Sometimes energy savings can be found by switching some things around, and switching other things off. Corning’s Optical Communications plant in Shanghai, China, did just that through its recently-completed layout project, dubbed “Hanging Garden.”

“The goal of the project is to reduce the production space, but to keep the same production lines and capacity,” explained Guoqing Hu, Site Energy Manager with the Global Energy Management (GEM) team.

The project team – Oliver Zheng, Lei Hu, Leo Ding, Huihui Li, Mei Liu, Wang Dong Miao, and Guoqing – initially set out to optimize the structure and layout of the production area through better material flow and potentially, room for more production lines. The group unexpectedly found energy savings in the project, which took two months to complete. 

“Based on three benefits – space saving, OLE (Overall Labor Effectiveness) improvement, and energy savings – we decided to complete the project,” said Guoging.

Achievements:

• Space savings of 300 square meters (about 3,230 square feet). 
• An increase in OLE (Overall Labor Effectiveness ).
• Yearly energy savings of more than $16,000 per year.

After consolidating the production area, the plant shut down the utilities in the spare space, saving electricity, energy from air conditioning, and compressed air.

Another $2,500 in yearly energy savings was captured by optimizing lighting at the work tables and reducing the number of fixtures. The new lights are LED, part of the plant’s initiative to achieve 100 percent LED lighting.