Steelcase to discuss water management

Water is fast becoming the new carbon with companies across the globe looking to develop water reduction strategies. “Water conservation is quickly becoming a mainstream topic around the world as the demand grows and supply dwindles,” points Mary Ellen Mika, Supply Chain Manager at Steelcase. Mika will be presenting on the office furniture manufacturer’s water conservation strategy at the upcoming Corporate Climate Response event in Chicago (September 22-24). She will be joined one of her suppliers, Keith Lane of DuBois Chemicals, to discuss how the two worked together on water reduction.

Why is water management an important part of your climate strategy?

Water conservation is quickly becoming a mainstream topic around the world as the demand grows and supply dwindles. Our facilities in Atlanta, California and Mexico are being challenged by local governments to reduce water consumption. The cost of potable water is increasing in arid regions.

As climate change occurs the Great Lakes basin will see increasing demands on our plentiful water supply in that area. If the world is to have a “sustainable” clean water supply we believe we need to start conserving and preserving renewable sources now before it is too late.

Of equal importance is the elimination of pollution in otherwise usable water supplies, from sources such as surface runoff, contaminated ground water, and more. Steelcase is making progress in not only reducing consumption but eliminating negative impacts on storm water and reducing contaminants in wastewater sent to local sewage treatment plants.

How much water have you saved so far through your project with DuBois Chemicals?

We have saved over 45 million gallons/year so far with the changes we’ve made to our powder coating pre-treatment systems through DuBois’ assistance. In addition to our water savings, we’ve reduced energy costs by more than $450,000/year.

We no longer need to heat as much water and no longer need to raise it to as high of a temperature for effective parts cleaning. As a result, the water savings have helped us significantly reduce energy usage. We are not finished with implementing these improvements on all of our pre-treatment systems throughout the world – so more savings are yet to come.

What are you most looking forward to at Corporate Climate Response?

We look forward to hearing the ideas and approaches other companies are using that may be transferable to our processes and that could be incorporated into DuBois’ methodology to continue to help us and their other customers. We are always looking for opportunities to improve.  

In addition, we look forward to the topics that are not specific to water issues. We have many challenges facing us as we reduce our carbon footprint and try to become a more sustainable business. The conference promises to cover a wide variety of topics so we are looking forward to participating.