Ahead of the Curve
in Green Manufacturing

John Martin

I have always had an interest in our environment and energy savings, even in my first shop which was an old frame barn. We used wood waste to help heat our 2,400 square foot plant. It was just natural for me to do whatever I could to save fuel. We put up a 10 x 40 foot silo and collected our dust and shavings so that we then could use it as fuel to heat our hot water boiler thus saving us many gallons of oil. When we had excess shavings over the summers we would sell it to farmers for livestock bedding. Two years ago we put in a 55,000 CFM Dust Collection system to keep the air cleaner and collect more material thus almost eliminating our oil consumption.

We are currently changing over to new energy efficient lighting and we want to be completely changed by the end of 2009. With PA electric deregulation coming up in 2010 we are expecting major increases in electric bills so we are looking into possible wind turbine to generate our electrical needs. We recycle our aluminum soda cans, cardboard and steel waste.

Well so much for the plant, now what?

We have been changing over our finishing material from solvent based paint to water based latex and milk paints. We recently changed our clear coat finish to a pre-catalyzed lacquer that has less than 1% formaldehyde.

In a number of our recent contract jobs we have used FSC Certified Lumber and also veneer materials with Particle, Fiber and even Wheat core interiors. We are constantly looking how to get the best yields from our materials and build our products to last like our forefathers did.

We find it challenging and rewarding to be doing our part for the betterment of our environment. I have 4 children and 8 grandchildren coming along and my wish is for them to live and work in a far better world than I have. If we each do our part in helping to keep our environment clean then this really can happen. Again please re-visit this page as we will keep you informed as we find new and better ideas and ways of helping keep our environment cleaner.