Efficiency Is a Beautiful Thing
L’Oréal USA is focused on its 2020 goal to reduce water consumption, CO2 emissions and transportable waste by 60 percent. At the North Little Rock facility, L’Oréal USA has invested in a 1.2-megawatt onsite solar array and composting program, as well as worked to build an internal culture of sustainability.
L’Oréal celebrates its employees’ contributions to efficiency and empowers them with the tools to lead more sustainable lives at home. Building a culture of sustainability is relevant across sectors, and DOE has seen it implemented in each season of SWAP. Although it can be hard to measure the impact of empowering employees, giving them the opportunity to make a difference can be vital to success.
The North Little Rock plant at 830,000 square feet is much smaller than GM’s, and the visiting GM team noted the variety of products L’Oréal USA is able to manufacture in a comparatively small space requires creativity and operational efficiency.
“We usually only have a few different types of cars running on the factory floor,” notes Erin Lawrence, energy engineer at GM. “One thing that surprised me was the number of products they were able to manufacture all at the same time.”
GM identified a few major potential savings sources from technical fixes, like retro-commissioning and maintenance on HVAC systems, to easy-to-implement measures, like improving insulation and a more frequent “tag and fix” program for air leaks. Combined, these actions could add up to almost $100,000 in energy cost savings during the course of a year.
In four seasons of SWAP, a few common themes have emerged. From retail to hospitality, municipal buildings to military academies, and now from manufacturing cars to concealer, leaders in sustainability are always looking for ways to improve, and they are open to ideas from a variety of sources. Sometimes, a fresh perspective is all you need.