For Immediate Release
Contact:
Katie Bestenlehner/Dan Stepanek, KCSA, (212) 682-6300 Steve Heins, Orion Energy Systems, 920-892-9340 Roger Ketelsleger, Yale/Chase, 562-463-8000
Orion Partners with Yale/Chase in Southern California to Offer Advanced Lighting Systems with Guaranteed Savings of Up to 50 Percent and Environmental Benefits
September 1, 2004. City of Industry, CA and Plymouth, WI. Yale Chase Material Handling, Inc., City of Industry, CA, has announced the formation of a new energy efficiency division, which will provide energy efficient lighting systems to the industrial and commercial sector in Southern California. Yale Chase has become a distributor for Orion Energy Systems of Plymouth, WI. Orion designs and manufactures energy efficient lighting systems that deliver electricity savings of 50% while still delivering a better quality of light.
“Originally, we decided to analyze our business costs, including energy consumption, to see where we could control and cut costs. We discovered that cutting 50% off of our lighting costs was a fabulous way to remain competitive,” stated Roger Ketelsleger, President & CEO of Yale Chase. “After completing our own lighting retrofit, we thought our industrial and commercial customers would like to have the same opportunity to become more energy efficient, hence we created this new energy efficient lighting systems division.
Yale Chase has four southern California locations, Escondido, Santa Ana, Fontana and the corporate office in City of Industry, plus a location in Hawaii. They employ slightly over 200 people, with an annual growth of 20% over the last 12 years. Currently, Yale Chase has annual sales over $65 million.
With 10,000 Megawatts of electrical power still on the drawing board here in California, Yale Chase expects to achieve several positive results for the state: Take hundreds of Megawatts off the grid, enhance customers’ workplace with better lighting, improve California’s environment through large scale energy efficiencies, and finally, help Southern California companies cut operating costs to remain competitive. The State of California currently has committed $375 million per year to help reduce electricity consumption.
In the last year alone Orion has helped its business customers save more than 50 Megawatts or 300 million kilowatt hours (kWh). Based on EPA estimates, Orion’s current installations remove 4.5 million tons of greenhouse gas – carbon dioxide – from the atmosphere and will remove 1.23 million tons of carbon. Other savings include the removal 16,535 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2), which affects acid rain; 38,360 tons of nitrous oxide (NOX), which is another greenhouse gas, and 693.6 pounds of mercury. This reduction in electricity usage is the environmental equivalent of planting 1.1 million acres of trees or removing 849,859 cars from the road or saving 545 million gallons of gas.
Orion’s innovative Illuminator, an energy-efficient lighting platform for industrial applications, has been awarded a series of 12 patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additionally, it has applied for numerous other patents relating to metering and control technologies for lighting. It has received many prestigious manufacturing and environmental awards for its energy efficient and environmentally friendly lighting systems
“Yale Chase is exactly the kind of high quality, innovative company Orion needed to distribute our energy efficient lighting systems to Southern California,” stated Neal Verfuerth, President of Orion Energy Systems. “We expect Orion and Yale Chase to work closely with California utility companies, the California PUC, the State of California government, industrial and commercial customers, and California energy efficiency programs to help reduce the possibility of future blackouts.”
About Yale/Chase
Yale/Chase Materials Handling, Inc. has been serving Southern California Material Handling needs for the past 11 years under Roger Ketelslegers leadership. Prior to purchasing the Yale dealership Roger owned and operated Chase Equipment Co., Inc. which he purchased in 1986 in 1993 he purchased the assets of Yale Industrial Trucks of Southern California, Inc. and formed Yale/Chase Materials Handling, Inc. Yale/Chase is the exclusive dealer for Yale forklifts, Teledyne Princeton Piggyback forklifts, Drexel, and Bendi Very Narrow Aisle forklifts, Taylor-Dunn Industrial Personnel and Cargo Carriers, PowerBoss Sweepers and Scrubbers they also offer warehouse design and layout, Pallet Racking, Shelving, Conveyors, Modular buildings, dock products and now specialize in displacing energy and lowering energy costs. They also are the leader in service servicing all makes of forklifts, over 50% of their personnel are employed by the service department. The other two primary are their parts department with over $2,000,000.00 in parts inventory and their rental department with over 600 rental forklifts. For more information, please contact
Bob English, Energy Specialist at 562-322-1245.
About Orion
Orion Energy Systems has been innovating in the energy and lighting business since 1996. Neal Verfuerth, President of Orion Energy Systems, received one of Wisconsin’s most prestigious awards, Ernst & Young’s 2004 Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year. Recently, Orion has Received the 2004 Wisconsin Partners for Clean Air Award given by the Wisconsin DNR. In addition, the company won the 2002 Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year Grand Award in the Emerging Growth category, given by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Association, the Wisconsin Business Friend of the Environment Award, and was chosen as a “Success Story” for the 2002 Governor’s Summit on Capital.
Orion is a designer and manufacturer of energy efficient lighting solutions for the school, gymnasium, manufacturing, warehousing, and commercial markets. Orion provides capacity displacement solutions for supply side management, transmission management, and demand side management for the electricity industry. For more information, please contact Stephen Heins, vice President of Corporate Communications, Orion Energy Systems, sheins@oriones.com; 920-892-9340, ext. 226 or visit the web site at www.oriones.com.
