In 2020, when IDE was adding a large wing onto their service department to increase space for servicing drilling rigs, they considered the impact their expansion would have on their increased electrical draw. IDE did not want to put a burden on the infrastructure of the small town of Rural Hall and their neighbors (the last Census Report stated Rural Hall had a small population of less than 3,000). Consequently, in February 2020, 132 solar panels were installed. This allowed for the solar panels to be up and running smoothly before the completion of the new service wing in November of 2020.

NC Solar Now, Inc. was contracted to perform the work. They indicated the flow of energy for the project. Solar panels would be installed. The panels convert sunlight into electricity. The installed inverter turns the electricity generated by the solar panels from Direct Current to Alternating Current electricity. The Alternating Current then becomes available to IDE via the breaker. Any excess power that is unutilized by IDE is diverted back to the community power grid for others to utilize. That excess power that is consumed by others is then offset on the IDE’s next power bill. If there are months where the solar panels do not generate enough power to sustain the needs of IDE, they can draw energy back from the community power grid offsetting their power bill. By utilizing the solar panels, IDE may never need to draw energy from the community power grid again.  

“This decision was an IDE TEAM effort. Everyone wanted to reduce our electrical impact on our small community and reduce our carbon footprint by utilizing the renewable energy source of the sun. And, since I am concerned about the future of my children, it was important to me to tap into this renewable energy source we can count on to provide the power we need,” explained Stephen Gazo, owner of International Drilling Equipment!

In September 2019, IDE embarked on a remodeling project that would encourage communication throughout their office space. During this remodeling process, IDE had to relocate their staff to a temporary location. That remodeling and subsequent temporary location prompted the staff to examine every aspect of their business flow. One item they targeted was their long line of file cabinets.

Since opening in 2007, IDE had acquired 4 large file cabinets and boxes of paperwork needing to be filed. By scanning and digitally storing all of the documents that were once filed away in those storage boxes and file cabinets, IDE was able to free up enough space to create one extra desk space for one new employee.

Since completing that task, IDE has moved toward being 100% paperless. Occasionally, a document does need to be printed. But, because the entire IDE TEAM is on board to reduce waste, most documents are digitally moved into folders where others may access them easily (without having to be in the office and rummage through the massive file cabinets to find the paperwork they need). Moving the files digitally has saved IDE time and money in many ways.

In August of 2021, they evaluated their paper consumption. Before the transition, they consumed 6 cases of paper per month. After the transition, they currently order 2 cases of paper every few months.  When they examined their printed file of paperwork that needed to be digitally scanned and filed for the month of July, 2021, the entire file contained just a few papers. Crunching the numbers, they have achieved going paperless to 98.2% success.

“Going paperless has not only freed up office space, it has made the digital copies available to our entire staff 24/7. This transition to going paperless was time-consuming at first but the reward has paid off significantly in cost savings both in time and materials wasted,” explained Michelle Gazo, HR Director of International Drilling Equipment.