Solvent Green

San Antonio, TX-based Southwest Signs is a full-service, sign-manufacturing company. Established in 1946, the company manages national, regional and local signage programs in many different industries. Our mission is to provide quality sign products and services that reflect our commitment to integrity and respect for customer needs. Committed to exceeding expectations, we recognize that satisfied customers are our future.
Our company discovered we can make a difference in our products by reducing power consumption and costs. Also, we want to give our customers what the public is demanding from them, which is a greener carbon footprint, as well as help them save money.
What prompted the big decision to go green? To be honest, I don’t believe it was one, big decision. We’ve added “green” over time. Our CEO, Chad Jones, has always found it important. Our green initiative just became public when we finally had a chance to impact our customer.
The decision to go green has affected every aspect of our business. Upfront, our environmental R&D approach has led to offering green solutions to our customers. In the design phase, we evaluate whether solar panels, LEDs and T8 lighting can be incorporated to save costs and cut energy consumption.
For example, this year, San Antonio’s North Central Baptist Hospital came to us with a problem. At night, visitors couldn’t see a sign in the parking lot because it wasn’t illuminated. Additionally, the hospital wanted to add a new sign to the lot. Because this was an established site, running electricity to the sign would’ve cost an estimated $20,000.
After having examined maximum conspicuity options, Southwest Signs suggested solar-powered signs to solve their problem, as well as help the hospital reduce power-consumption costs and impact the environment positively. So, our team manufactured a new, double-faced, internally illuminated cabinet and re-worked an existing, double-faced cabinet to be powered totally by solar energy. Both signs can be lit 12 hours a night.

Inhouse
In our manufacturing plant, we changed some lighting elements and installed skylights so we can use natural light; our office uses 80% T8 lighting. Now, our manufacturing plant uses less energy, and our company saves approximately 18% annually on energy costs. In only a year, we recouped our investment in the skylights.
We also reduce costs other ways. For our three expansions since 2003, our new buildings were built to include our green initiatives. The solar panels on our gates that lead back to the manufacturing plant provide enough energy to open and close the gates when required. We use no HVAC in the manufacturing plant (except in the paint area), only fans or heaters as needed. We’ve reduced trash-disposal fees by 20% and create less waste. In our office, we added new roof insulation to seal the building. We also regulate air temperature and turn off all electrical devices overnight to conserve energy.
Our company uses Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, which meets progressive, make-to-order or mixed-mode manufacturing needs. The ERP software is customized to deliver a built-in workflow process that enables us to manage the entire order cycle and allows us to reduce paper consumption by 90%. By 2011, we will be 85% paperless.
Electronic invoicing and automated payables are the next steps we’re investigating .
Roughly 80% of the material we use is recyclable. We recycle sign replacements, along with aluminum, plastics and polycarbonates. We utilize automated equipment, such as automatic sanders, routers, cutting machines and clustering machines to nest minimal shop scrap of raw materials. We also re-engineer signs to have fewer welds but stronger frames. Our goal is 97% material usage.
Receptacles have been placed in the plant and offices for employees to place such recyclable items as aluminum, steel, pipe, plastic, unused paint, unused paint thinner, paper, cans and printer cartridges. Most recyclable material is collected in designated bins, picked up by our suppliers and recycled into new materials. Some items, such as batteries and cans, are collected and turned in to be recycled.
We also encourage our suppliers to offer recyclable materials and/or search for new, eco-friendly suppliers.
Our green committee, which we set up three years ago, is investigating purchasing a newer trash compactor, “bloom box” fuel (Bloom Energy‘s much-hyped fuel cell) and “windtricity” to run our office and manufacturing plant, in conjunction with the power company.
We quantify each initiative based on the scope of the green initiative. Our material-recycling programs have short implementation periods – you merely place recycling receptacles in the office. However, capital investments, such as an industrial trash compactor, required long implementation periods, because considerable planning is involved. This may sacrifice short-term profitability, but would be overcome by the life of the initiative.

Solar power
We began to incorporate solar power in signs in 2009, after having tested it for a year, when a client wanted to redo a monument sign at their site. We offered solar power because this was our first chance to implement solar with a client.
San Antonio lies on the edge of the most intense, solar-power concentration in the U.S. To benefit from San Antonio’s sun-drenched environment, Southwest Signs designed, manufactured and installed the first, LED-illuminated solar power sign in San Antonio.
Project manager Justin Brister and our Southwest team tested and developed prototypes that could light the sign for five hours a night throughout the week. Located at the Quarry Golf Course and Restaurant, the sign comprises 11 x 8-in. aluminum, reverse channel letters, halo-lit with GE Lumination Tetra Max LEDs, and mounted on a 5 ft. 8-in. x 7 ft. 10-in. aluminum-backer panel. The 12V LEDS are run directly off a 12V battery, which solar panels recharge.
Convincing clients to convert to solar power is difficult when they have easy access to electricity, because solar power costs more upfront, even though it will cut costs in the long run. It’s much easier if the client’s existing site doesn’t have power at the sign location. Also, the decision to install solar power in signs is site-specific.
Southwest Signs’ new green offerings, which are just as important as solar power in terms of energy consumption, are LED components that resemble exposed neon in custom signage. In fact, these low-voltage LED products are up to 40% more energy efficient than neon.
Southwest Signs is backing the development of a sign-industry standard, such as Underwriter’s Laboratories did for the electric industry, and as LEED certification did for the construction industry.
Our solar-powered green initiative has attracted new clients. Existing clients are revisiting their previous signs to see if they can implement solar-power or LEDs to save on energy costs.

Guy Cox is president of Southwest Signs’ national division and co-owner of Southwest Signs.