Summary

Founded in 1984, AFL Global is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise, hyperscale and industrial markets. The company’s products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, and fusion splicers. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless and outside plant applications.

Facing increasing pressure from stakeholders to improve sustainability, AFL was bogged down by the tedious task of manually managing nearly 200 utility accounts. This process took up about 36 hours (about one and a half days) of labor each month, hampering their ability to tackle sustainability goals effectively.

Determined to find a solution, AFL set out on a quest to streamline their processes and boost their sustainability efforts. Their search led them to EnergyCAP, a software platform designed to automate and optimize energy and sustainability data management. By December 2023, AFL had fully implemented EnergyCAP, kicking off a transformative phase in their sustainability journey.

Identifying savings

Utilizing software helped revolutionize AFL’s energy and sustainability data management by automating the manual data entry process for nearly 98% of their utility accounts. This shift slashed the labor hours spent on data entry and freed up the team to focus on more impactful tasks.

With features like bill auditing and usage change alerts, EnergyCAP enabled AFL to spot anomalies and fix errors that had previously gone unnoticed. AFL Global has automated the management of nearly two-hundred utility accounts, which has enabled $304,000 in anticipated annual energy and utility cost savings and substantial environmental gains.

So, how did AFL find $304,000 in anticipated annual savings?

Natural gas leaks. EnergyCAP helped identify abnormal gas usage that was quickly identified as a natural gas leak on a rooftop HVAC unit. Catching and fixing the leak early resulted in $3,300 in savings each year.

Water leaks. The software also helped to identify water leaks, which resulted in saving $10,700 and 257,000 gallons of water annually. For reference: that’s over one-third the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool!

Energy efficiency projects. With their data now in order, AFL focused their efforts on completing 29 energy and sustainability projects across the organization, saving 1.9 million kWh, 575 metric tonnes of CO2e—the equivalent of 1.5 million miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle—and $170,000 annually.

Rate structure review. By reviewing utility rate structures, AFL identified an additional $120,000 in annual savings.

Beyond the financial and environmental benefits, software provided AFL with enhanced data transparency, creating opportunities for better communication with stakeholders. EnergyCAP’s customizable dashboards allowed for tracking and proactive management of energy consumption. The dashboards are available to any AFL employee at any time with a simple click of a link. This transparency not only engaged more people in sustainability efforts, but also empowered AFL to make data-driven decisions quickly.

Conclusion

AFL’s transition from a manual, labor-intensive processes to automated, data-driven practices has strengthened its sustainability credentials, proving that the right technology can make a substantial impact on both operational efficiency and sustainability performance. With the help of software, AFL has transformed its approach to sustainability. What started as a challenge driven by external pressures became a strategic advantage, with significant cost savings and efficiency improvements.

As AFL continues to leverage EnergyCAP’s innovative capabilities, they demonstrate how organizations can turn external pressures into strategic advantages—achieving savings while paving the way for a brighter, greener future.