Mack Trucks cuts energy usage

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The Morning Call / June 3, 2015

Efforts at the Mack Trucks plant in Lower Macungie Township have helped Volvo Group North America hit its goal of reducing energy consumption at its U.S. facilities five years earlier than anticipated.

Volvo Group's goal, under the U.S. Energy Department's Better Buildings, Better Plants initiative, was to reduce energy consumption at its eight U.S. manufacturing facilities by 25 percent between 2009 and 2020. But by the end of 2014, the group announced Wednesday, it had already reduced its energy consumption by almost 27 percent compared with its 2009 baseline.

Volvo Group, the parent company of Mack Trucks, said it is one of only 11 companies to meet its goal early.

"Reaching this milestone required the diligence and dedication of all our employees, and we will continue to strive for improved energy efficiency," Rick Robinson, director of health, safety and environment for Volvo Group North America, said in a statement.

According to the Energy Department, Volvo Group North America has saved approximately 390,000 MMBTUs since 2009, the equivalent to about $2.3 million in cost savings.

In addition to the Mack Trucks plant in Lower Macungie, energy consumption was reduced at Volvo Construction Equipment in Shippensburg, Franklin County; Volvo Group Remanufacturing in Middletown, Dauphin County; Volvo Group Powertrain in Hagerstown, Md.; Volvo Bus in Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Volvo Trucks in Dublin, Va.; Volvo Group Remanufacturing in Charlotte, N.C.; and Volvo Penta in Lexington, Tenn.

Reaching energy efficient standards is nothing new for Mack Trucks in Lower Macungie over the last several years.

In November 2013, the company announced the Lower Macungie plant was the first U.S. manufacturing facility to receive a platinum-level Superior Energy Performance certification in the Mature Energy Pathway category. The certification acknowledged the plant improved its energy performance by nearly 42 percent between 2002-03 and 2012-13.

At that time, the company said plant investments that improved energy performance included lighting upgrades and controls, a building automation system, air compressor management, changes in heat recovery during manufacturing and HVAC system efficiency upgrades.

All Mack trucks built for the North American market are assembled at the company's Lower Macungie plant. The facility has approximately 1,950 employees. As demand for Mack trucks has increased, the company has hired about 290 employees at the Lower Macungie plant since January 2014.

And deliveries are up so far this year, driven by strong growth in the North American truck market.

Through the first four months of 2015, Mack has delivered 8,895 heavy-duty trucks worldwide, up almost 1,070 — or 14 percent — from the same period in 2014, according to the most recent report released in May.

The Better Buildings initiative was launched in 2011. According to the Energy Department, more than 250 organizations, including manufacturers, cities and school districts, participate in the program and have saved 94 trillion BTUs and $840 million since the initiative began. Each organization has committed to reducing energy use by at least 20 percent in the next 10 years, the Energy Department said.

The program's 2015 progress report states that nine partners, including Volvo, and two financial allies achieved energy and financing goals in 2014. The only companies to post a larger improvement than Volvo were Sprint (36 percent), Ontario, New York-based Harbec (30 percent) and the Camas School District in Washington (28 percent).