business backgrounder | employment & workplace
“Manufacturing lifts people up, manufacturing
transforms lives, and manufacturing makes
our country strong.”
— Kellie Johnson, president of ACE Clearwater Enterprises
green manufacturing award
emerald services, tacoma
Emerald Services captures the value of industrial fluids,
reducing the Northwest’s dependence on virgin chemicals,
while making local businesses greener and customers happier.
Emerald gives new life to oil and antifreeze used by the cars
we drive, solvents from our factories and by-products from
pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Each year, the company
recycles more than 20 million gallons of oil, glycol, solvent and
blended fuels, sending them back for reuse instead of disposal
as regulated waste. This family-owned company has facilities
in eight states, and recently invested in a new, expanded plant
in Tacoma to increase its capacity and support global export of
its recycled materials. This reduces fuel use, as many materials
no longer need to be shipped out of state for recycling. It also
allows by-products to be turned into an alternative fuel blend
for use in Washington industries without easy access to fuel
pipelines, such as pulp mills along the coast.
manhasset specialty company, yakima
Manhasset Specialty Company, an employee- owned
operation, makes iconic black music stands that are 100
percent green. In 2002, it replaced its painting process with
Want to share your manufacturing success story?
Contact AWB’s Karlee Keith at 800.521.9325 or
[email protected] to nominate a business for AWB’s
2015 Manufacturing Excellence Awards.
an environmentally-friendly powder coating. However, the
process of cleaning and preparing metal music stands for
powder coating created materials that needed to be disposed
of. So Manhasset didn’t stop working. This year, Manhasset
became the first company in the Northwest, and one of only
30 in the nation, to adopt a new surface treatment process
which is completely waste-free. To prepare for installation of
the Plaforization system, Manhasset shut down production
for more than a month. They began preparing in fall 2013,
building up an inventory of their high-end music stands to
meet customer demand. In February and March 2014, they
removed old equipment and set up the Plaforization line.
It was the biggest upgrade of their manufacturing line in
decades. The company anticipates full payback within one
to two years.
“A vibrant and innovative manufacturing sector is the
foundation of a strong economy here in Washington state
and the nation,” said Kris Johnson, AWB president. “These
employers are doing their part to harness ingenuity, to make
sustainability a priority, provide good-paying jobs that lift up
communities and find better ways to do business.”
Manhasset Specialty Company, which makes music stands,
earned AWB’s Green Manufacturing Award.
The 2014 Manufacturing Excellence Awards were sponsored
by UPS and the AWB Institute, AWB’s affiliate dedicated
to manufacturing and workforce development. The 2015
awards ceremony will be held in October.
AWB Manufacturing Excellence Awards keynote speaker Kellie
Johnson is the third generation to serve as president of ACE
Clearwater Enterprises (aceclearwater.com). The company, founded
by her grandfather in 1949, builds complex formed and welded
assemblies for the aerospace and power generation industries.
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