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January 20, 2026
Efficiency projects help the manufacturer save millions
Eric Wendel and Tom Gatton love problem-solving. Both facilities engineers at KOSEI, a global manufacturer of aluminum car wheels with a plant in St. Marys, Ohio, Wendel and Gatton can often be found tweaking various systems in pursuit of optimal performance. When the company was looking for ways to stay competitive and save on operating costs while meeting its sustainability goals, the pair’s safety and environmental coordinator, Keary Siegrist, suggested reaching out to a familiar resource in Efficiency Smart.
Since 2012, KOSEI has partnered with Efficiency Smart, an energy efficiency program offered to customers of St. Marys Municipal Electric System. Efficiency Smart helps businesses find ways to use less energy and save money. The program offers technical assistance, financial support, and an ongoing partnership with energy experts. As KOSEI has grown over the years, the company has consulted with Efficiency Smart on a range of energy-saving projects. “Efficiency Smart is just phenomenal to work with,” says Siegrist.
Lighting was one of the plant’s biggest energy users, so the company embarked on a multi-year effort to upgrade its fixtures to LEDs. But it wasn’t as simple as screwing in new bulbs. Efficiency Smart’s engineering consultants helped identify heat-resistant fixtures that could withstand the manufacturing environment. They also analyzed how much KOSEI could expect to save annually and in the long run by investing in LEDs. “Efficiency Smart’s analysis made it easier for us to get approval for these projects,” Wendel says. KOSEI received rebates to help offset the upfront cost of each incremental lighting improvement. The facility is now saving more than $150,000 a year on lighting alone.
KOSEI’s manufacturing process requires compressed air, which is energy-intensive. After consulting with Efficiency Smart, Wendel and Gatton set up meters in all nine electrical substations to track electricity usage from specific equipment. The data allowed the team to establish a baseline and identify which equipment was using the most energy. They were surprised to find that on weekends, when the plant was empty, one of the air compressors was running at full capacity.
Wendel and Gatton had a hunch that they could get the plant down from three compressors to two, but they weren’t sure exactly how it would work. They replaced a header pipe, which increased the airflow. Then they experimented with adjusting the air pressure. They later called in a contractor for additional support. “We were pretty tickled when the contractor was impressed by what we had done so far,” Gatton says.
Eventually, the tinkering paid off: The team was able to eliminate one of the air compressors. “It was a lot of trial and error,” Gatton says, and he’s proud of the result. With Efficiency Smart’s help, KOSEI was able to measure and verify the savings from eliminating an air compressor. The plant is using 12% less energy than it was before. It also reduced the time and money spent on maintenance.
KOSEI’s work with Efficiency Smart over the years has paid off in a big way. The company has completed nearly 20 energy-saving projects, including upgrades to lighting, motor controls, and compressed air systems. These improvements are saving the St. Marys facility over $300,000 annually in operating costs. And in alignment with KOSEI’s commitment to sustainability, these improvements are also preventing more than 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere—the equivalent of removing nearly 800 cars from the road. This carbon reduction is fully supported by KOSEI’s primary client, which aims to be carbon neutral by 2050.
The City of St. Marys Municipal Electric System is one of the municipal electric utilities that takes advantage of the Efficiency Smart program to lower energy usage for commercial and residential customers.
Since 2011, Efficiency Smart has helped residents and businesses use less energy and save money in more than 65 communities in four states. For more on how your business or community can engage, see:
Or, please contact us to learn more about municipal subscriptions.
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