Emerson Receives Award for Excellence in Energy Efficiency at Milwaukee Facility
Emerson has announced that its Appleton Group iron casting facility has received a 2025 Energy Excellence Award from Focus on Energy®. The award recognizes companies in Wisconsin that go above and beyond basic energy efficiency solutions, both within their own organizations and those they support. As one of 11 recipients, the South Milwaukee foundry proves how energy-efficient industrial facilities can reduce costs, contribute to a healthier environment and strengthen local economies.
“Emerson’s foundry shows that even energy-intensive operations can be leaders in energy efficiency,” said Erin Soman, managing director of Focus on Energy. “This award isn’t just about saving energy — it’s about people coming together to think differently about how we use energy and what that means for Wisconsin’s future.”
Focus on Energy is the statewide energy-efficiency and renewable energy program for businesses and residents in Wisconsin. It offers a range of rebates and incentives for energy-saving technologies as well as services that help organizations reduce energy use and costs.
The Appleton foundry, which manufactures electrical fittings, enclosures and other cast products for electrical infrastructure, has worked with the Focus on Energy initiative since 2017. In that time, the partnership has made it possible for the foundry to identify, evaluate, design and implement many successful energy efficiency and utility cost-savings projects.
These updates include new controls on its makeup air units, the replacement of channel furnaces with cordless induction melting furnaces and the replacement of 800+ fluorescent lights with Appleton industrial LED fixtures. Combined, the energy improvements save the facility over 10,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) and $1 million in energy costs annually. The team also identified nearly $350,000 in energy-related incentives throughout this period.
The foundry team’s commitment to optimizing energy efficiency has cut the facility’s total energy consumption and emissions by about a third since 2017, drastically reducing its own emissions and operating expenses. These reductions are especially significant given that the century-old foundry had been among the largest energy-consuming facilities across all of Emerson.
“The Energy Efficiency Excellence award highlights the dedication of our team to improve our own environmental impact, support our cost reductions in Wisconsin’s energy system and work with external organizations to move toward a more sustainable future,” said John Schuster, plant manager at Emerson’s discrete automation business. “What we’ve achieved in South Milwaukee is a success story for the Emerson portfolio, as well as for the castings industry overall. It’s an honor to be acknowledged in this way.”
Photo caption (left to right): Doug Presny, CleanTech Partners; Joe Pater, Wisconsin Public Service Commission; Paul Kling, Focus on Energy; John Schuster, Emerson; Bob Axtell, Emerson; Bill Bolhuis, Franklin Energy; Chris Larson, Chris Jansen, Wisconsin State Senator, District 7; and Jim Garbowski, WEC Energy Group.
