Energy Efficient Manufacturing: How Green Can Be Done Easily
10 Jul 2017In 2010, Sam Pardue was reaching for a beer when everything changes. Sam took special notice of the silicone gasket surrounding his refrigerator door. He noted that the silicone seal kept his fridge the correct temperature, while keeping his electrcity bill in check and reducing his energy footprint. This was his eureka moment. This is exactly what Sam needed to block the cold drafts coming in from his Portland bungalow’s 1906 windows. With a silicone seal he could maintain the integrity of the beautiful historic wooden windows while making them more energy efficient. With this, Indow Windows was born.
An Environmentally Beneficial Company
Today, Sam Pardue is the CEO and Founder of Indow Windows, based in Portland, Oregon, USA. The company’s acrylic thermal window inserts are edged in silicone compression tubing. This patented design creates a super tight seal on interior window frames without damaging their aesthetics or inhibiting their functionality. But by far one of the best features of Indow’s inserts lies in their ability to maintain internal temperatures, making homes more energy efficient.
A U.S. Department of Energy study found that installing Indow inserts led to more than a 20% reduction in heating, ventilating and air-conditioning use in a Seattle home. Portland State Universirty Green Building Research Lab also found similar results. These are the kinds of research that make Sam proud. Homes and commercial buildings consume 40% of the energy used in America, according to the U.S. Department Energy, and so it's vital to air seal, insulate and address drafty windows to make those buildings more energy efficient. "We need do everything we can to address a changing climate that's endangering people the world over with rising seas, food shortages and drought. Every step we take helps," says Sam.
Indow also does its best to create a sustainable workplace. It provides employees with incentives to take alternative transit to work, reduce paper use, and even provides employees with their own hook and bathroom hand towel, which Sam personally launders! The company takes a triple bottom line approach to business considering people and the planet alongside profit. In addition, it also values creativity, discipline, confidence and humility. Sam is always looking to find innovative solutions to his manufacturing processes.
Working with TigerStop
Sam explained that Indow is grateful to be working with TigerStop, another local company, because they can have the equipment to help them innovate and grow. They recently started manufacturing its window inserts using a rigid acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) in combination with silicone compression tubing. Because ABS is inflexible unlike silicone, there is no room for error when cutting it.
“It’s vital that Indow makes precision angled cuts with its mitre saw because the rigid ABS doesn’t allow for any error, unlike soft silicone, which stretches and compresses,” explains Carrie Sturrock, Company Storyteller.
TigerStop’s SawGear, an automated stop that attaches to Indow’s chop saw, allows them to continue making inserts that fit snugly in window frames using the new ABS material. “It allows us to accurately cut the rigid frame to very tight tolerances required with our new product,” says Director of Operations, Rich Radford. “SawGear positions the frame to allow us to cut accurately each and every time.”
According to Indow’s Production Designer, Mark Pratt , TigerStop’s SawGear made a huge difference. Before, when all inserts were edged solely with flexible and forgiving silicone compression tubing, Indow was able to use a basic process that involved tape measures, a cutting jig, movable wood stops, and a razor blade to do the cutting. That process would be impossible with the new manufacturing method. “SawGear is easy to use and calibrate,” explains Mark. “Training new employees is easy. Without it we would be stuck using measuring tapes and our dimensional stability would go way down.”
TigerStop is also the perfect partner for eco-conscious companies like Indow. All of the machines are assembled by hand and manufactured in Vancouver, WA using the best waste-reducing, and lean manufacturing methods. TigerStop recycles cardboard and turns it into packaging material and also uses TigerStops to manufacture TigerStops! This way every part is cut extremely accurately, up to .008in, and with very little waste involved.
TigerStop is proud to supply machinery to Indow Windows who now sells inserts throughout the United States, in three provinces of Canada, the Bahamas, and is rapidly growing. Today, the company has 30 employees at its North Interstate Avenue factory in Portland where each insert is handcrafted.
Visit the SCM Group Australia website to find out more about TigerStop Automated Measuring Systems, or visit TigerStop for more information.
