Skyline's dual contribution to environmental sustainability
Skyline contributes to environmental sustainability in two ways: By providing lighter weight, modular exhibits that have smaller environmental impact than traditional custom exhibits, and by minimizing the impact on the environment from our manufacturing operations.
These two facets -- lightweight modular exhibits, and more environmentally friendly manufacturing, can be viewed through the lens of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:
REDUCE:
Our Products:
Skyline designs and develops exhibits that do not cause unnecessary waste of materials due to short life, poor design, inefficient construction and manufacturing processes. Skyline uses one third of the materials of traditional custom exhibits. For example: a typical Skyline island exhibit weighs 3.9 pounds per square foot, whereas a typical custom house exhibit weighs on average 9.9 pounds per square foot. A difference in weight of 154% -- which, while reducing drayage and shipping costs dramatically, also means simply using less materials overall.
Skyline products also ship in much less space than traditional custom exhibits, helping to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the life of the exhibit.
Some examples:
- For CES 2005, a custom house reportedly shipped approximately 718 square feet of exhibits per truck. For the same show, Skyline shipped 4,600 square feet of exhibits per truck. That's 6.4 custom house trucks for every one Skyline truck!
- Dedicated Micros told us recently that their 40'x40' Skyline rental exhibit had 10,000 pounds less drayage then their previous custom exhibit at the ASIS 2006 show.
- Rotometrics' old traditional custom booth packed into 27 crates and filled an entire semi-trailer. Their new 40 x 60 Skyline exhibit shipped to Label Expo 2006 in only 7 crates.
So, our lightweight exhibits require fewer materials, helping lower operating costs and environmental impact.
Our Operations:
Skyline made the decision to improve our every-day business practices in order to align with environmental sustainability. We believe that investing in higher quality equipment allows us to reduce scrap, waste and energy consumption, and produce higher quality products.
- Exhibit Systems: Many of Skyline's exhibit systems are based on metal frameworks. Skyline makes every effort to optimize each and every sheet of metal used. For example, with the purchase of a new robotic welder, comes substantially less scrap and waste.
- Graphics: With a new color management system in place, reprinting for graphics errors has been reduced by 80% compared to last year. As well as promoting gang printing, Skyline has also purchased a new computer-controlled cutter for more precision -- again, producing less waste.
- Painting: Skyline paints its thousands of metal parts with electrostatic powder paint, which produces nearly no waste and does not require environmentally harmful solvents for clean up.
- Shipping: It is our principle to consolidate shipping wherever possible, which reduces the number of boxes and packaging used.
- Computer Monitors: Skyline switched from CRT to LCD to reduce energy consumption.
- Lighting: Skyline installed compact fluorescent lights in most of the factory to reduce energy use. We also had large clerestory windows installed around our entire set up floor to maximize natural light and reduce energy costs.
- Packaging: We have replaced a portion of our foam usage during packaging and shipping, with an air-filled cushion technology that can be deflated after shipping, and honeycomb cardboard which is recyclable.
- Printing: By making our marketing materials available in electronic format via our website, this allows us to cut down on excess printing. Skyline also implemented technology that converts incoming faxes into emailed documents, so we don't have to automatically print fax pages.
- Quality: Our computerized ordering process has also been reconfigured so fewer mistakes are being made at inception, improving order quality and avoiding waste even before an order comes in.
REUSE:
Our Products:
Clients purchasing Skyline exhibits can use their system over and over again; and all of our exhibit systems allow for varying configurations; changing designs with the same components. Skyline also has a large inventory of rental systems that can be used for a show, sent back and used again. Each option optimizes the life cycle of our exhibit systems. For exhibitors outside the United States where the 'build and burn' mentality is stronger, the reusable nature of Skyline products is especially attractive.
Our Operations:
As part of our lean manufacturing processes, Skyline also has a commitment to reusing as much of our excess materials as possible -- contributing to the conservation of energy and resources, while keeping waste out of landfills:
- As our metal exhibit systems in our rental inventory become damaged from multiple uses, we strip the paint in the most environmentally friendly way, repaint them, and continue using them.
- We have saved approximately 31,000 pounds of powder paint since upgrading our systems in July 2004. Skyline now uses a smaller, equally capable system that is able to vacuum, filter and reuse any excess powder paint.
- In Skyline's wood shop, raw plywood scrap is reused in several different ways; smaller pieces are used to make boxes to hold our tube system base plates. Larger pieces are used in the production of custom wood crates.
RECYCLE:
Our Products:
Many of our structural exhibit systems are recyclable metal. When our own rental inventory is damaged beyond refurbishment and repair, we recycle the metal exhibit system pieces. These same recyclable systems can be recycled by exhibit owners who have purchased the systems. However, since recycling facilities and regulations vary across states, we ask clients to visit their local government website to find their nearest recycling/disposal venue.
Our Operations:
By recycling the following resources, Skyline contributes to conserving energy, reducing greenhouse emissions, conserving natural resources, and reducing air and water pollution:
- Skyline recycles all excess metals during production: over 210,000 pounds of steel and aluminum are recycled per year -- that's the equivalent to 73 Toyota Prius hybrid cars! Skyline also diverts, on average, 3,500 cubic feet of office waste from landfills annually.
- Office paper
- Cardboard
- Aluminum cans
- Plastic bottles
- Scrap metal
- Laundering & reuse of cloth wipes
- Unusable plastic shipping containers
- Many of our wood pallets and crates are reusable. Those that cannot be reused are shipped to be refurbished or ground into animal bedding.
Skyline believes that good business practices are synonymous with environmental stewardship. The products we offer and the manufacturing efficiencies we seek both help our impact on the environment -- and enable us to keep our pricing infrastructure low.
Download printable version (.pdf)