Containers Printers is Outstanding SME of the Year

HOMEGROWN Containers Printers Pte Ltd has won the Outstanding SME of the Year Award which was introduced at last year's EENP Awards. This award recognises SMEs in manufacturing or industrial business activities that have demonstrated a high level of commitment to energy management.

Chief Executive Officer Amy Chung says the company is committed to continuous improvement across all aspects of its operations, including energy management. "We have built a dedicated energy management team involving members from different departments, invested in training, and established new data driven processes on energy usage tracking and performance monitoring."

The company has worked closely with the National Environment Agency (NEA) and its energy service partners to successfully implement multiple sustainability projects that have delivered significant energy savings and environmental gains. One of these projects included the adoption of renewable energy. In 2019, over 4,000 solar panels were installed on the rooftops, reducing the company's carbon footprint by 800 metric tons per year, which is equivalent to planting 20,000 trees.

"We are very proud to receive the Outstanding SME of the Year award as it is an acknowledgement and recognition of the effort that we have put into energy saving and sustainability. This award both validates and boosts our confidence in continuing our efforts in future," Chung tells The Business Times in an interview.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many adverse effects on the company. In 2020, its energy efficiency projects were delayed by a few months due to the manpower shortage and equipment supply delay. In the meantime, it proceeded to leverage on new technologies to work on its energy efficiency projects.

"We are using Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technologies to transition from a primarily analog and manual system of collection and reporting, to one that is digitised with real time monitoring and reporting. Our new system also extends our analysis capabilities, as deviations can be seen and addressed sooner, and more data driven experiments can be performed, says Chung."

The company will continue identifying new sources of potential energy improvements, she adds, saying that the benefits of being energy efficient include reduced energy usage and costs, on a like-for-like basis, as operations become more productive.

At the same time there is lower emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and other pollutants, which also contribute to the company's ESG and sustainability efforts. There is improved competitiveness of its products and services as customers are looking for lower carbon alternatives.

"Despite being an SME with significantly limited resources compared to other larger companies, we have invested in being more energy efficient because we see a long-term benefit," she says.

"We have managed to build our own energy team over time and developed their technical skills and competencies through internal and external training programmes. This has enabled us to build and upgrade our internal knowledge and skill sets in more areas. Other SMEs can leverage the incentives that the government has provided to support the adoption of new energy efficient technologies."

In 2020, with the NEA's Energy Efficiency Fund (E2F) support, the company completed two retrofitting projects in its factories. In one project, it upgraded from fixed to variable speed air compressors, which led to a 49 per cent energy efficiency improvement. Every year, the company can save 560 megawatt hours and reduce 396 metric tons of greenhouse gas emission (CO2 equivalent).

In the other project, it replaced all fluorescent tubes in the production area with LED lights, reducing its overall lighting energy use by 51 per cent, equivalent to 150 megawatt hours' savings and 106 metric tons' reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent).

New energy efficiency initiatives in the company include retrofitting the air-conditioning systems in the production areas to use high energy efficiency Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) technology. This will allow the company to improve its energy efficiency by up to 40 per cent. It also plans to use a more environmentally friendly refrigerant (R-410A) than the existing R22.

"Our energy team has identified and implemented energy efficiency initiatives for production optimisation. For instance, we minimised machine standby time, and prioritised the use of production lines through better planning and usage of production lines," says Chung.

She says that the company is committed to supporting Singapore's national sustainability goals, and is working closely with the NEA and partners to complete the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Assessment (EEOA). The results of the EEOA will provide it with new opportunities to explore.

"Energy management is also part of our Industry 4.0 roadmap... We will use new AI learning models to help us to drive machine level performance analysis, and further drive our continuous improvements in energy performance and cost."

Founded in 1981, Containers Printers provides innovative packaging, printing, and digital solutions to leading brands in the nutrition, food and medical industries. From its factories in Singapore, the company helps its customers around the world to deliver their brand promise with packaging that meets the highest standards of safety, quality and reliability.