Case Study: Orbit Irrigation

Orbit Irrigation, the manufacturers of irrigation systems and watering products headquartered in Davis County, is hoping to reduce its environmental footprint by undergoing an extensive review of its business operations. As one of 100,000 global suppliers to Walmart, Orbit Irrigation stepped up its efforts to track its emissions by participating in a survey Walmart sent to them in 2009. The "Sustainable Product Index Survey" asked the company to measure their sustainability in four areas: energy and climate; natural resources; material efficiency; and people and community. "The evaluation process has been a learning experience for our 300-employee company," said Jeannie Clement, Orbit's vice president of Quality and Sales Support.

Environmental Benefits

Conservation of natural resources is not a new concept to Orbit, as the company adopted several environmental improvement projects in the past, such as upgrading to a closed-loop water system in its product testing room to reduce water use, employing Lean Manufacturing principles to reduce raw material use, and developing a faucet timer that assists homeowners that use hoses to control their water consumption.

Orbit is also launching a new sprinkler system, known as Eco-Lock and Blu-Lock, which is free of PVC and toxic glues. But, the process of evaluating the environmental impacts of a product throughout its lifecycle, from raw materials to end disposal, has been a challenge, noted Clement, especially when two of Orbit's manufacturing plants are located in China and information on raw materials is not as accessible.

In response to Walmart's Sustainable Product Index survey, Orbit is in the process of determining its greenhouse gas emissions which translates to calculating emissions from boilers, electricity use, and mobile sources, including company owned cars, employee commuting, and product transport. The company is upgrading its lighting system in addition to implementing other energy efficiency projects, after taking advantage of Rocky Mountain Power's energy audit program. In addition, the company foots the bill for half of their employee's alternative transportation (bus, Front Runner, and TRAX) expenses.

Other efforts include researching PVC-free packaging alternatives that can be recycled and pursuing Energy Star certification for their new light-emitting diode (LED) powered landscape lighting line, which requires less energy and has a longer lifetime, compared to conventional landscape lighting.

"The environmental improvement projects completed by Orbit are examples of what can be accomplished when a company takes a serious look at its long-term sustainability," said Clement.