Manufacturers get a chance to hear about energy efficency and more
Representatives from l ocal manufacturers gathered at Gildan Yarn in Cedartown to talk about a variety of issues and hear about an opportunity for their plants to get help in becoming more energy efficient.
John Zegers from the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership at Georgia Tech was the guest speaker during the Aug. 16 meeting to talk about the organization's efforts to help Georgia companies be more energy efficient.
The organization partners with companies by given them a free energy efficiency assessment of their plants and equipment at no cost.
"Through a f ederal grant, GaMEP can visit an industry and provide a customized energy assessment at no cost and produce actionable items that will increase energy efficiency," said Zegers.
According to the organ iz a t i o n ' s website, GaMEP helps manufacturers improve their competitiveness, market, product base and bottom line through coaching and education.
GaMEP is a state and federally funded initiative, making it a cost effective alternative to traditional consulting.
Specializing in areas such as Lean and process improvement, quality management, energy management, sustainability, and business growth (new customer development, new market expansion, and product development), our mission is to help manufacturing companies across Georgia grow and stay competitive.
It's one of many initiatives the state has provided to help manufacturers to try and gain competitive advantage over others who might try to at- tract companies away from Georgia through their own incentive packages.
Companies like Gildan Yarn get to use the assessments t o decide where to best invest their money on energy efficiency upgrades, so they get the most out of what they do spend on future upgrades.
Gildan officials provided a tour of the facility to participants from other local plants, government officials and economic development partners. They were the latest to host a roundtable, with the one previous held in May at GEO Specialty Chemicals.
The round tables were an idea brought back by DAPC President and CEO Missy Kendrick as a way to help connect industries together in the community so she could help better serve their needs, as well as help them work together as well and de- velop future partnerships.
She said that so far, that goal is working out.
"Participation in the roundtables is growing and the combination of industry representatives and local government officials allows us to iden- tify and address potential issues immediately," Kendrick said.