Kahn’s facility management team faced a number of initial challenges, including attending to an array of deferred maintenance items. Kahn initiated a comprehensive re-lamp program, for instance, employing more efficient light bulbs without replacing ballasts, starters, or circuits. In a plant initially designed for expansion, Kahn also undertook to optimize production processes by shutting down certain stages of the existing processes to improve overall plant efficiencies. Kahn facility managers also determined that uninterrupted operation of the plant’s chilled water loop, usually dormant in winter, minimized plant-wide natural gas usage, resulting in substantial cost savings.

Kahn and DMAX used a proprietary software program developed by Siemens USA to design and implement the Chiller Optimization Program – a robust process that selects the most energy-efficient combinations of equipment systems and utilizes strategies (such as imbedding smaller machines within larger ones) to effectively cut much of the cost typically associated with chiller operations. In addition, DMAX and Kahn teamed with Ingersoll-Rand to implement an air compressor optimization system that has enabled DMAX to meet the varying demands of compressed air in assembly operations while reducing equipment cycling, energy usage, and wear and tear.