Business Issue: Reduce Environmental Impacts; Maximizing Value
Continuous improvement saves energy and reduces waste

Continuous improvement efforts implemented in all Engineered Products' facilities have resulted in reduced waste, improved fuel efficiencies and reduced emissions.

Williamsport: At our Williamsport cable facility in Pennsylvania (USA), an innovative process has led to a 75% reduction in the amount of polyethylene waste from the extruders compared to 2001 levels.

Rather than sending this waste to the landfill, some 81% of the 2002 disposal volume was used in a fuel blending initiative with coal to create a fuel briquette that burns like coal, but cleaner and with a comparable BTU. This has resulted in savings of approximately $10,867.

Roseburg: The drawbench in-line annealer installed at the end of 2002 in our Roseburg, Oregon (USA) cable facility has increased plant efficiency and added a new dimension to our employee knowledge base. When manufacturing electrical cable, aluminum rod is run through a drawbench to make smaller diameter wire. Many individual wires are then stranded together to make a flexible conductor cable. If additional flexibility is required in the stranded cable, it is usually placed into a gas-fired furnace and heated to soften the aluminum. This process, known as batch annealing, requires temperatures up to 600°F and can take up to 24 hours to complete.

The new technology eliminates the need for batch annealing when preparing wire for stranding. Wire for stranding is immediately annealed by heating it with electrical current at the end of the drawing process. The wire is then stranded without the extra handling and time required by batch annealing. The in-line annealer has several benefits for Roseburg:

• Economic: This new technology eliminates extra process steps that were previously required to make annealed products. Accordingly, it has improved the efficiency of plant operations.
• Environmental: The new process uses electricity instead of natural gas to anneal wire that would previously have been annealed in large batches in gas-fired furnaces.
• Social: The improved technology allows operators to run machines that are on the leading edge of technology for this industry. This challenges operators and also expands their process knowledge.

Chelmsford: Engineered Products composites plant in Chelmsford, U.K., initiated a program in 2002 to convert all gasoline-powered vehicles to diesel powered. This was coupled with a transport efficiency program that monitors vehicle use. The results of the two initiatives were fewer trips (contributing to less traffic in the community) and a more than 50% reduction in fuel consumption, which leads to reduced greenhouse gas and other emissions to the atmosphere.

Koper, Markt Schwaben and Jonquière: Engineered Products' shaped products facilities in Koper (Slovenia) and Markt Schwaben (Germany) as well as the cable facility in Jonquière (Canada) replaced Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF₆) in their processes. SF₆ is a highly persistent greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.

Ongoing efforts to reduce GHG emissions are pursued in all our facilities.