Corporate America Is Sitting On A Mountain Of Discarded Assets that could be turned into profit. The process of mining this scrap is called investment recovery, which savvy companies are realizing is not a euphemism for trash picking, but an environmentally sound strategy that adds to the bottom line. The Investment Recovery Association, a trade group based in Mission,, Kan., that represents about 200 companies, defines investment recovery (IR) as an integrated business process for the identification, reuse, or remarketing of non-working assets. read more
Such assets include out-of-service equipment, excess inventory or raw materials, waste and process by-products, and demolished facilities. Finding new uses for this rubbish is not a new concept - a wide cross-section of companies have operated IR departments for some years. But faced with tougher environmental regulations and technological advances that increase equipment turnover, companies are discovering the strategic value of IR. That goes not just for traditional smokestack industries, but increasingly for service companies, as well.
Emerging environmental policies are likely to accelerate this trend. The command-and-control method of environmental regulation is giving way to a more consensual approach, where the emphasis is on product reuse and recycling. In the words of Lynn Goldman, head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances, "The ultimate vision is not cradle-to-grave life-cycle management but cradle-to-cradle management equipment and materials that are completely reusable."
Goldman delivered this message last February to the Electronic Product Recovery and Recycling Conference, an event organized by the National Safety Council in response to growing concern over the mountains of used electronic equipment that U.S. corporations are accumulating.
While the goal of total product lifecycle management makes environmental sense, if it is to be achieved it must make economic sense too. This is we're IR comes in. The Investment Recovery Association estimates that each of its member companies saves an average of $8 million a year. Some rack up annual savings of as much as $150 million.
To a large corporation, $8 million may seem like small change, but the trade group calculates that 70% to 90% of every sales dollar generated by IR goes straight to the bottom line. For every dollar generated by an IR activity, claims the association, $20 in sales would be required to generate the same net effect on the company's profit.
"It's how I got my management's attention," says Paul Wengert, president and chief executive of Investment Recovery Management Inc. in Tulsa, Okla. A former director of recovery and recycling for Phillips Petroleum Co., Wengert now heads a company that provides outsourced IR services.
"If I told the vice president of engineering at Phillips that we saved $1 million last year from IR that wouldn't mean much," says Wengert. But for a profit margin of, say, 5%, $1 million that goes straight to the bottom line translates into about $20 million in gross sales. "That does get their attention," he notes.
Companies tend to overlook this potential revenue stream. When asked what surpluses they generate, managers invariably claim that they are virtually 100% efficient, Wengert maintains. "But most companies, after some soul searching, will settle somewhere between 80% and 85%," he says. That means a lot of wasted assets.
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World's Largest Vertical Clock Relocated
During the early hours on a clear September Saturday morning with the majestic downtown Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, a new chapter unfolded on the flourishing Jersey City waterfront. The landmark Colgate clock, which was originally mounted on an eight-story manufacturing building built in 1924. Standing seventy feet high and fifty-four feet wide is the world's largest working vertical face clock as noted in the Guinness Book of World Records. The clock was moved to its new location where it will continue to provide the Metropolitan area and Hudson River travelers with the time of day and an unforgettable site for years to come. read more
The Colgate-Palmolive Company, in taking great care to preserve the historic harbor landmark and keep it running during the harbor front redevelopment of the firm's 34-acre site mandated that the giant clock and adjacent 90 by 60-foot billboard be relocated and up and running within a 48 hour period to minimize the length of time the clock would out of service.
To accomplish this monumental feat, the operation's logistics and rigging were entrusted to R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services of Staten Island, New York. To protect the clock's complicated and sensitive mechanisms and meet the overall project goals, R. Baker & Son decided to move both the sign and clock and its 70-foot high steel frame in one piece rather than dismantle and reassemble them.
R. Baker & Son went to great lengths during the planning stages to assure that all concerns and aspects of this complicated project were addressed. A structural survey was performed and an engineered rigging and lifting plan was developed. Plate bearing capacity tests over the course, which the crane was to travel, were performed. Wind speed was charted for a period of two weeks prior to lift. Precise calculations were developed in order to determine static load strength to determine the exact pick points to accomplish a perfectly level lift in order to walk the two structures to their new location.
R. Baker & Son utilized numerous specially manufactured spreader bars and rigging systems in order to lift and walk these massive structures, utilizing a 250-ton conventional crane along with a 150-ton hydraulic assist crane. To perform this delicate transfer R. Baker & Son coordinated the services of dozens of highly qualified personnel made up of iron workers, engineers, electricians, operators and local law enforcement officers.
Upon final setting and field certification of welds and anchoring systems a post inspection analysis was performed to verify that all aspects of the project were performed to the highest standards of quality.
With work beginning at 6:00 am on Saturday morning and completed by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening R. Baker & Son successfully completed the goal set before them to have the billboard and clock up and running for the hundreds of thousands of metropolitan area commuters to set their watches by on Monday morning. collapse article
Atop A Snowy Mountain In The Berkshires
NADC member R. Baker & Son from Staten Island, NY was asked to dismantle and remove the secondary side of Yankee Atomic's Rowe, MA facility. The project consisted of a 185 MW steam turbine generator and ancillary equipment including a high pressure turbine rotor and blading, an installed low pressure turbine rotor, the generator itself, the rotating and static exciters, the main transformer and the No. 1 station service transformer.
Also included in the removal was ancillary equipment such as a condensing unit, rotating and static exciter with cabinetry, condensate pumps, feed water pump, heat drain pumps, feed water heaters, moisture separators, hydrogen cooling systems, the lube oil system, the throttle and control valves at the head of the steam turbine, the unit's controls, interlocks and a 100-ton overhead bridge crane. read more
By the very nature of the unit being dismantled one can see that R. Baker & Son was dealing with a complex project. All of their employees onsite were required to complete a 40-hour safety training course conducted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They were required to wear radiation detection badges at all times during the project.
Lead abatement procedures were required before all burning and cutting. All loads were radiation tested before leaving the site and strict load limits were followed during transportation off-site.
Much of the turbine dismantlement was executed by using the plant's existing 100-ton bridge crane. Many of the unit's components exceeded the crane's capacity and required engineered lifts or partial dismantlement. Removal of the 115-ton turbine cover also required an engineered lift. The cover was then cut into four sections for removal.
Next, R. Baker & Son turned its attention to the low and high-pressure turbines, the low-pressure rotor and the generator. once opened, crews dismantled the bottom portion of the low-pressure turbine, opened the generator and removed the rotor from the generator stator. The stator weighed 178 tons and had to be dismantled utilizing the overhead crane with numerous snatch blocks to pull the copper windings from the 360 degree interior radius.
After removing the copper coils, the stator was cut into sections in order to meet the load capacity of the overhead crane and transportation load limits.
Next, the unit's condenser was removed by cutting sections of its tubing and loading them into open-topped trailers. All loads required careful and calculated maneuvering to safely reach the valley below the plant.
R. Baker Turb CoverR. Baker & Son takes great pride in completing this strictly regulated and logistically complex six-month project while maintaining its outstanding three-plus year incident-free safety record.
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