Assembly - November 2008 - (Page 22) ASSEMBLY 2008 Assembly Plant of the Year Big Blue Goes Green Environmental initiatives thrive at IBM Poughkeepsie. Assembly Plant Year of the 2008 any manufacturers talk about being green. But, when it comes to action, few companies can match International Business Machines Corp. (IBM, Armonk, NY). Big Blue has focused its efforts on sustainability. M The 2008 Assembly Plant of the Year builds high-end servers that are used in data centers around the world. By Austin Weber Senior Editor That environmental commitment is evident on the assembly line at IBM’s Poughkeepsie, NY, plant. The 315,000-square-foot facility assembles high-end computer servers, which were traditionally called mainframes. When the Internet first became popular a decade ago, IBM rebranded mainframes with its enterprise-server marketing campaign. The plant, situated on a wooded 500-acre campus along the banks of the Hudson River, is committed to the environment through a Green Sigma initiative. The goal is to save money, boost productivity and reduce the environmental impact of IBM’s endto-end supply chain operations through more efficient management of energy, materials and natural resources, and minimize waste and emissions. Disassembly and remanufacturing play a pivotal role in the day-today operations of the 67-year-old Poughkeepsie plant. During the last five years, the plant has reused more than 11 million parts. More than 1,450 high-end systems have been recovered, refurbished and reused, while more than 25,000 metric tons of metal have been recycled. In fact, less than 2 percent of total material went to landfills. “At IBM, we see conserving energy and preserving the environment as a strategic business opportunity,” says Jim King, plant manager. “We’re actively in pursuit of accurately characterizing the carbon footprint of our manufacturing processes. That’s mostly accomplished by metering our manufacturing processes, as well as building energy dashboards and integrating energy into simulation modeling exercises. 22 ASSEMBLY / November 2008 www.assemblymag.com http://www.assemblymag.com
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