[music] Narrator: LOCATED IN A REGION WHERE MANUFACTURING
REPRESENTS ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF THE WORKFORCE, COLUMBUS, OHIO, SAW PROMISE IN A NEW INNOVATIVE
INITIATIVE—ECONOMY, ENERGY, AND ENVIRONMENT, OR E3.
THANKS TO COLUMBUS’S HARD WORK TO MAKE E3 A REALITY, COMMUNITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
ARE NOW STRENGTHENING THEIR LOCAL MANUFACTURING BASE AND CREATING NEW JOBS WITH THE HELP OF
E3.
E3 IS A FRAMEWORK THROUGH WHICH COMMUNITIES CONNECT LOCAL MANUFACTURERS WITH THE BEST
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE THROUGH FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL RESOURCES.
EACH COMMUNITY IS SUPPORTED BY A COALITION OF FEDERAL AGENCIES THAT HAVE JOINED FORCES
TO FORM E3.
Sandy Nessing, Manager Of Sustainability and EHS, American Electric Power: We have a responsibility
as an electric utility to work with our suppliers to be more sustainable and connecting them
with programs like E3 and the Green Suppliers Network that provide resources and programs
that can help to improve efficiencies and improve profitability, and save—maybe even
create—jobs and improve their environmental stewardship.
Mark Bueltmann, Manager Sustainable Supplier Development, American Electric Power: When
we were approached in October 2008 about participating in the E3 pilot, we thought it was a good
idea.
We then went to the mayor’s office and they were equally enthusiastic because it met a
lot of the goals of what the city of Columbus was trying to achieve.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman, Office of the Mayor, Columbus, Ohio: We use it as a way to build
relationships, but also we have a program called Greenspot and it was very successful
with individuals, and groups and businesses, but manufacturing businesses were not engaged.
So E3 helped us fill the void—or provide a bridge to this community to ensure that
environmental considerations were taken into consideration while providing savings at the
same time.
Narrator: AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER WORKED WITH THE MAYOR’S OFFICE TO ASSEMBLE THE BEST
AVAILABLE TECHNICAL RESOURCES FOR COLUMBUS’S E3 TEAM INCLUDING TECHSOLVE, THE LOCAL MANUFACTURING
EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP, THE UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON INDUSTRIAL ASSESSMENT CENTER, AND THE SOLID
WASTE AUTHORITY OF CENTRAL OHIO.
THE COLUMBUS E3 TEAM SELECTED SIX LOCAL MANUFACTURERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE PILOT PROJECT; AMONG
THEM WAS C.O.W.
INDUSTRIES, A SHEET METAL FABRICATOR AND AEP SUPPLIER.
Danny Perkins, Production Manager, C.O.W.
Industries: We were apprehensive at first.
Any time you are incurring a cost for something that may not pan out to be anything; we’re
a small company so you have to watch for things like that.
After we got to discussing it, it was almost a little bit of an honor to be asked to do
it and the cost was actually minimal.
And especially when we got the report back the cost was very minimal for what we got
for the cost.
Narrator: FOLLOWING ITS E3 REVIEW, C.O.W.
STARTED MAKING IMPROVEMENTS TO ITS OPERATIONS BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE E3 TEAM.
THE COMPANY FIRST SET ITS SIGHTS ON COMPRESSED AIR LEAKS WITHIN THE FACILITY.
Danny Perkins, Production Manager, C.O.W.
Industries: You know every plant has air leaks.
And honestly coming from a manufacturing background, you don’t think about that.
An air leak is an air leak.
But whenever someone took the time to put a dollar value on an air leak and then you
start adding up how many air leaks you have, it really makes you start thinking.
Narrator: E3 TAUGHT C.O.W TO SEE OTHER AREAS OF THEIR OPERATIONS IN A WHOLE NEW LIGHT,
LITERALLY, AS THE COMPANY BEGAN REPLACING ITS INEFFICIENT HIGH-PRESSURE SODIUM LIGHTING
FIXTURES WITH COST SAVING HIGH-EFFICIENCY FLUORESCENTS.
Danny Perkins, Production Manager, C.O.W.
Industries: The facility used to be like a cave.
The fixtures we had in here were 450 watt the high pressure sodium.
Power hungry.
They use a lot of electricity to run.
Narrator: THE LIGHTING UPGRADE WAS PARTLY FUNDED BY AEP REBATES AND HELPED SAVED THE
COMPANY ABOUT $20,000 ANNUALLY ON ITS ENERGY BILLS.
E3 IN CENTRAL OHIO CONTINUES TO GROW.
THE MID-OHIO REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION JOINED THE PROJECT TEAM AND IS ADDING TO THE
CONTINUOUSLY EXPANDING LIST OF RESOURCES.
Brandi Whetstone, Environmental Program Manager, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission: Our
goal is to have twenty-five Ohio companies [go] through our program by the beginning
of 2014.
What we hope to see from this project is that they’re going to achieve environmental and
economic savings that speak for themselves and it’ll be a no brainer for companies
to join the program.
Greg Hume, Program Manager, Energy and Environmental Services, TechSolve, Inc.: The other thing
I think is really important is the focus on continuous improvement and employee involvement.
We really get the employees involved and finally to sell this to the owners of the company
is that everything is really focused on financial return.
What’s the payback for what we’re doing?
Narrator: IT’S CLEAR THAT E3 HAS FOUND A HOME IN CENTRAL OHIO.
THANKS TO THE PIONEERING EFFORTS OF MAYOR COLEMAN AND THE CITY OF COLUMBUS, COMMUNITIES
ACROSS THE NATION ARE NOW ADOPTING THE E3 FRAMEWORK.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT E3, PLEASE VISIT WWW.E3.GOV
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