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NPEP Success Story: Crown Equipment
Crown Equipment Corporation Eliminates Chromium, Expands NPEP Project, and Saves Over $65,000 Annually
Crown Equipment Corporation is a global manufacturer of Electric Lift Trucks headquartered in New Bremen, Ohio. Crown is the largest electric lift truck company in the U.S. and sixth of all lift truck companies worldwide. Our manufacturing facilities include over 1.5 million square feet in the Augliaze and Mercer county areas in west central Ohio. A vertically integrated company, Crown produces everything from wire harnesses in the Ft. Loramie plant to electric motors in the New Knoxville plant. In New Bremen, over 15 styles of lift trucks are produced while other models are manufactured in Kinston, North Carolina and Greencastle, Indiana. Crown employs over 2000 people in these facilities.
Crown's New Bremen operations have had a waste minimization/pollution prevention program for many years. Crown won the State of Ohio Governors award for Outstanding Achievements in Pollution Prevention in 1992. Our facilities have participated in many other environmental protection programs including EPA's 33/50 program.
EPA officials present
an NPEP Achievement Award to Brian Duffy of
Crown Equipment Corporation on October
25, 2005. |
Crown's NPEP
Goal Crown's goal was to eliminate chromium from painting operations. For years we used chromium in our paint formulations in the form of ammonium dichromate as a flash rust inhibitor in its water-based paints. Crown decided that our painting operations were an area where we could eliminate a hazardous chemical and realize costs savings while at the same time reducing the amount of air emissions and hazardous wastes. When Crown learned about NPEP, this strategy had already begun. By joining NPEP, we could share our experiences with other manufacturers so they might undertake similar projects. NPEP Project Implementation |
Crown's journey to reduce the environmental impact of our painting operations has been one with setbacks as well as successes. Crown conducted testing on numerous alternative paint formulations on several occasions but without success in meeting the durability specifications.
In order to change the formulations of Crown coatings, extensive testing had to occur before a production test could be performed. During the salt spray testing, all of the air-dry, water-based coatings had failed to achieve the desired results. The majority of painting companies we approached were not interested in pursuing a chrome-free formulation for air-dry, water-based paint with the specifications that we required. Only after persistent requests to one supplier were we able to get the company to develop a chrome-free formula and begin the extensive testing required.
During the second phase of the project (the investigation of the powder coating process), budgetary considerations emerged. This slowed down the project until funding could be secured. The justification for this large investment included labor, maintenance, and environmental cost savings. The added environmental benefit of eliminating a hazardous chemical weighed heavily in the final decision.
Waste Minimization ResultsAfter developing its new paint formulation, Crown decided that not only could our NPEP goals be reached, but additional environmental gains were also possible. Crown began to investigate alternative painting strategies that could save money, create a better working environment, and also benefit the environment through waste minimization. With the momentum of our NPEP efforts and the recent success in our coatings reformulations, we began the process of investigating alternatives to the standard wet spraying method of applying coatings to our lift truck components. Crown investigated electrostatic spraying, e-coat, and powder coating before deciding to pursue a powder painting strategy to further our competitive advantage while continuing to reduce the volume of air emissions and generation of hazardous waste.
Crown's initial project of paint reformulation resulted in the elimination of over 300,000 pounds of hazardous waste at a cost savings of over $20,000 due to changing the designation from hazardous to non-hazardous waste through the removal of chromium. Crown still generated the wastewater and sludge although it was now a non-hazardous waste.
Crown began testing powder coating in part to eliminate a substantial portion of the water curtain spray booths that were responsible for generating the wastewater and sludge. Within a year Crown installed a powder coating line to eliminate a substantial portion of our wet spray-painting operations and, in the process, eliminated over 65% of the wastewater and sludge from our water curtain paint booths. This change resulted in the elimination of over 200,000 pounds of water and sludge and saved another $45,000 in labor, maintenance, and disposal costs.
As a result of Crown's efforts at waste minimization,
we first removed the hazardous waste designation
from over 300,000 pounds of waste designated as
hazardous due to its chromium content. By installing
the second part of the project, we were able to
eliminate the generation of over 200,000 pounds
of this waste. Crown's costs savings from the project
amount to over $65,000 annually. In addition, this
change resulted in much improvement in corrosion
protection for the coatings on Crown lift trucks,
improved the employee work environment, and resulted
in the reduction of air emissions of glycol ethers
by over 20,000 pounds. This project became both
an air and hazardous waste pollution prevention
project.
Crown's path toward the successful completion of this project began as a small team effort aimed at reducing a hazardous chemical. Then it blossomed into a larger project that involved many people. The focus of this project was small in the beginning as the project involved mainly the paint engineers and the environmental group. The team began to grow as the coatings were reformulated and the successes mounted. As management saw the potential for further environmental improvements and increased quality of the coating process, support for the project grew. One lesson learned was that embarking on a difficult journey can pay off in numerous ways that benefit many aspects of the corporation.