Owens Corning Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reduction
Today when you “think pink,” you think insulation — specifically, Owens Corning fiberglass insulation — thanks to the company’s 20-year association with the Pink PantherTM cartoon icon.
And like the clever Pink Panther of cartoon and movie fame — known for its craftiness in using the environment around it to overcome adversity — the employees of this pioneering company also have the ability to change the environment, for the better.
By “thinking green,” for more than 50 years, Owens Corning has promoted global energy conservation, from efforts to minimize the impact of its plant operations to the manufacture of energy-efficient products that help consumers save energy over the life of the home. This led to Owens Corning receiving the prestigious “Energy Efficiency Award”, for outstanding achievements related to cost effective energy efficiency strategies, awarded by the Alliance to Save Energy.
Owens Corning’s Global Composites business is also a major contributor to innovative materials to reduce vehicle weight and improving fuel efficiency. By lowering consumer need for energy, Owens Corning’s insulating and composite systems help reduce air pollution facilities, mitigating the impact on global warming.
Through its environmental stewardship programs, Owens Corning strives to minimize the impact its plant operations have on the air, water and soil. The Company also is developing more environmentally friendly housing options and building standards for people around the globe. From leadership to manufacturing teams to sales teams around the world, Owens Corning believes strongly in its commitment to protect and preserve the environment. It endeavors to ensure that its operations are environmentally efficient, and explores new ways to reduce emissions and manufacturing waste.
The Projects
Owens Corning realizes that managing its energy costs is as important as managing its material and personnel costs. To accomplish its aggressive goals, in 1998 the Company instituted a worldwide internal campaign, “Put Energy Into Mission: Possible.” Focusing on three areas: creative procurement; energy strategy; and, energy efficiency, “Mission: Possible” set out to achieve an across-the-board 20% energy cost reduction within a few years.
The program grew out of Owens Corning’s long-standing initiative to cut waste. All levels of its divisions were asked to self-set energy reduction goals, and were required to report progress monthly. But no corporate-wide initiative can thrive and prosper without the sustained commitment and support of senior management, and that’s exactly what Owens Corning’s leaders provided.
And while minimizing its environmental impact was part of the company’s culture, Owens Corning’s energy management was historically fragmented. So the company’s leaders recognized the need to create and foster good energy habits, professionally and personally. Employees were reminded and encouraged to look for energy saving opportunities on the job, and at home. Taking advantage of the changing energy world eliminated the “either/or” dilemma of investing in the business or making productivity improvements, where market liberalization afforded new opportunities through competition.
In 1999, Owens Corning entered into a multi-year energy services agreement with Enron Energy Services to provide total energy management services with a goal of being a significant contributor to the overall 20% goal of Energy Mission:Possible. As the leader in the energy services industry, Enron partners with commercial and industrial businesses nationwide to provide integrated energy and facility management solutions.
Enron drives energy savings for Owens Corning by managing commodity usage, and by investing capital to upgrade or replace the Company’s energy equipment which includes lighting, air conditioning, pumps, fans and water heating.
Around the world, Owens Corning’s “Ideas of the Month” program has recognized at least 36 separate energy saving ideas at 10 locations, with annual cost savings in excess of $2.5 million. Ideas include more efficiently managing warehouse temperature control, reducing water consumption, fixing air duct leaks, upgrading compressors, turning off spare ovens used in the manufacturing process and renegotiating electricity supply contracts. Most require minimal investment, just a commitment to eliminate needless use of energy.
Additionally, “Advantage 2000”, a global process and technology reengineering initiative, involved redesigning all core business processes and replacing costly and inefficient computer systems with state-of-the-art technology. The initiative created a paper-free environment for 100 percent of internal transactions and 50 percent of external transactions and is the core infrastructure for their global supply chain environment.
Lessons Learned
“Energy Mission: Possible” has been a success for Owens Corning, but the Company recognizes that its journey has only just begun. Along the way, it has learned that sustained leadership and innovative management tools are essential. You have to let the workforce know clearly and concisely what is expected of them; give them the freedom to identify and implement solutions at a local level, and, communicate, recognize and reward them for their achievements. After all, the enduring legacy of any program is not how well it performs, but its impact on the employee culture for future generations.
And the Enron partnership has accomplished a very important goal, allowing Owens Corning to remain significantly more competitive in the marketplace than would have been possible if the energy savings measures were not in place.
While a wider partnership with Enron is planned, Owens Corning is committed to accepting that managing energy is part of its environmental and business stewardship. The “Energy Mission: Possible” program will continue to seek more and better ways to reduce energy costs and increase productivity.
Environmental Contribution
Like many manufacturers, Owens Corning tries to adapt its production practices to stay in balance with natural resources. But it is also in the enviable position of making products whose end results positively influence the environment.
Owens Corning designs and manufactures products focused on conserving energy and extending product durability. Through its Product Stewardship program, Owens Corning takes a life-cycle approach to environmental protection, Owens Corning looks for ways to protect the environment while maintaining product quality by selecting raw materials through packaging the end product.
Its insulation products and glass fiber composites help increase energy efficiency of vehicles and buildings, so less fossil fuel is burned. Owens Corning also conserves natural resources through a dynamic trend called materials substitution – substituting glass fiber composite materials for traditional materials like wood, aluminum and steel.
As a company, Owens Corning is aware of the need to mitigate the effects of energy use on the environment, and is committed to promote the rational use of energy within its own facilities and through the use of the products it sells.
Company Profile
Like many of the great inventions that we take for granted today, the invention of fine glass fibers was achieved by accident. In the 1920s, Games Slayter, the driving force behind Owens Corning technology and innovation, envisioned a glass fiber material that was not as heavy and full of shot as the then-current technology produced. In 1932, a young researcher named Dale Kleist, who worked for Jack Thomas (Slayter’s research assistant), was attempting to weld together architectural glass blocks to form a vacuum-tight seal. A jet of compressed air accidentally struck a stream of molten glass, resulting in fine glass fibers. Kleist, by accident, had achieved Games Slayter’s dream.
Today, Owens Corning is a $5 billion global industry leader with more than 20,000 employees around the world and with manufacturing, sales and research facilities including joint venture and licensee relationships in more than 30 countries on six continents. Owens Corning has made the Pink Panther and the color PINKTM synonymous with comfort and energy savings. It is a world leader in systems solutions in composites, building material systems and service businesses. Since pioneering the science of glass fiberization, Owens Corning has become increasingly diversified, with sales from businesses serving the worldwide composites, home improvement, new construction and related markets.