Maintenance Technology April 2015 - (Page 26)

SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS Above. Key E+H construction and management team members, from left: Bill Poland, VP of Construction, Genesis Property Development; Mike Moore, Industrial Engineering Manager, Automation; Todd Hubbell, VP Operations, Sales; Steve Demaree, Technical Services Manager, Flowtec; and Gary Abbott, Facilities, Process Improvement Leader, Automation. Right. Manufacturing Coriolis flow meters. Endress+Hauser veteran. "We promise that customers will get their products on time, and none of our delivery dates were compromised or missed," he says. "We didn't want any customer to notice anything that was happening here." Considering the unusual business hierarchy used at Greenwood-the site actually encompasses five independent Endress+Hauser companies-and that all company products are made-to-order, the feat is exceptional. It's also indicative of this operation's ability to work together toward common goals. "Our organization is different, but unbelievably successful because it forces us at a campus level for the general managers and the management structure to work together," says Hubbell. Greenwood's team strength developed in response to the company's plan for the site to not just be a distribution/sales outpost, but a functioning manufacturing arm, each part of which (within the five companies) has its own challenges to resolve. In the 40 years Endress+Hauser has been in Greenwood, the staff has proven its resourcefulness in this regard, and positioned itself as a good steward of the company's sustainability policies. "The whole culture of producing close to the customer is part of sustainability," explains Steve Demaree, Technical Services Manager and 37-year Endress+Hauser veteran. "Compared to a lot of our competitors who produce offshore, no matter what they do, they are less flexible. When you try to produce far from your customer, your options are longdistance deliveries or some type of regional stocking program of completed instruments. To have the broad flexibility to reach your customer throughout the world is using sustainability as a competitive advantage. And it has been an effective business model for us." Demaree adds that the privately held Endress+Hauser has always been more focused on long-term improvement 26 | MAINTENANCE TECHNOLOGY projects. "They have to be good investments," he adds, "but if it has good long-term return, it's likely to be accepted, which is also part of sustainability, to not be so tightly controlled." When it came time to expand Greenwood, it was assumed any new design under discussion would reflect advanced green elements. "The Endress family has always been a big proponent of the environment," says Hubbell, adding that the campus has been developed with that in mind. "With our recent LEED initiatives, our environmental efforts just came naturally; there was no 'program' in place. It has always been assumed that we will approach all projects from an environmental perspective." Making it work The company's partner in its recent projects was Genesis Property Development, based in nearby Shelbyville, IN. Bill Poland, VP of Construction for Genesis, says the Endress+Hauser projects were different from others he's worked on because of the company's "passion for their facilities. We were here every day," he says, "and we interacted with them regularly, which I've never dealt with before. Usually, once the design is done, the owner goes about their business and doesn't want to know what goes into the project on a daily basis. These folks did, and it was fantastic." The result, says Poland, is that the new facilities "do exactly what they need them to and, from a sustainability standpoint, nothing was wasted." He adds that with the elevated level of on-site building activity and with regular company operations continuing unabated, their interest and involvement was especially appreciated. The pursuit of LEED certification for manufacturing operations is difficult enough, he says, but the large geothermal project at Endress+Hauser proved a particular challenge. The main external feature of the geothermal project-a APRIL 2015

Maintenance Technology April 2015

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