A Leader in Sustainable Furniture Design
Founded in Toronto in 1983, Teknion has emerged as a leader in contract furniture design and manufacturing. With a strong commitment to sustainability, the company develops an annual charter outlining steps to reduce its environmental footprint.
The Quest for Efficient Dust Collection
Tekwood, Teknion's wood division, sought a more efficient solution for dust collection system controls. Olaf Boehm, Teknion Manufacturing Engineer, explains, "During production, the system was constantly running at full power. It would not modulate based on actual dust generation, consuming enormous amounts of energy."
SyEnergy and Ecogate: A Winning Partnership
Tekwood invited SyEnergy Integrated Energy Solutions to evaluate its 6,225-square-meter facility in North York, Ontario. Specializing in energy-efficiency projects for industrial facilities, SyEnergy recommended the Ecogate Intelligent Ventilation system.
Ecogate continually monitors all factory workstations, adjusting fan power to match machines' real-time needs. Teknion received a $75,840 incentive from saveONenergy for the project, thanks to Ecogate's proven energy efficiency.
A single greenBOX MASTER unit now controls Teknion's system, managing all 26 Ecogate automated blast gates and Power Master Variable Frequency Drives for both dust collectors (350HP & 50HP).
We are witnessing drastic savings in electricity. - John Martinovic, Director of Operations, Tekwood
Remarkable Energy Savings and Improved Work Environment
After commissioning, the average fan load for the dust collectors dropped from 280kW to 114kW. John Martinovic, Director of Operations at Tekwood, states, "We continue to project energy savings of around 60% on dust collection, which translates into $90,000 per year."
The chart above displays the electricity use over a day at Tekwood's facility. The Ecogate system is fully automated, stopping during shift breaks at 9:30am, 4:30pm, and 7:00pm.
Seeking new technologies and implementing devices such as Ecogate is part of Teknion's corporate culture to attain a more sustainable outcome. - David Feldberg, President & CEO, Teknion
The Ecogate system reduces both fan speed and noise levels on the factory floor, creating a more pleasant work environment. Tom Ryan, President of SyEnergy, highlights an additional benefit: "With continuous machine center status information from our sensors, we can provide useful tools beyond energy management, such as work center uptime and performance tracking over time using Ecogate's analytics platform."
David Feldberg, Teknion President & CEO, emphasizes the company's dedication to sustainability: "Seeking new technologies and implementing devices such as Ecogate is part of Teknion's corporate culture to attain a more sustainable outcome."