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Avago Technologies

Fort Collins, CO

Avago Technologies is a thriving high-tech manufacturing company based in San Jose, California, with a manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado.

From its beginnings as part of HP in the 1960's, the company has experienced steady growth and has been through several name changes. In 1999 the company operated as Agilent Technologies, a spin-off from HP, and in 2005 became known as Avago Technologies. Today, Avago Technologies specializes in the design and manufacture of optoelectronics, analog interface components and microprocessors used in wireless communications, industrial and automotive electronics, wired infrastructure, and consumer electronics. Avago reported FY08 revenues of $1.2 billion.

At the Fort Collins facility, Avago designs and manufactures integrated circuit chips for specific applications, and designs and manufactures parts for cell phones and a host of other products. About 650 employees work at this facility, which consists of three buildings with a total of approximately 1 million square feet of floor space.

Steve Wolley is the Workplace Services Manager for the facility. He and his team of engineers are constantly on the lookout for ways to increase the efficiency of their operations, and energy efficiency is always part of that equation. "We have a culture of efficiency here," Wolley notes. "We strive for no waste in everything we do." In each of the last four years, they have implemented a dozen or more distinct energy efficiency projects, which altogether have cut the facility's energy use by roughly 2% per year on average.

An example of a mid-size project that made a significant contribution to Avago's annual energy savings was the 2007 analysis and consolidation of their process vacuum pumps. Each of the three buildings at the Fort Collins facility was built at a different time, with three different kinds of process vacuum pump systems. When Avago engineers analyzed the energy use and capacity of the three systems, they found that they were wasting both energy and maintenance resources by operating with far more vacuum capacity then they actually needed. It turned out that the most robust system (in the most recently constructed building) was capable of serving the entire facility. After running pipe between the buildings so the single vacuum system could serve all three buildings, they successively shut down the other two systems, effectively decommissioning a total of six vacuum pumps.

This one relatively small project was extremely cost-effective. The total cost of consolidating the vacuum pump systems was $23,000. Avago invested $15,000, and because of the substantial energy savings, the project received $8,000 from the Business Efficiency Program, offered jointly by Fort Collins Utilities and Platte River Power Authority. The project resulted in electricity savings of 460,000 kWh per year, cutting Avago's annual energy bill by $19,000. In addition to the electricity savings, this project dramatically reduced the facility's water use, saving up to 13,000 gallons per day (4.7 million gallons per year), amounting to an additional $16,000 annual water cost savings. This resulted in less than one year payback time for Avago.

Other projects that Avago has undertaken in the past year include:

• Turned off and lowered the speed on recirculation air fans, saving 346,000 kWh per year
• Installed a variable frequency drive on a fan, saving 190,000 kWh per year
• Eliminated need for a bubbler in a wastewater treatment settling pond, saving 114,000 kWh per year.

Energy costs account for roughly 6 - 7% of the operational costs of Avago's Fort Collins facility. While cutting that energy use by 2% per year might not make a huge difference to Avago's bottom line, the actual amount of energy saved, and the benefit to the community and the environment, can be quite significant. For example, the seventeen energy saving projects Avago implemented in 2008 together resulted in a total reduction of the facility's electricity use by 894,000 kWh, which is equivalent to the electricity needed to power 160 Colorado homes for a year.

When asked why Avago makes investments in energy efficiency, even though they may not substantially affect the company's bottom line, Steve Wolley cites the company's culture of efficiency and commitment to environmental responsibility. "All of us who work here also live here. We don't want to pollute the place where we live, and we want to be responsible members of the community. We recognize these projects can have a big impact on the community and environment, even if they have a small impact on our budget."

Avago was a founding partner in the City of Fort Collins Climate Wise program, making a pledge in 2000 to work toward continual improvement in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions. Wolley and his team at Avago recognize that this is a long-term commitment, and that continually pursuing modest reductions in energy use each year can add up to big savings and big benefits over the long term.