Ardentec is Outstanding SME of the Year

BESIDES big companies, small businesses also play an important part in promoting energy efficiency in Singapore. To recognise this effort, an Outstanding SME of the Year award category has been added to the annual EENP Awards. The new award recognises SMEs in manufacturing or industrial business activities that have demonstrated a high level of commitment to energy management. The first Outstanding SME of the Year award recipient is Ardentec Singapore Pte Ltd.

Previously, the company had received the EENP Award under the Excellence in Energy Management category in 2017.

Ardentec says that it started its energy saving journey in 2012 and in 2018 its energy management system was certified ISO 50001:2011.

The SME plays its part in protecting the environment and nature through saving energy, and reducing waste and carbon emissions. This aligns with the promotion of the spirit of "4E", which represents - essential, efficiency, effectiveness and environment - to every staff in the company.

The company formed a dedicated task force team to drive energy saving projects with the support and commitment of the top management, and set an energy saving target of 3 per cent year-on-year for these projects.

The facility and environment, safety and health departments provide in-house energy saving awareness training to all new employees during the firm's orientation programme.

Employees have also attended external energy saving exhibitions and seminars.

Energy awareness

Ardentec's other energy awareness initiatives include screening videos on energy saving information at the lift lobby; sharing of energy saving information on common walkway notice boards and through e-mail; and featuring energy, environment, safety and health activities and articles every quarter in the company's newsletter.

Between 2018 and 2019, Ardentec attained the ISO 50001 certification and completed the following energy efficiency improvement projects: powering down wafer testing machines when in idle mode; replacing lighting to LED; improving its chiller system by replacing the air purge system. Its split unit air-conditioners were also removed in the office areas and linked to the centralised chilled water system for cooling.

Ardentec says that its annual energy consumption was reduced by more than 7 per cent from 2017 to 2019 despite the increase in production needs.

The company has also achieved the ISO14064 (greenhouse gas) certification.

Receiving the Outstanding SME of the Year award "is good recognition of our efforts. Getting the award will further drive our energy efficiency projects," says Michael Huang, general manager of Ardentec Singapore Pte Ltd.

He adds that while energy demand in the country will keep on going up as economic activities increase, improving energy efficiency can reduce energy consumption. This can bring down the energy cost and indirectly help to reduce carbon emission.

"On the micro level, energy efficiency can be translated into cost reduction and improving profit margin. On the macro level, being a responsible corporate citizen, we are consciously combining sustainability and operations, always aiming to reduce energy waste and carbon emission. We want to leave a liveable planet to many generations to come," says Mr Huang.

"Through various activities and projects, we incorporate the energy efficiency concept into our business, and drive energy saving ideas into our employees' minds, making everyone our energy saving ambassadors," he adds.

Systematic approach

Achieving ISO 50001 for the energy management system in 2019 led the company into a more systematic way to establish its approach in conducting the energy saving programme.

Management became more willing to invest in an energy efficiency system when it saw the returns from the energy saving projects.

Ardentec says that in 2019, it gained a saving of 1,147,962Kwh/yr, equivalent to the reduction of CO2 emission by 481 ton/yr.

Mr Huang says other initiatives that the company took included inviting equipment vendors to do on-site training.

Asked about plans for promoting energy efficiency going forward, he says that the company plans to share "best practices with peers, learn from each other and make energy efficiency our lifelong commitment, and spread the concept within our communities".

Ardentec Singapore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ardentec Corporation in Taiwan, which provides professional semiconductor testing services.