November 11, 2025

261: Energy Transition Explained: How Manufacturers Can Save Energy and Build a Sustainable Future featuring Veregy’s Eric Spink & Shiva Subramanya

52 minutes

Sustainability goals are everywhere in manufacturing; net-zero by 2030, carbon neutral by 2035. While many manufacturers have set ambitious targets, the gap between goals and execution remains a challenge, especially when sustainability projects compete with production priorities for capital.

Eric Spink and Shiva Subramanya from Veregy join the show to talk about energy transition and what it looks like in practice. Energy used to be just another line item and the cost of doing business, now it's tied to resilience, sustainability, and a company's long-term strategy.

One key insight from the conversation was how the equipment on the perimeter of your manufacturing floor (think compressed air systems, boilers, refrigeration, and HVAC) consumes 60-80% of your plant's total energy.

But manufacturers typically don't have expertise in these support utilities, which is why they get overlooked for efficiency opportunities.

We dive into real projects, including a five-plant dairy operation where AI can predict steam demand based on production data. Plus, how performance contracting allows manufacturers to fund these projects using energy savings rather than tying up capital.

In this episode, find out:

Why energy has evolved from an expense to a strategic priority
How perimeter equipment consumes 60-80% of plant energy but often receives the least attention
Why sustainability projects typically compete with production priorities for budget
How performance contracting uses energy savings to fund improvements without capital investment
The low-hanging fruit in most plants, such as compressed air leaks, lighting upgrades, and controls optimization
What happens when you connect production data with utility systems using AI and advanced controls
Real examples from dairy processing that delivered significant energy savings

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Tweetable Quotes:

“Traditionally, manufacturing companies have relied on their own capital to implement sustainability projects. But they always compete with productivity goals. With performance contractors, companies can now use the savings from energy reductions and put their capital elsewhere but still implement energy efficiency projects.” - Eric Spink
“Upgrading control systems by putting in PLC-based controls, and adding instrumentation and metering really allows all these systems to consume a lot less energy. Historically these have yielded very high paybacks, between one and a half and two years in many cases.” - Eric Spink
“Having a sustainability goal is important, but having a sustainability plan is key. The sustainability plan needs to include how the organization is going to implement it and how it’s going to be funded year-on-year.” - Shiva Subramanya

Links & mentions:

Veregy, an award-winning decarbonization company providing turnkey engineering and construction services to reduce energy costs through efficiency upgrades, smart building technology, EV infrastructure, and clean energy solutions.
Skillwork, a premier staffing agency providing skilled industrial technicians on a contract basis to augment facility teams across 30+ states for elevated impact and decreased downtime.
Fortinet, securing the world's largest enterprises, service providers, and government organizations with broad, integrated, and automated protections across the entire digital attack surface from production floor to cloud.

Make sure to visit http://manufacturinghappyhour.com for detailed show notes and a full list of resources mentioned in this episode. Stay Innovative, Stay Thirsty.

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By Chris Luecke

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