A. Duie Pyle, a Northeast transportation and logistics provider, is reducing its impact on the environment as the company’s largest warehouse facility churns out solar energy at full capacity.
Pyle’s megawatt solar installation is now running at full capacity, supplying all the electricity for the company’s 570,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution facility. The installation, managed by MainLine Solar of West Chester, Penn., involved a roof mount of 4,464 flat panel modules which covers approximately 50 percent of the facility’s rooftop.
The solar installation is among several green initiatives in place at Pyle. Environmental measures are in motion throughout the company, including fuel-efficient equipment and engine idling controls, recycling and waste reduction of motor oil and tires, energy efficient lighting, and organizational changes such as the use of sustainable cleaning products.
The company’s IT department is also playing a critical role and has more than a dozen systems integration, data management, and software solutions in development that are changing the way the company improves fuel efficiency.
“Technology is a centralizing component of business and environmental performance,” said Michael Crowley, vice president and chief information officer.
Crowley’s team developed over 500 enhancements in 2010 alone and he has already begun a full-scale implementation of sophisticated route planning optimization technology, which will improve terminal operations efficiencies that directly impact fuel usage.
Pyle’s Information Technology Council engaged in a nine-month planning effort which involved extensive research and market scan, complex RFP review, and structured product demonstrations to find the right solution. With the first phase of implementation scheduled for later this year, the company expects to achieve pick-up and delivery efficiencies resulting in an annual 5-6 percent reduction in miles, maintenance costs and fuel consumption.
By choosing more modern technology with greater efficiency, Crowley’s efforts to reduce the company’s environmental footprint is already scoring results. To date, printer/copier/fax modernization efforts have reduced the number of individual devices from 173 to 43 multi-function printers. With over 250 hardware and software replacements complete, Pyle employees have experienced a ten-year jump in technology that is affording the company substantial reductions in power usage. A server virtualization/consolidation project will also contribute to power savings through a reduction of at least 50 percent of Pyle’s physical servers and attendant space. Pyle’s IT department is also helping to create a paperless environment for shippers, having worked with nearly 200 customers to convert them to paperless EDI transactions last year.
“Our plan for sustainability is to achieve social, environmental and economic performance – that’s a triple bottom line,” said Peter Latta, owner and chairman of A. Duie Pyle. “Our sizable investment in technology and solar energy is heading in that direction.”
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4/14/2011 – A. Duie Pyle Goes Solar
A. Duie Pyle, a Northeast transportation and logistics provider, is reducing its impact on the environment as the company’s largest warehouse facility churns out solar energy at full capacity….
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