Company saves jobs with a green product

[greencat]

ST. MARYS - Difficult economies require companies to be innovative and Abbott Furnace Company in St. Marys has done just that by expanding its business to produce furnaces that run on biomass, which has helped to keep its employees working.
Jeffrey Marzella, vice president of operations and co-owner of Abbott Furnace Company, said Abbott's market had focused mostly on making furnaces for powdered metal companies, although it does do business with some other companies.
When the economy began to slow down late last year, especially for the powdered metal industry Marzella started to think about what his company could do to keep his employees working.
"Our primary goal was to keep people employed. We have good people here. Our people are our assets," Marzella said.
Although the company had a large government job to keep the business going during the slow time all his employees would not have been needed to do the work.
The company, which employees about 50 people, would likely have had to lay off five or six employees, but Marzella came up with the idea of expanding the business into the manufacturing of biomass furnaces and grinders.
After looking in-depth at the idea and speaking with company co-owner Tom Jesberger, the two decided it would be a good-fit for the company.
Abbot Furnace began in 1982 with servicing furnaces and later started manufacturing continuous belt furnaces.
Working with a consultant, Marzella said they reviewed existing equipment. The first item they decided to build was actually a grinder that would be used to grind wood for Abbott to heat its building then they would build the biomass furnace.
They didn't stick to that plan because they began speaking with Horizon Wood Products in Kersey and the company was willing to work with Abbott. Working with the company gives Abbott the chance to work the bugs out and in turn Abbott gives the Kersey firm a good price for the item.
Horizon actually has a biomass system in place, but the system isn't quite big enough for all its needs.
The plan was to do an upgrade for Horizon, but in the end the decision was made to put a completely new system in place.
The new system has all the "bells and whistles," Marzella said. Everybody wins because Abbott has the chance to produce an entire system, which will cost more than Horizon had intended to spend, but Abbott will give it to Horizon at a drastically reduced cost. Abbott can also show customers interested in a biomass furnace Horizon's new furnace, which will be delivered in early November.
Everyone is moving toward "green" systems and there are a lot of initiatives out there to get people to replace non-renewable fuels like gas and oil with the biomass, Steve Feldbauer, vice president engineer for Abbott, said.
Building biomass furnaces and grinders is allowing Abbott to broaden its product base and stay current with where technology is going, Feldbauer said.
Abbott doesn't just assemble the furnaces/grinders, but builds it in-house, which is an advantage for companies because Abbott can service the furnaces/grinders and produce pieces more quickly than they could be delivered if ordered.
"We started in service and then moved into manufacturing so we still have a service mentality," Feldbauer said. The only part of the furnace not produced by Abbott is a hot water heat exchanger which requires a certification it hasn't received yet.
Abbott's furnaces will be set apart from others because of the level of technology and controls it has are so advanced, Marzella said.
Abbott's focus has been on the details. They didn't just find out how to build a furnace and put it together, first Marzella and Feldbauer spent a day actually running a furnace and talking with those who work with them everyday. This gave them the insight on how they could make their design better. Feldbauer used this information and paid close attention to detail and safety.
For instance a lock on the door where the ash is collected can be opened with a coin. The ash container can be moved by hand or with equipment the companies already have because of the position of the handles.
The furnace they built has computer controls and can be run with a remote. A person can find out by the touch of a button how hot the furnace is running and the amount of moisture in the system. Marzella said the furnace can even be programmed to send a text message to a cell phone if there is a problem with it.
Another feature of the furnace, and the reason the furnace is so large, is it is built to run on dry or fresh wood that contains more water. The water in the wood is actually heated and that heat is used to dry the wood chips.
The wood can be old pallets the company has lying around that can be ground up, tree limbs, boards or other types of wood.
Because it is a new product line the biomass furnaces and grinders are being sold under Abbott Energy Systems.
Not only has the new product line helped workers keep their jobs, but it may lead to the creation of more jobs in the future, Marzella said.

Courier-Express/Tri-County - Company saves jobs with a green product