$187,500

BACKGROUND

February 1998, Alan Punch, RAFLATAC Plant Manager requested a waste reduction assessment.  The collaborative efforts of RAFLATAC and the WRATT team evolved a formal Waste Reduction Policy and program with a goal to reduce waste by $100,000.

The British owned RAFLATAC plant receives large cylindrical rolls (8-10 ft. long, 3-4 ft. dia.) of  “prepared-for-printing” paper from four paper mills in Europe.  The function of the RAFLATAC plant is to cut the “prepared-for-printing” paper rolls to specific sizes (widths) for customers who print and produce small labels, such as those seen on bananas.  (Banana stickers).  RAFLATAC uses five (5) special paper cutting machines and ships approximately 1,400,000 pounds of pre-cut paper and generates approximately 40,000 pounds of paper waste each week.  This solid paper waste (2,000,000 lbs/yr.) is delivered to landfills in North Carolina.

WASTE REDUCTION ACTIVITIES

The employee training and awareness programs were initiated wherein each employee, as part of his/her work effort, was expected to suggest, find, and reduce waste wherever a waste condition was detected.  RAFLATAC provided continuous training and awareness sessions.

To identify possible waste sources. The WRATT team evaluated the following activities:

• Product design

• Purchasing procedures

• Inventory control

• Production process modification (Equipment changes and machine calibration)

• Cutting procedure

• Preventive maintenance

• Housekeeping practices

It was determined that the major sources of paper waste was: 1) The trim (30%) generated from the cutting process and;  2) The in-process material handling damage (70%)

Investigation of the “trim waste” source (30%) confirmed that the “cut sizes” (widths) were pre-selected to minimize the trim waste of each paper roll.  Therefore, since this source of waste is minimized, it was decided not to pursue additional waste reduction from the cutting process.

Investigation of the “in-process material handling damage” source (70%) of waste, and several employee observations and suggestions yielded significant waste reduction; some examples:

• It was noted that one of the five cutting and rewinding machine was generating “more than normal” waste.  The use of this machine was minimized.

• It was observed that, because of the close proximity of paper rolls stored in the warehouse, damage to the adjacent paper rolls occurred when the fork-lift maneuvered to remove the rolls.  This damage waste was eliminated by increasing the storage space between the paper rolls.

• The amount of paper used for laboratory testing was reduced.

• It was observed and reported, by a machine operator that at the end of the “specific size” cutting process, the machine continued to rotate after the “off-switch” was engaged, resulted in wasting an additional 30 feet of mill roll paper.  This paper waste was eliminated by engaging  the “off-switch  sooner at a preset time.

• “Additional caution” was used when transporting and loading paper rolls on the cutting machines. 
   

The cumulative affect of implementing these waste reduction activities was a significant reduction in paper waste amounting to annual savings of $187,500

WRATT’s continuing efforts to reduce RAFLATAC’s  paper waste include investigations to:

• Recycle waste - due to silicon content of the paper, the paper waste is non-recyclable.

•  Burn the waste - cost of $200/ton and $47.00/ton landfill cost. - too expensive.  

An innovative program to explore the possibility of using the baled waste as a construction material (building blocks) is on-going.  The current status of the program is that a building site has been selected and approved to build a garage or mid-size recreational building using RAFLATAC’s “bailed paper waste” blocks.

WASTE REDUCTION ANNUAL SAVINGS ($187,500)

Alan Punch, RAFLATAC plant manager advised that the waste rate has been reduce from 2.1% to .59%.  Each 0.1% reduction saved $35,000 annually.

*   5.1 Tons Paper Waste diverted from Landfill