Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, Pa. -- The U.S. Department of Energy recently recognized General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems, Scranton Operation, with a Better Plants Goal Achievement Award for achieving their energy reduction goal.
General Dynamics set a goal to achieve a 25 percent reduction in energy intensity by 2020. Energy intensity is a measure of the amount of energy used to achieve a specific need, in this case at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, to manufacture a standardized unit of product.
In early 2016, they exceeded that goal with a 32 percent reduction from the baseline year of 2009. This award is the latest GD-OTS achievement in energy management.
"General Dynamics has worked extremely hard in collaboration with the Department of Energy to achieve their energy reduction goals; their hard work and process improvement strategies have paid dividends to ensuring we can continue to produce a quality product efficiently and at best value to the government," said Rich Hansen, Scranton Army Ammunition Plant commander's representative.
In January 2013, General Dynamics, Scranton Operation, successfully passed an ISO 50001:20011(e) Energy Management Systems and Superior Energy Performance (SEP) ANSI/MSE 50021 certification audit. GD-OTS is the first organization in Pennsylvania and the first Department of Defense contractor to achieve these certifications.
While projects that replaced old, inefficient equipment with state-of-the-art, energy efficient equipment have made significant contributions to GD-OTS' energy intensity reduction, about 70 percent of the reductions have been achieved through operational controls. Effective operational controls are achieved by paying attention to the details of how energy is used and adjusting operations to minimize the non-productive use of energy. Further reductions are anticipated as GD-OTS and the Army continue to work together to improve energy management.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings, Better Plants Program and Challenge has partnered with manufacturers and water utilities to seek out and capture these energy efficiency opportunities. Partners set a specific goal, typically to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent within 10 years across their U.S. operations. A smaller number of leading partners have joined the higher-level Better Plants Challenge and are openly sharing their energy performance data and energy efficiency solutions in addition to setting an energy-saving goal. DOE provides all Better Plants partners with technical assistance to achieve their goals and national recognition for their leadership.
The Scranton Army Ammunition Plant manufactures large-caliber metal projectiles and mortar projectiles for the Department of Defense. The installation was originally constructed as a steam-locomotive erecting and repair facility in 1908. SCAAP was established in 1953 and operated by U.S. Hoffman Machinery Corporation until 1963, when Chamberlain Manufacturing Corporation became the operating contractor. General Dynamics, Ordnance and Tactical Systems assumed operation of the facility from Chamberlain in 2006 and is the current operating contractor. SCAAP is the recipient of the AMC Superior Unit Award and the Department of Defense Environmental Sustainability Award.
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