addition to the lighting control system,
the team has also installed the timer
controllers to switch off the ventilation
and air conditioning systems
automatically during production
break times.
Energy Patrol Team
The RECT has also set up energy
patrol team to monitor energy waste
on the production floors and in other
manufacturing areas. The patrol team
conducts weekly patrols to identify
any cases of energy waste. The
result of the energy patrol is added
as part of the Environment, Health,
and Safety (EHS) rewarding scheme
so that all demerit points recorded
by the energy patrol team will affect
the monthly EHS assessment, and
the monthly demerit summary report
is also sent to the management of
the factory operations and all RECT
members. The responsible persons
of the production area also have to
prepare a corrective action plan to the
RECT. If the floor manager and the
responsible persons of the production
area have failed to improve any
identified issues within three months,
they have to attend three full-days
EHS workshop and follow up the
issues with assistance from the RECT
energy experts.
Energy Saving
Programmes in
Manufacturing Process
As VTech manufacturing facilities
mainly consist of assembly and plastic
injection plants, electricity is the major
energy resource in our production
process, of which operating air
conditioning system (A/C) and
injection were the major processes
with higher electricity usage in
FY2015 as shown in the following
charts.
VTech Holdings Limited
26
VTECH SUSTAINABILITY ACTIVITIES
Energy Profile for
Plastic Injection Plant
Energy Profile for
Assembly Plant
30%
28%
11%
9%
5%
5%
3%
9%
32%
15%
14%
23%
4%
4%
8%
* the energy profile is the average of
energy usage in FY2015
* the energy profile is the average of
energy usage in FY2015
improve the indoor air quality and
air flow within the production floors,
the team is going to gradually
upgrade the entire ventilation system
and redesign the layout of the air
conditioning ducts of the production
floors in FY2016, which will further
improve the air circulation on the
production floors.
Energy Saving Project in Plastic
Injection
Plastic injection is an energy intensive
process. Improving the energy
efficiency of the injection moulding
machines can result in remarkable
energy reduction. By adopting the
hydraulic servo control technology
in our existing injection moulding
machines, we have reduced energy
usage by 40-60% depending on
the product models. The hydraulic
drives take up about 48% of the
machines’ total energy consumption.
The conventional fixed-speed motor
pumps oil continuously without
measuring the actual needs of the
process causing unnecessary oil
Improvement in Air Conditioning
System
Our RECT team has made a lot
of efforts to improve the energy
efficiency of the air conditioning
system while maintaining the comfort
level on the production floors. As
the first stage of upgrading air
conditioning and ventilation system,
the team had first connected air
conditioning systems among buildings
for optimising the A/C units during
winter time in FY2015. To further
Injection
A/C
Silk screening
Air compressor
Surface Mount Device
Auto Insertion &
Manual Insertion
Bonding
Casing
Moulding
Lightings
Plastic scrap
Others
leakage and energy waste. The
variable speed motor, however, could
change the pump speed according
to the system demand. Besides, it
could also stop the pump during any
break times in the moulding process
which greatly reduces the energy
consumption and leakage. Currently,
we have upgraded 10% of our total
injection moulding machines in
FY2015 which has reduced 20% of
Others
A/C
Air Compressor
Injection moulding machine with hydraulic
servo control
