Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Branson Ultrasonics Corporation
A Climate Wise Case Study

The Company

Branson Ultrasonics Corporation is a division of Emerson Electric Company with world headquarters in Danbury, CT. Branson is an industry leader in the design, development, manufacture and marketing of plastic joining and precision cleaning equipment. The product line manufactured in Danbury includes ultrasonic cleaning equipment such as vapor degreasers with closed loop vacuum recovery systems with 95% solvent recovery as well as plastics joining equipment, which eliminates the need for carcinogenic glues.

Branson employs 400 workers at the Danbury facility and has more than 1500 employees and 70 sales and service offices worldwide and has been in Connecticut over 50 years.

Corporate Environmental Goals

Branson Ultrasonic’s Corporation in Danbury is fully committed to protecting the environment. They are actively finding ways to eliminate or reduce environmental impacts associated with their products and operations and will train, communicate and have employees participate in this drive to continually improve environmental performance and prevent pollution. Implementation of the company’s environmental policy is a prime management objection and the policy is available to the community. Since 1994, Branson has continuously pursued the following:

  • Reduce hazardous waste
  • Reduce energy waste
  • Reduce products going to landfill
  • Exceed compliance requirements and conduct compliance self-review
  • Voluntary use of new technologies
  • Utilize current Environmental Management System

Climate Wise Action Plan

Some of the major initiatives of Branson Ultrasonic’s Climate Wise Action Plan include:

  • Reduce energy by 3% by production unit
  • Reduce raw material scrap by 5% per production unit
  • Reduce hazardous waste by 5% per production unit
  • Aluminum Can Recycling

Energy efficiency actions specified in the action plan include:

  • set back thermostats installed in 187,000 square foot facility
  • changed lighting and electric ballasts to decrease energy use
  •  installed light sensors on a pilot basis, investigating feasibility of more extensive use
  • replaced HVAC with new energy efficient system
  • instituted a "turn off the light" program
  • reviewing energy efficiency opportunities for air compressors, air leaks and T8 lights


Pollution prevention actions taken by Branson include:

  • Identified hazardous waste streams and began substituting non-hazardous products
  • Eliminated paint room, instead use stainless steel or dry paint where possible
  • Removed phosphatizing tanks and use supplier coated parts
  • Removed 1000 gallon underground storage tank and reduced oil storage to a level which precluded the necessity of a Spill Control Plan
  • Switched to a no-clean flux for wave solder
  • Implemented an industrial coolant recycling system
  • Reduced by 20% the amount of scrap metal by changing processes and using metals more efficiently in manufacturing
  • Recycled 80% of aluminum cans; recycle cardboard and white paper

Energy, Environmental and Economic Savings

  • Reduced hazardous waste by 65% since 1994
  • Since baseline year 1993, actions have resulted in annual savings of 1.1 million kWh of electricity -- a 21% reduction
  • Natural gas usage is down 37% from 1993.

Other Environmental Accomplishments

  • ISO-14001 Certification
  • Member of Still River Water Alliance
  • DEP Green Circle Award
  • First Climate Wise company in Connecticut
  • CBIA Award of Excellence for the Environmental Success Award
More information on Branson's environmental achievements

Content Last Updated on December 15, 2010