About US:
Sustainability
>SAS< Automation’s continued success depends
upon our lean manufacturing model that undergoes
continuous improvement. Continuous improvement,
in both our internal and external sustainability
efforts, is a significant focus of the Company.
Internal
Sustainability
>SAS< has always been committed to the
responsible use of environmental resources in
our manufacturing operation.
Internally, >SAS< has invested heavily in
solar energy through the installation of a large
photovoltaic solar array for our main
manufacturing facility. This array consists of
222 solar panels, each providing 230 watts for a
total of 51.2 kWatt at a cost of about $285,000
USD / 205,000 EUR.
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The solar panels are now generating
approximately 36,000 watts of power on a sunny
day and are expected to produce over 60 Million
Watt Hours of electricity over the next year
saving the SAS manufacturing facility over 30%
of their electricity costs.
 All of our offices are committed to
employing and exploring options for energy efficiency.
As standard practice we reduce, reuse and recycle
materials as stated in the
>SAS< Environmental Guarantee.
We have several environmental continuous
improvement programs in place:
- recycling of machining process chips, metals,
and paper material.
- turning thermostats down at nighttime when our
locations are idle.
- using almost all recyclable material in
packaging.
- providing energy efficient material handling
solutions to our customers.
- improving energy efficiency through upgrades
to HVAC systems and controls, insulation, and
thermal windows.
- installing LED outdoor lighting and additional
motion detection switches.
To further reduce our carbon footprint, we actively
increase our use of e-learning tools and other
electronic communication methods to both train our
sales force and communicate with our customers and
vendors.
External Sustainability Our external sustainability
efforts are truly pioneering. Tool builders for years
have re-used components from our tools that are no
longer needed, saving both energy and money.
We are also an industry producer of custom
engineered tooling specifically for the safe handling
of solar panels.
In 2010, we introduced a “green robotic End-of-Arm
Tooling Line (EOAT)” line that
reduces
carbon emissions and cycle times. This system
provides a much “greener”, safer, and more
cost-effective approach for certain applications in
comparison to other methods and makes it easier for
tool builders to make decisions best meeting their
carbon emission reduction goals.
Looking to the Future
 >SAS<
is pursing Green Business Certification and are
members of
Green Energy Ohio, an active promoter of
sustainability efforts.
According to owner Trent Fisher, “We see an
opportunity to continue to lead the industry by being
the first “green” renewable energy robotic tooling
supplier worldwide. We hope by installing our clean
and reliable solar array, that we will attract
like-minded customers who share in the vision of
reduced carbon emissions and taking action to curb the
global warming greenhouse effect. My hope is that
other manufacturers will see our success and better
apply the opportunities that solar and other renewable
energy sources offer.”
“Recently, >SAS< began to explore the use of
electric as well as compressed natural gas vehicles
for our employees and sales department. Our research
and development team is also actively developing more
environmentally friendly tooling options to add to our
modular robotic EOAT line,” added Fisher.
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