Article

NCR manufacturing plant honored for its green design

The award is important to NCR's customers and consumers who use the manufacturer's products, said Peter Dorsman, senior vice president of Global Operations for NCR.

May 9, 2011

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has honored NCR Corp. with a national award for its green design and use of sustainable building materials in the construction of its Columbus, Ga., manufacturing plant, where it makes ATMs, DVD kiosks and retail self check-out machines.

The 340,000 square-foot factory received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for speed and innovation in delivering a number of green design and construction features. The plant is one of the first LEED-certified, retrofitted manufacturing plants in the United States.

In 2009, NCR, which is based in Duluth, Ga., retrofitted a 25-year-old former battery-manufacturing plant in five months using sustainable resources.

They are:

1). Building Reuse: NCR re-used 70 percent of the interior doors, walls and ceilings. Ninety-four percent of the construction waste was diverted from landfills with more than 500 tons of construction recycled or re-used.

2). Optimize Energy Performance: NCR was able to reduce its power usage by more than 40 percent by re-roofing the building, where 95 percent of the surface was a Solar Reflective Index of 84 or above. The Solar Reflective Index is a measure of the roof's ability to reject solar heat, reducing heat transfer to the building. Company officials also replaced the existing lighting with more efficient fixtures.

3). Water Efficiency: The plant's water usage was reduced by more than 40 percent by using an onsite pond to eliminate use of portable water for irrigation of the site's landscaping. Company officials also retrofitted or replaced the bathroom facilities and showers.

4). Alternative Transportation: Company officials created priority parking spaces for low-emission and fuel-efficient vehicles, including car pools and van pools. NCR also opened 22 bike-storage spaces to encourage employees to bike to work instead of driving.

5). Regional Material Usage: The company purchased more than 40 percent of its building materials, including glass, paint, ceiling tiles, carpet and other materials from local manufacturers within a 500-mile radius.

"NCR's LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green-building leadership, said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). "The urgency of the USGBC's mission has challenged the industry and companies like NCR to move faster, to innovate and to reach further than ever before."

The U.S. Green Building Council is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation.

The council established LEED as the nation's preeminent program for design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. It is also a recognized standard for measuring building sustainability.

The award is important to NCR's customers and consumers who use the manufacturer's products, said Peter Dorsman, senior vice president of Global Operations for NCR.

"It is important for NCR to manufacture our products in a facility that is sustainable and environmentally responsible," Dorsman said.