Industry:
Metals & Industrial Manufacturing
The Client:
Samuel is a leading provider of metal manufacturing, processing, and distribution solutions, offering a wide range of products and services to industries.
How Samuel, Son & Co. Saved $2.4 Million in 2 years with 360 Energy
When rising energy costs and operational complexity threatened to hold them back, Samuel, Son & Co. decided to rethink their approach. What followed was a strategic overhaul of their energy management practices that delivered not just cost savings but a deeper commitment to sustainability.
The Challenges
- Company growth through M&A led to decentralized corporate cultures.
- Information and accountability gaps in corporate energy management.
The 360 Solution
- Multi-Level Engagement: Worked at both site and corporate levels to develop a comprehensive energy/carbon management program.
- Established Teams & Best Practices: Created Energy/Carbon Teams to drive initiatives. Gathered and shared best practices across sites.
- Strategic Planning: Developed strategic plans for energy and carbon management.
- Executive Engagement: Organized bi-annual site presentations to executive teams.
- Ongoing Monitoring: Provided ongoing support and monitoring of progress.
The Results
- Cost Savings: Achieved an average 8% reduction in energy costs across participating sites with minimal capital expenditures.
- Net Savings: Realized net program savings of $2.4 million over two years.
- Year 1: $1.1MM; 8.2 million kWh; 7,300 GJ
- Year 2 and 3: $1.3MM; 6.8 million kWh; 40,600 GJ
Our partnership began in 2002, initially focusing on procurement for electricity and natural gas. Over time, as they renewed their commitment, our collaboration expanded to include energy audits, strategy development, and more comprehensive solutions. Through innovative collaboration and a focus on measurable outcomes, they discovered how a unified effort could uncover hidden efficiencies and create lasting value. By building a culture of shared responsibility and clear goals, they turned energy management into a competitive advantage- achieving measurable results while strengthening their focus on environmental responsibility. The 360 program aligned seamlessly with the continuous improvement culture they aimed to foster, reinforcing their dedication to driving meaningful change.
Samuel knew that it needed to lower its energy usage. They turned to the Energy Coach program as a starting point for reducing both usage and costs.
While considering the impact of energy costs to product output, Samuel Plate Sales assigned responsibility to an energy team in order to strategize a sustainable approach to energy reduction.
As an older plant, they knew energy reduction opportunities were available. After completing the second phase of the Coach program, energy champion Doug Sharpe quickly began pulling his team together from various disciplines in order to tackle the projects from all angles.
After developing an energy plan, their first project was to meter their electrical loads. After monitoring their consumption, they were quickly able to determine how their peak demand was being set, and how effective their shut down procedures were. They also began looking closely at their gas consumption and performed a benchmarking exercise to determine their primary gas users.
After going through the first exercise, they quickly realized that 90% of their gas usage was actually being used for heating! Shortly after, they decided to perform a diagnostic level audit. They are now in the middle of applying for incentives to implement infrared heating and a possible building automation system. Proposed projects have identified over $115,000 in savings.
All projects were approved by management and discussed during energy team meetings which involved members from the ISO department, finance, accounting, operations, maintenance and engineering. During the same period, a facility wide awareness program was also launched with air shut off isolation valves, and new end of shift shut down procedures. The projects are to be completed in 2008.
“360 Energy has helped our team uncover savings that we had not previously considered, and established processes to ensure those new savings are measured and sustained over time. In today’s marketplace, being cost-competitive takes more than just tough negotiation with materials and suppliers. Staying competitive requires a keen understanding of all input costs, data and the variables that cause those to fluctuate.”
