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WESCO delivers for Lighting and Reduced Energy Consumption!
Working
Opportunity: An automotive manufacturer's assembly plant in Ontario and engine plant in Michigan both needed organized storage for terminals, connectors, and other hardware.
WESCO Solution: The plants’ WESCO account representatives recommended they take advantage of a special offer by supplier UZ Engineered Products to provide free storage cabinets for stocking of UZ terminals and connectors. Saving $1,461.65 through this offer, the engine plant was able to organize its stock and reduce inventory. The assembly plant was able to set up five free cabinets labeled with stores numbers in various department locations. In addition to a savings of $19,783.36 on the cabinets, the assembly plant realizes significant productivity savings because employees now have convenient, ready access to the materials they need, rather than having to go to stores.
Result: $21,245 Savings — Plus Increased Productivity!
Working
Opportunity: An automotive stamping plant in Ohio needed replacement parts for a variety of equipment. Purchasing these items from OEMs was expensive.
WESCO Solution: Rather than purchase replacement parts from the OEMs, WESCO found other manufacturers of identical or equivalent parts at a lower cost. For example, the plant uses six of a specific contact tip kit per year. The price from the OEM is $1,700 per kit. WESCO found a contact manufacturer who sells an equivalent contact tip kit for $812 each — a savings of $888 per kit and $5,328 per year. In a similar example, the plant had a breakdown on an assembly line and needed two replacement sensors for automation equipment. The OEM’s price was $4,191 each for a total of $8,382. WESCO was able to buy direct from the sensor manufacturer and provide identical replacements at a cost of only $1,003 each for a total of $2,006, saving the customer $6,376.
Result: $11,704 Savings!
Working
Opportunity: An automotive manufacturer's axle and transmission plants in Michigan were using Modicon PanelMate operator interfaces that had become outdated and no longer useful. The company's engine plant in Ontario was using the Allen-Bradley PanelView for new and replacement operator interfaces.
WESCO Solution: Both the axle and transmission plants’ WESCO account representatives recommended taking advantage of the Cutler-Hammer PanelMate Trade-Up Program, which offers a discount on the cost of new PanelMate interfaces with the trade-in of older PanelMate models. The axle plant saved $3,297 and the transmission plant saved $1,880 off the regular cost of new PanelMate units. The WESCO account representative for the engine plant suggested the Cutler-Hammer PanelMate as an alternative to the Allen-Bradley PanelView for new and replacement operator interfaces, because the PanelMate is both less expensive to purchase and far easier to install, being pre-programmed for simple plug-and-play installation. Switching to the PanelMate has saved the engine plant $75,663 to date.
Result: $80,840 Savings!
Maintenance
Opportunity: An automotive assembly plant in Kentucky had 29 failed, out-of-warranty Motorola Advisor Gold pagers. A motor subassembly plant in Michigan had six failed, out-of-warranty Megger testers.
WESCO Solution: Rather than replacing the 29 Motorola pagers at a cost of $219 each, WESCO arranged to have them factory repaired at a cost of $55 each. In addition to a direct savings for the assembly plant of $164 per pager, for a total of $4,756, Motorola provided an additional six-month warranty on each repaired unit. Similarly, WESCO arranged to have the six Megger testers repaired, rather than replaced with new units. The repairs ranged in cost from $275 to $814, whereas new Megger testers ranged in price from $2,900 to $5,280, depending on model. All told, the motor subassembly plant saved $25,332.85 over the cost of new Megger testers.
Result: $30,088 Combined Savings!
Energy
Opportunity: An automotive manufacturer's lighting standardization initiative for North American plants calls for reduced energy and labor costs while maintaining or improving lighting quality.
WESCO Solution: As 400-watt metal-halide and high-pressure sodium lamps fail, they’re replaced with 360-watt Philips metal-halide and high-pressure sodium lamps that operate on the same ballast, carry the same life rating, and offer the same initial lumens but use 10% less energy. During the second and third quarters of 2007, the customer purchased 2,470 of the 360-watt lamps. In accordance with the customer's lighting standards, the calculated energy cost savings is $95,532, based on 40 watts per socket applied over the 20,000 rated life hours of the lamp.
Result: 10% Energy Savings Exceeding $95,500!
Maintenance
Opportunity: An automotive motor subassembly plant in Michigan needed replacement ITE bus duct — 30 feet of a type that cost $979.16/ft. and 200 feet of a type that cost $417.69/ft. — for a total cost of $112,912.80.
WESCO Solution: As a cost-saving alternative, WESCO recommended and arranged the repair and cleaning of the existing bus duct, rather than the purchase of new bus duct. The total cost for repair and cleaning was $11,220 — 90% less than the cost of purchasing new bus duct.
Result: $101,692 Savings!
Maintenance
Opportunity: An automotive stamping plant in New York was using 60-amp electric motor disconnects that are expensive both to purchase and maintain.
WESCO Solution: As the 60-amp disconnects fail, they’re replaced with Meltric Decontactor switch-rated 60-amp male inlets and female receptacles, which safely de-energize before they can be withdrawn, thereby achieving code compliance while avoiding the high cost and changeout time of disconnects. The Meltric connectors represent a savings of $135 per connection in materials and $900 per connection per year in maintenance costs. In 2007, the disconnects replaced yielded a total of $25,815 in savings.
Result: $25,815 Material and Labor Savings!
Maintenance
Opportunity: The trim and final departments at an automotive assembly plant in Michigan have 30" fans that are labor-intensive to clean manually.
WESCO Solution: WESCO recommended the purchase of a JAN FAN cleaning system as an alternative to manual cleaning of the fans. This system yields a yearly savings of $36,234.84 over the cost of labor for manual fan cleaning.
Result: $36,234 Annual Labor Savings!
