Yamasa launched U.S. production in a Salem facility in 1994. McMichael’s mission is to cut energy use at that plant while increasing production and maintaining high quality standards. With help from PGE and the Energy Trust of Oregon, his efforts continue to pay off.

“Back in 1997, there weren’t too many people asking you if you wanted to save energy,” McMichael says. “PGE has always been there to help you figure out what to do, analyze your operations and show you how quickly efficiency could pay off.”

The road to efficiency
McMichael views energy efficiency as an ongoing journey. It started with behavioral changes. “We looked at the easy stuff first,” he says. “Back in 1997, no one was thinking about shutting off lights and compressors when they weren’t in use.”

Employee education and training changed that. “We instilled in them that conservation was good for the company,” he says, “but also for our community, too.”

McMichael then corrected production processes and equipment setup to make existing machinery more efficient. That cut electricity and gas use by more than 25 percent, he says. Using E-manager, a PGE tool that helps them monitor hour-by-hour energy use, McMichael’s team could pinpoint exactly when energy-use spikes occurred and target a solution.

In 2010, Yamasa upgraded its high-bay and T12 lighting to high-efficiency T8s, which cut lighting-related electricity use by about 40 percent. The company also installed high-bay ceiling fans to move accumulated heat down from the 40-foot ceiling in winter, and keep air moving in summer. That project paid for itself in the first year.

Benefits keep projects coming
In 1998, the Salem plant used more than 2.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce about 1.75 million gallons of sauce. Ten years later, after expanding the facility by more than 25,000 square feet, it used less than 2.4 million kWh to produce nearly twice the sauce.

And today?

“We continue to reduce energy consumption per gallon of product while maintaining quality,” McMichael says. “That makes the company more profitable, which provides benefits and wage increases for our people.”

Currently, they’re looking at more efficient air compressors. The financials make it an easier sell, McMichael says, but the best part about efficiency is that it allows Yamasa to thrive with less impact on the environment.

“The company has always been conscientious about quality and about our role in the community,” McMichael says. “That’s part of why they’ve been around so long.”