Many times, when businesses are praised by outside sources for achievements, the higher-ups thank the workers for their contributions, but few do it the way Alliance Laundry Systems did yesterday.
Focus on Energy was at the Manitowoc location of the Ripon-based company, to present them with a $206,060 check for their work in making the facility eco-friendly.
We spoke with Richard Feustel, the energy advisor for Focus on Energy, who explained how Alliance was able to make their facility so energy efficient.
“Simple things like what the employees see, like the new lighting,” he said, “But they don’t always the compressed air systems, that they made more energy-efficient, and these many injection molding machines, which are so much more efficient than they have used in the past.”
In fact, Alliance saved enough energy to power 533 homes for a year, and the equivalent of driving a standard vehicle 306 times around the world in greenhouse gas emissions.
While many of the systems put in place were done by the men and women in the offices, Brad Nye, Alliance’s Vice President of Operations for North America, said that they took ideas from the employees, because they want to instill a culture where every employee’s opinion matters.
“If you think of a typical work chart being the triangle, think of it flipped over, where we all work for the team members,” Nye explained. “If we have that thinking way as an organization and take care of the team members, natural, continuous improvement just happens.”
It’s not just talk either.
The nearly 200-member strong workforce was treated for all their hard work with a meal that was provided by Festival Foods, but they also received a goodie bag with the Alliance logo on it. Inside that bag was an Alexa Echo Dot, and a smart light bulb that can be paired with the Alexa device.
Alliance purchased the former Manitowoc Cranes facility in 2019, and now ships laundry components to countries all over the globe.
