR finds it difficult to quantify these latter
savings because as usage decreased, capacity was increasing. But,
Simmons stresses, the company did meet its goal of a five percent
reduction in usage.
The savings have enabled expansions at PBR, including a 50 percent
expansion in the machining area and a 40 percent expansion of the
assembly line.
|
