Nippon Electric Glass (NEG) decided to invest in its Wigan, UK, facility to become more energy efficient and improve operational efficiencies in incumbent processes and equipment.
The company turned to Siemens to analyse factory processes and recommend a strategic approach to enhancing its energy use. After a full assessment of the facility, Siemens identified key areas where processes and equipment could be implemented to refine efficiency. This included installing new Siemens motors and controllers, new water pumps, flow meters and replacement of nearly 3,000 LED light fittings.
Steve Keeton, Managing Director at NEG, said, “For over a decade we’ve been conscious of the requirement for energy efficiency. Not just because we’re such a high energy intensive user and it costs a lot of money but also because of the wider moral and ethical dilemmas around the amount of energy we use ourselves, particularly from carbon sources.
“So we buy ethically and there’s a nod to circularity because 50 percent of our product goes into wind turbine blades but we wanted to level up and invest in improving energy-efficiency at our Wigan site.”
Drawing on the expertise of its financing arm – Siemens Financial Services (SFS) – Siemens guaranteed the expected savings over the course of the five-year contract.
“Typically you’d just do one project at a time and try to justify it on its own merits. That means the smaller more complicated ones are often left on the sidelines. But SFS enabled us to package these altogether into one regular payment,” noted Keeton.
“What’s more we didn’t have to start repaying the finance until we’d seen the benefit of the projects. So the benefit was all front loaded for us. Only when the verified savings came in did we start repaying the lease. We’ve actually managed to achieve more savings than those guaranteed so not only did the team at Siemens exceed expectations but we’ve also been able to bolt-on further projects since.”