Roger L. Jennings

Cutting costs is the quickest way to improve profitability. The electric bill can be cut easily in most businesses.

Studies our Company has conducted in shops large and small reveal that 50% of the power bill typically comes from only one use of power – flash curing. The other half of the power bill comes from everything else – indoor and outdoor lights, conveyor dryer, automatic press, embroidery machines, and more.

Flash dryer The cost of flash curing can be cut several ways. First, install a temperature control switch, if the flash dryer does not already have this control. The switch is a rheostat that controls the amount of power going to the heater element. Your cost to add such a switch will be under $50.

Second, lower the heater element to 1-2" above the garment being cured. A temperature control allows positioning the heater element this close to the garment without fear of scorching. Such a close distance reduces the chance of curing being uneven across an image area, or curing being uneven due to drafts in the room, such as from people walking by the flash dryer.

Third, use 220 volt rather than 110 volt flash dryers. Heat level corresponds to wattage, and watts are volts times amps. So by doubling the volts from 110 to 220 the same wattage can be achieved with half as many amps. The power company bills you based on amps.

Demand Charges An inspection of the electric bill at most companies will reveal charges for the power actually used, which are denoted as KWH, demand charges (KW) and miscellaneous other charges like fuel surcharges. Demand charges are not power used, but rather the peak level at which power was used at an instant during the billing period. You the customer are billed all month long for this momentary peak use of power.

Demand charges are analogous to driving a car. At some time during the month you might have driven as fast as 80 m.p.h. on the freeway, but for most hours during the month your car was parked. The power company bills you demand charges as though you drove your maximum speed constantly for the entire month. The demand charge would be the same whether you drove at this speed 24 hours a day for every day of the month, or just for an instant.

At companies that incur demand charges, the charge for demand (KW) is frequently more than the power (KWH) actually used to operate electrical equipment like flash dryers. So the objective is clear. You will want to reduce demand charges.

Flash dryers with electric bulbs cycle on and off creating sudden demands for power, that is, demand charges. The higher the wattage of the flash dryer, the greater will be the demand charges. Such glass bulb dryers also have a higher maintenance cost replacing bulbs than infra-red heater elements.

Any high wattage or high amperage electrical equipment that is turned on will be recorded on the demand meter owned by the power company. A group of electrical pieces of equipment turned on at approximately the same time will record on the demand meter just like one larger electrical motor, flash unit or light. A 1000 watt exposure unit being turned on while the flash dryers are running, conveyors are running, and other power is being used in other applications would combine to create a new peak in demand.

The power companies automatically record demand within about every 15 minutes. So demand can be managed to a lower level by avoiding running a flash dryer and turning on the 1000 watt exposure unit within the same 15 minute period. We no longer turn on our sodium lights in the plant and have replaced them with fluorescent light fixtures to reduce the demand for power. An inventory of all electrical appliances will reveal where the greatest risk of creating demand charges exists.

Sales tax Another candidate for cost reduction, and possible a refund check, is sales tax. Not all political jurisdictions have a sales tax on power, but most do.

Sales tax applies only to sales to the final consumer within the same state. So the farmer who grows cotton does not charge sales tax on cotton going to the textile mill, and the mill does not charge sales tax on shipments to wholesalers. If sales tax were charged, then the process would be sales tax on sales tax which is the way the value added tax works in Europe.

If you pay sales tax on your power, or sales tax on the gas used in a conveyor dryer, or sales tax on any other item used to produce a product, that becomes part of the total cost of the product. Then when the finished product is sold to the consumer, sales tax is charged again. That is double taxation, and illegal, but you may nevertheless be incurring the double tax. Here is how double taxation can be avoided.

First, check your electric bill to see if sales tax is stated separately, and list the amounts paid monthly for the past three years. Excise taxes are not a sales tax. If no sales tax is shown, check with the utility to find out if sales tax is included in the utility’s rate structure.

Next, an inventory of electrical usage must be prepared. For example, list each flash dryer, wattage, and number of hours used per month. Watts times hours is KWH, or kilo watt (1000 watts)hours. That is how the business is billed by the utility. Count the number of light bulbs in the ceiling, and multiply by the watts of each bulb and number of hours the lights are on. List everything that uses power, the watts, (volts times amps) and hours of operation. Power consumption will vary by season due to air conditioners, radiant heaters that are typically high wattage, seasonal work patterns and other determinants of power consumption that you want to look for.

Soon you will realize the benefits of turning off lights and equipment not in use. We had the Coke delivery man remove the light bulb from the soda machine since we all know where the machine is located. We removed one of two exit light bulbs at every exit, and replaced worn out 25 watt bulbs with 15 watt bulbs. The hours of operating of outdoor lights on our plant and parking lots were cut to those hours where we need light. Preparing the inventory will suggest opportunities for you to cut your power costs.

Power used in non-production areas like accounting and the sales office are taxable. Power used to produce the product is exempt from sales tax. So power to a press, flash dryer, conveyor dryer, lights in the printing or embroidery area, and compressor is exempt. The products could not be created for sale without these uses of power. By contrast, power is consumed in accounting and sales areas without any connection to producing the product.

Studies we have conducted in screen printing shops have resulted in exemptions as high as 85% of total power consumed. Once approved by the state sales tax bureau, sales tax is applied in these cases to only 15% of the power bill. Now that is a savings every month that goes right to the pre-tax line of the income statement.

The state sales tax bureau will tell you their procedure to follow. In New York we submitted our engineering study, which was the inventory of electrical usage showing wattage and hours, to the sales tax bureau on their forms and received an exemption letter in return. We then sent a copy of the sales tax exemption letter to the utility which removed sales tax from all future power bills.

As part of our submittal to the sales tax bureau we requested a three year refund of sales taxes paid multiplied by the exemption percentage. In about six weeks we received the check for 85% of the sales taxes we had paid.

Now we calculate the sales tax to be paid to the state and add that amount on the periodic sales tax return. However, that cash payment for us is at the end of the sales tax reporting period rather than paying the utility which has use of our sales tax money interest free until the utility remits to the state at a future date. So we have also improved our cash flow.

Other Power Saving Moves Flash and conveyor dryers can be rendered inefficient by air flow in the shop. Air will flow between doors and windows. A conveyor should be positioned perpendicular to that natural air flow so air does not flow through the conveyor dryer. A flash dryer should be isolated from the flow by a barrier and close proximity to the garment being flash cured. Flash cure units should not be positioned near lanes where people walk creating air turbulence.

A conveyor with a vent can be turbo-charged by placing a flat sheet of metal over the vent converting the conveyor from a convection oven to a baking oven. Convection ovens raise a lot of lint off the garments, but baking ovens do not. The down side of a baking oven is some dark shirts have a strong odor when the dye is cured, and your personnel might find that objectionable. If windows or doors can be opened, a fan can be used to remove the odor. Converting a convection oven to a baking oven makes it more efficient and allows turning the temperature and electric bill down.

If the conveyor dryer has openings at both end that are higher than required by the garments going through the dryer, tape cardboard over the portion of the opening not required for garments to pass under the door. Insulated doors and dryer hoods will be more efficient.

Higher mesh counts, thinner stencils, and inks with less pigment produce ink films that are easier, faster and less expensive to cure. Half tone dots printed with transparent process ink through a 305 mesh cure faster and with less heat than pigment loaded white ink through a 110 mesh. So every step possible to require less heat will save money. That means using retensionable screens so ink is not driven into the garment, using the highest mesh count possible, and creating bright images with a half tone underbase rather than a thick slab of ink, for example.

Often when visiting customers I observe flash units running up the power bill, but the employees "on break" or the flash dryer not being used for some other reason. Shops with two people or more will use their dryers more efficiently, if they work in shifts so that the press and dryers are always being used.

Measuring Power Costs A power bill can be confusing to read and understand. Here is how to make it very simple. Just take the amount of the check you write, that is, the bottom line, and divide by the number of KWH or kilo watt hours. If you are paying over 12 cents, you have one of the most expensive power companies in the U.S. If you are paying around 3 cents, you have one of the least expensive. Customers served by Rural Electric Coops, small municipalities and selected government funded organizations pay less typically, and customers served by large utilities pay more. In our experience supplying well over 4000 high voltage electrical substation and transmission projects the larger utilities have less control over capital expenditures, and that is reflected in your power bill.

Your Next Dryer Purchase Flash and conveyor dryers that have air pushed through the heater element are more effective at curing and less likely to scorch the garment. Such an air assist will add to your initial cost, but will pay back quickly. If fans are used, then you must clean the filters daily to prevent clogging the holes in the dryer, or you are better off not buying such a dryer.

Conclusion There are many ways to cut the power bill and make more money. You don’t give any vendor or employee a blank check, and can tear up the blank check for power. The savings will start shortly after the inventory of power consumption is prepared and you take action.

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