The hottest debate in the United States solar industry revolves around whether or not the country can keep manufacturing jobs here instead of shipping them overseas. An examination of recent history does not provide much positive news. Over the past 20 years, more companies are shipping jobs overseas in search of cheaper materials and labor. That trend shows little sign of slowing.
But Renusol, a racking-and-mounting manufacturing company based in Atlanta, has bucked this historical trend. Under the theory that the manufacturing should be closer to the market, Renusol CEO Bart Leusink says the company decided to build its products here in North America.
The company produced the first version of the system in the late 1970s. About 10 years ago, CentroSolar Group, a solar-glass firm, purchased Renusol. Since then, the company has installed 1 million systems. The product has become one of the most dominant in Europe.
“Those were European products developed for a European market,” Leusink says. “But the company decided to expand beyond Europe into the United States. Moving our production facilities closer to the new market was the logical next step.”
Renusol doesn’t own the factories that produce its racking systems — it doesn’t need to take on the extra expense. After all, the necessary infrastructure already exists in the network of auto manufacturing plants scattered throughout the United States.
Workers at these plants have the skills and experience to manufacture large plastic parts, which make up Renusol’s product line. The 15 companies Renusol looked at to build its products already work for the automotive industry and are used to working with these types of materials.
“The skills are really tied to the production process and not the product itself,” Leusink says. “To my knowledge, they have always done related parts and components like the ones we need to produce.”
What makes the United States such an attractive place to do business, Leusink says, is that so many of the materials used in producing their racking systems are made here, particularly by companies within the petrochemical industry. Renusol’s products are made of 100% recycled materials (production scrap) from those industries.
“The raw material has been used since the 1950s in the oil industry for above-ground piping,” Leusink says. “It’s also used in truck liners and shelters for cows, demonstrating proven durability.”
“All of the materials come from the United States,” he adds. “They are made by Americans — through all the steps in the process.”
Leusink explains how its products are made, starting with the engineering to the production process, until they come out as finished racking systems.
“We decided to find ways to reduce ballast since it is a ballasted system and interconnect each individual panel,” Leusink says. “We came up with various shapes and did wind-tunnel tests on scale models of arrays. They have to withstand weather and use for long periods of time, so we want to do our due diligence to make sure they can do what our customers expect.”
When the raw materials first come into the factory, the different blends of plastic pellets are no larger than rice grains. Then they are heated and run through rollers and a weight to flatten them out.
The newly rolled sheets are then fed into a die-cutting machine that cuts out the shapes. Once that’s done, the Renusol mounting system is ready to go.
“What makes Renusol unusual is that it’s one product per panel instead of having different lengths of galvanized steel that you have to cut on site,” Leusink says. “It’s much easier to budget and scale — once you know how many panels you’re going to fit on the roof, you know how much your mounting system is going to cost you.”
Leusink says he’s proud Renusol’s products are built in the United States — a fact that the company promotes in its ads, though he admits it hasn’t pushed it as aggressively as he should. He says he doesn’t agree with the recent trade petition against China, arguing instead that it’s up to U.S. manufacturers to fight back by buying American.
“If the goal is to protect U.S. manufacturing, people should look more closely at working with companies in the United States,” Leusink says. “Companies that have sold our product for several years may not know that it was engineered and built in the United States. More companies need to promote their commitment to this country.”
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