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Wes Melo, operations vice president, said Ingram Book Co., 201 Ingram Drive, Roseburg, each year distributes over 30 million books and other printed items. The enterprise uses 355,000 square feet all under one roof. He and his staff, including maintenance manager Herman Ziebarth and recycling coordinator Michele George, said the firm has taken several steps to save energy and resources.
Ingram reduced by three-quarters the volume of waste taken to the Douglas County Landfill. It accomplished this goal by partnering with others. For example, the company compacts and bales corrugated cardboard and sells the bales to International Paper in Eugene. Twice a week Sunrise Enterprises picks up used plastics like shrink wrap, bubble sheets and air pillows to recycle. Administrative assistant Lula Brown said the firm donates obsolete electronic equipment to New Generation in Roseburg and, for its approximately 150 printers, buys refilled toner cartridges. The company recycles forklift batteries with suppliers. The business offers used wooden pallets as firewood to employees—”associates”—and to the public. Ingram also encourages associates to deposit their recyclables from home into bins at the Roseburg Ingram Book distribution center.
Another recent change was replacing old metal halide lights with 2,400 cooler, brighter, more efficient fluorescent lights. The upgrade also included motion sensors to control lights in an overflow area used only occasionally. Since 2004 these improvements saved the business about a third on electric lighting costs. Contracts with the Energy Trust of Oregon underwrote about 39 percent of the costs to upgrade warehouse lights. Reflecting on the new lighting system, maintenance manager Ziebarth said he was particularly pleased with Platt Electric’s design and the installation job by Bean Electric of Roseburg.
Maintaining comfortable working temperatures for Ingram’s 200 employees is another major investment that’s paying off. Summer heat problems were dramatically reduced when the new, energy efficient lights were installed. In addition, to circulate indoor air, the company uses “Macro-Fans”—like variable-speed ceiling fans in homes except these measure 24 feet across! And during other seasons, overhead gas-fired radiant heaters cut the chill. Together, these changes in air conditioning and lighting lead to higher morale and greater productivity, Melo said.
Ingram Book employs its own maintenance crew. The team maintains the battery-powered warehouse forklifts, for example. With regular maintenance some of these units have been in operation since the Roseburg Ingram affiliate opened in 1994.
Ingram’s computers enable associates to maximize efficient use of space and time. Here are some examples: To serve booksellers in the region, Ingram in Roseburg places multiple copies of about 212,000 titles on open shelves according to their dimensions—not by their topic as in a library. Ingram’s home office in Nashville receives orders from retailers and transmits orders to the closest of its four regional distribution centers like Roseburg that serves primarily the West Coast. A computer program then guides associates with their carts through hundreds of shelves in the Roseburg warehouse to assemble books for a given order. Another computer reads a bar code and prints the address label just moments before another associate applies the addresses to the box for shipping.
Operations chief Melo said he is proud of the firm’s energy savings and looks forward to other innovations that may yield even more efficiencies for Ingram Book Company. Those ideas are for another face-to-face Business Energy Xchange this year.
"Energy Spotlight" is a monthly feature in The News-Review, highlighting what local businesses and organization do to save on energy costs.
The Douglas County Global Warming Coalition, a group that promotes energy efficiency, is canvassing local business owners and organizational leaders about practices that reduce energy costs.
To nominate your firm for an Energy Spotlight, contact Jim Long at jblong@dcwisp.net. To learn more about the coalition, call Stuart Liebowitz at 672.9819.
Ingram reduced by three-quarters the volume of waste taken to the Douglas County Landfill. It accomplished this goal by partnering with others. For example, the company compacts and bales corrugated cardboard and sells the bales to International Paper in Eugene. Twice a week Sunrise Enterprises picks up used plastics like shrink wrap, bubble sheets and air pillows to recycle. Administrative assistant Lula Brown said the firm donates obsolete electronic equipment to New Generation in Roseburg and, for its approximately 150 printers, buys refilled toner cartridges. The company recycles forklift batteries with suppliers. The business offers used wooden pallets as firewood to employees—”associates”—and to the public. Ingram also encourages associates to deposit their recyclables from home into bins at the Roseburg Ingram Book distribution center.
Another recent change was replacing old metal halide lights with 2,400 cooler, brighter, more efficient fluorescent lights. The upgrade also included motion sensors to control lights in an overflow area used only occasionally. Since 2004 these improvements saved the business about a third on electric lighting costs. Contracts with the Energy Trust of Oregon underwrote about 39 percent of the costs to upgrade warehouse lights. Reflecting on the new lighting system, maintenance manager Ziebarth said he was particularly pleased with Platt Electric’s design and the installation job by Bean Electric of Roseburg.
Maintaining comfortable working temperatures for Ingram’s 200 employees is another major investment that’s paying off. Summer heat problems were dramatically reduced when the new, energy efficient lights were installed. In addition, to circulate indoor air, the company uses “Macro-Fans”—like variable-speed ceiling fans in homes except these measure 24 feet across! And during other seasons, overhead gas-fired radiant heaters cut the chill. Together, these changes in air conditioning and lighting lead to higher morale and greater productivity, Melo said.
Ingram Book employs its own maintenance crew. The team maintains the battery-powered warehouse forklifts, for example. With regular maintenance some of these units have been in operation since the Roseburg Ingram affiliate opened in 1994.
Ingram’s computers enable associates to maximize efficient use of space and time. Here are some examples: To serve booksellers in the region, Ingram in Roseburg places multiple copies of about 212,000 titles on open shelves according to their dimensions—not by their topic as in a library. Ingram’s home office in Nashville receives orders from retailers and transmits orders to the closest of its four regional distribution centers like Roseburg that serves primarily the West Coast. A computer program then guides associates with their carts through hundreds of shelves in the Roseburg warehouse to assemble books for a given order. Another computer reads a bar code and prints the address label just moments before another associate applies the addresses to the box for shipping.
Operations chief Melo said he is proud of the firm’s energy savings and looks forward to other innovations that may yield even more efficiencies for Ingram Book Company. Those ideas are for another face-to-face Business Energy Xchange this year.
"Energy Spotlight" is a monthly feature in The News-Review, highlighting what local businesses and organization do to save on energy costs.
The Douglas County Global Warming Coalition, a group that promotes energy efficiency, is canvassing local business owners and organizational leaders about practices that reduce energy costs.
To nominate your firm for an Energy Spotlight, contact Jim Long at jblong@dcwisp.net. To learn more about the coalition, call Stuart Liebowitz at 672.9819.
