In order to continuously improve its sustainability, the Eltroplan Group obtained ISO 14001 certification a few months ago. The most recent project was the commissioning of a solar park, and further measures to improve the eco-balance are in progress or planned.
The Eltroplan Group consists of Eltroplan Engineering in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl and Eltroplan Industrial in Stockach. The company offers Electronic Engineering and Manufacturing Services (EEMS) as a pure service provider, with a focus on special services and sophisticated products in small and medium-sized series and with sustainability at the forefront. Eltroplan is a pure service company without its own products.
As Michael Pawellek, Managing Director of the Eltroplan Group, explained, the company has been on the road to sustainability for many years. The company wants to be a role model in the industry, and shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees and the surrounding area, including the environment, should benefit equally and sustainably. Sustainable growth is achieved by concentrating on long-term business, i.e. customer products with a long product lifecycle. The desired environmental neutrality is achieved through a mix of measures to avoid, reduce and offset environmental pollution.
Investing in sustainability for years
CTS photovoltaic cells on the roofs have been generating electricity for over a decade. Groundwater is used to generate heat and to cool the building (using a probe and heat pump). Heat exchangers are also installed on energy-intensive systems. No fossil fuels have been used since 2019. An intelligent building management system ensures efficiency. Among other things, the LED lighting in the office areas, toilets, stairs and corridors is controlled automatically (switched on and off as required). The company building is also state of the art in terms of energy efficiency. Rainwater from the roof areas is directed to a seepage area on the company premises. In addition, the former oil tank was converted into a cistern so that some of the rainwater can be stored for watering the green areas.
Certification and solar park
In recent months, further steps on the road to sustainability have been the certification of the environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001 by DQS and the completion and commissioning of the solar park on the approximately 2000 m² employee parking lot. This was completely covered with PV modules to generate electricity. The more than one thousand PV modules have a total output of over 300 kWp. In addition, electricity storage units with a capacity of 200 kWh and charging stations for e-vehicles (cars and bikes) are being installed. The system will be equipped with an intelligent electricity control system (load management). This allows the electricity to be distributed according to prioritized demand. This means that e-vehicles can be charged throughout the day if the production facilities require electricity as a priority. And the electricity storage units also make it possible to call up the surplus electricity from the weekend at the beginning of the week. This also comes at a price: investments totaling more than €1 million have been made in the solar park project. The whole thing was realized in the spirit of sustainability with companies from the region.
Eltroplan's new solar park: the view from below shows the complex construction of the parking lot roofing; Image: Eltroplan
Improving theCO2 footprint
As a service provider, Eltroplan has only limited influence on the properties of the products manufactured for its customers and the associated environmental impact, as these have to be realized according to customer specifications. However, Eltroplan carries out all processes, especially production, in the most environmentally friendly way possible and only uses renewable energies. In future, if in-house generation is not sufficient, only green electricity will be procured. Eltroplan thus actively contributes to improving theCO2 footprint of its customers' products.
Based on the results of the energy audit carried out by a specialist company at Eltroplan in the previous year, further measures are planned to improve the eco-balance and in particular theCO2 footprint. These include checking heat exchangers, compressed air lines and air conditioning systems as well as reducing electricity consumption by optimizing the operation of production facilities - starting with the SMT lines.
