GEMÜ Group Success Story

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Manufacturer Invests in Methods to Reduce Carbon Footprint

Company Profile: The GEMÜ Group is a family-owned manufacturer of valves, measurement, and control systems for liquids, vapors, and gases headquartered in Germany. GEMÜ North America, based in Atlanta, GA, is a global market leader for sterile applications and supports markets in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. GEMÜ North America is one of six production and logistics centers in the group along 27 subsidiaries globally.

Gemu Valves in a closeup photo.

Situation

In 2022, GEMÜ was looking to build a new, in-house electropolishing process line using new equipment and the latest technologies. They wanted to make sure the new line would not only meet but exceed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for wastewater treatment and air quality.

So, Jay Tompkins, production manager at GEMÜ, reached out to Sandra Enciso, project manager for the energy and sustainability group at the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech to conduct an environmental compliance assessment (ECA).

Through the ECA, GEMÜ would be able to identify environmental regulatory requirements that would apply to them based on their products, production processes, and other business practices.

Solution

Since this was for a new line, Enciso audited the design on their current process line, making recommendations for controls that would be needed for the new line.

Installed in February 2023, the new line was then audited for wastewater and air quality controls, including ventilation measurement from the inside to the outside of the building. GEMÜ will also be able to fulfill the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) industrial wastewater requirements by revising their water pretreatment and wastewater characterization process.

Additionally, one of GEMÜ’s business strategies is to be carbon neutral by 2030.  Enciso worked with Shane Lewis, continual improvement engineer & safety coordinator, to look at better green practices to reduce the company’s carbon footprint. GEMÜ also joined GaMEP’s sustainability cohort, designed to develop and implement preventative strategies that achieve cost savings and reduce environmental pollution.

In addition to partnering with GaMEP on their sustainability efforts, GEMÜ:

  • Worked with Georgia Tech’s Safety, Health, and Environmental Services (SHES) group to conduct a general safety study for personal exposure, air sampling and noise monitoring. The results were so impressive that the SHES group recommended them for SHARP certification, which is an elite group of small businesses that meet, maintain, and continuously improve an exemplary safety and health program to protect their employees from workplace injuries and illnesses.
  • Collaborated with GaMEP to participate in the German apprenticeship program, allowing students dual enrollment to earn a high school diploma and associate degree, while working part time for GEMÜ to gain the skills needed in local manufacturing industries.

Results

As a result of GaMEP and GEMÜ working together, the company:

  • Built pH treatment into the electropolishing line so that before water drains it gets treated at 100%.
  • Increased their apprenticeship program from zero to two students and plans to hire up to two more students in 2024.
  • Joined the sustainability cohort with three team members.
  • Will complete a scorecard at the end of the cohort for the company’s environmental footprint.

Testimonial

“We consider Georgia Tech a valuable partner. They continue to support our company in many different initiatives and have contributed to our current success. I look forward to hiring more students through the apprenticeship program and seeing how the process improvements we have made reduce our carbon footprint.”

–  Jay Tompkins, Production Manager, GEMÜ