Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1202019
JANUARY 2020 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 39 suppliers here in Munich. Our stuff is 20–25% of the size, and we're still working to make it smaller. This is the kind of equipment that you can fit in existing facilities. If you look every- where else, these machines are massive, so it's a problem everywhere. Everybody wants it to be smaller, and we take this to heart, so we have minimized it. Matties: GreenSource is a unique situation be- cause you had a blank canvas. Other shops have island manufacturing with processes set up in different rooms and sometimes different buildings. Stepinski: When we started at Whelen, the original captive facility, we had a buffer that did something similar for three times the size of the AWP unit in front of you now. Now, we have a much more compact version that is about the same footprint as a human, which is the goal. We want to make all the machines the footprint of a human. Matties: On the chemical side, are you relying on partners, or are you looking at your own juices as well? Stepinski: We do both. We decided to go to market with our recycling equipment in 2020. Matties: That's your zero-waste solution. Stepinski: We are commercializing the solu- tion. We have a bunch of IP that's being man- aged legally right now, and we're here looking for our first clients, and most likely it's going to be in Japan. The challenge with doing it in China is IP control, so we haven't gotten around this yet. This is a new product line for AWP, and we're going to grow this equipment division to be a strong equipment company worldwide and then leverage it to make sure GreenSource always has that advantage of get- ting the new tools first, or even exclusively, in some cases. Matties: It's smart. The Whelen family believes in what you've done and continues to invest smartly in you, and the ROI is going to be very good. Stepinski: The Whelen family has been awe- some; they have supported us from the begin- ning and continue to do so. It's a great situa- tion. Matties: The other great thing about the zero waste is you're creating a footprint that you can plant anywhere in the world. Stepinski: That's another aspect. Our central recycling system is less than 100 square meters in size. It's tiny. It's a fraction of the size of what most people have for recycling systems, so it's quite simple to implement in an existing facility. We have been working the past year on making a commercial version of this so that you can drop it in anywhere and it works. Matties: In your factory, you've incorporated other strategies to minimize the impact on that system. Is that something that the current us- ers are also going to have to adopt? Stepinski: They have the option. Matties: Depending on how much they want to spend or how fast they want to achieve zero waste. Stepinski: What we offer is a system that will economically deliver zero waste. If you don't want to make any changes in your process and take advantage of those technologies, it's still economical. It's not as economical as what we have. There are other benefits too. We believe recycling is a significant part of our reliabil- ity performance because when you recycle the water, you have unlimited water. It's going in circles, so it's about how big your pumps are. You can have the cleanest rinses imaginable and run 1,000 liters an hour through a cascade rinse and have it be ultra-pure clean. If it's that kind of an application where you want that, then you set it up, put a controller on the rinse, and configure it this way. That's how you take advantage. It's going to take a little time for