Focus On Energy grants help Miller St. Nazianz employees breath easier PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mark Ignatowski, Editor   
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 15:46
Winter heating bills can be costly for local businesses, but thanks to a grant from Focus on Energy, Miller St. Nazianz recently installed a new ventilation system that provides cleaner air and a great deal of energy savings.

“We’re making better use of our energy and we’re making the air better for the people in our plant,” company chairman John C. Miller said. “It’s a win-win situation.”

Miller St. Nazianz manufactures specialty farmer equipment, namely large spray applicators and bagging machines, in western Manitowoc County. The company began in 1899 by selling farm equipment, but has since grown to a strong, lean manufacturing company in the area.

As part of its growth, Miller said there was a focus on providing a safe and healthy work environment.

“It started out with an issue that we had a lot of weld smoke in the plant,” Miller said. “[The solution] is going to save us a lot of money on heating costs.”

Miller said there used to be a blue haze throughout the plant, however, with the new system, employees are breathing cleaner air.

“Because of the way our weld system is set up, we couldn’t just have separate welding stations set up,” Miller said. “And we had smoke eaters for years and they really didn’t do the job.”

Some employees, including Bob Krummell, Assistant Plant Manager, started attending seminars and workshops held by Focus on Energy and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, and began to develop a system with Schaus Mechanical Contractors of Manitowoc that would meet the company’s needs.

A $45,000 grant from Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy foundation helped offset some of the $185,000 total cost, but Miller said the system is already starting to pay for itself through savings on filters and maintenance.

WPS Account Executive Mike Valleskey said the annual savings will be about $80,000 to $85,000 per year.

“That puts our return on investment down to about a year to a year and a half,” Miller said.     

According to Miller, the air is not just exhausted outside. This allows the air to remain at a constant temperature as it moves through the building.

The filtration system not only helps save on heating costs during the winter, but also provides a constant airflow during the warmer months that has a cooling effect.

Additionally, Miller said, the paint department in the factory has benefited from the moving air and constant temperatures. The paint department needs at least 70 degrees Fahrenheit for some of the paints to adhere to their products, and the new system meets that temperature requirement.

The welding areas are now surround by poly-coated cotton curtains that were specially made for this application. The filtration system consists of two 75 horsepower units and one 20 horsepower unit that suck the smoke up and across the manufacturing area and clean it. The clean air is pumped back into the plant. The three units move about 80,000 cubic feet of air per minute.

Air quality is monitored by the state Department of Natural Resources and federal Environmental Protection Agency, Miller said, and the company meets all the requirements of these agencies.

For more information about Miller St. Nazianz products, visit www.millerstn.com.
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