A global technology leader in the production of silicones, ceramics, polysilicon, and specialties has long understood the benefits of technology in their production process, but like many companies, they hadn't fully taken this knowledge and applied it to reduce waste removal costs. At their plant in Adrian, Michigan, they discovered that it's well worth paying attention to technology for waste removal.

Prior to Compactor Plus, Wacker used the common practice of scheduled waste pickups, with the hauler coming in twice a week to haul away the compactor box. At that time, they had no way to determine whether the box was full, empty or what percentage in between.

A tip from the company's compactor distributor led Wacker to discover that technology was available to allow a shift from costly scheduled pickups to automated pickups when the containers became full.

THE COMPACTOR PLUS SOLUTION:

The distributor's suggestion made sense to their cost conscious, engineers at Wacker.   The company learned about the Compactor Plus waste monitoring systems. According to the distributor, Compactor Plus Monitoring Systems were being used by many of his customers to automatically request pick-ups via fax machines or computers and were reducing the number of pick-ups by an average of 30 to 40%.

The FULL FAX approach was selected in the initial Wacker Chemical setup. To WACKER, this hands-off operation was one of the most appealing features of this system. No involvement by WACKER personnel was necessary--fax machines at the hauler received the pickup order. Later, a change to the web-based Waste View system provided more comprehensive information.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS:

• Fast return on investment, with no internal administration costs.
• Reports generated help with review and justification of hauler billings.
• The system's intelligence prevents false full indications.
• Timely notifications eliminate overweight containers.
• The system paid for itself well within the first year and pays back year after year.
• WasteView system graphically displays reports on all compactor operations, fullness and pickups.

ABOUT THE CUSTOMER:

Wacker Chemical Corporation is a division of Wacker-Chemie GmbH, headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company is a global technology leader in the production of silicones, ceramics, polysilicon, and specialties (high-quality binders and polymer additives, specialty chemicals and biotechnology), The company's diverse activities are organized within four independently operating business divisions: Siltronic, WACKER SILICONES, WACKER SPECIALTIES and WACKER CERAMICS.