April 8, 2023
Earlier this year, members of UCI’s SMART Industrial Assessment Center (SMART IAC) visited PARPRO Technologies, Inc. (PTI) to assess opportunities related to energy conservation, waste reduction, and productivity enhancements.
Since 1981, PARPRO Technologies (formerly Cal Quality Electronics) has been a leader in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry serving OEM customers in the medical, industrial, computing/communications, and aerospace/defense markets.
The group of SMART IAC student team members from UCI and California State University Northridge along with Chelsea Choudhary, Program Manager, SMART IAC, Patricia Lim, Industry Research Development Strategist, Calit2, and G.P. Li, Director, SMART IAC, toured the Santa Ana factory.
The SMART IAC is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industrial Assessment Program, which is designed to assist small and medium manufacturing enterprises in reducing their energy cost by providing free energy efficiency assessments.
Students in the program develop skills in manufacturing energy efficiency and receive hands-on training at small and medium-sized manufacturing plants. “Our analysis includes detailed engineering and economic calculation of potential energy saving ideas. We typically only target recommendations that result in a two-year financial payback for our clients,” says Choudhary.
Since last August, SMART IAC has conducted six industrial assessments and two commercial assessments and is on target to meet the goal of 10 industrial assessments and five commercial assessments by March 31st.
“We at PARPRO embrace this opportunity to identify new ways to reduce our power consumption and reduce our waste,” says Eric Van Poppelen, President, PARPRO Technologies.