MUSCATINE, Iowa – What does it mean to be one of America’s Most Responsible Companies? “Every day our members build upon our culture of being a great place to work and a responsible corporate citizen,” said Jeff Lorenger, chairman, president, and CEO of HNI Corporation, which was recognized in December as No. 6 on Newsweek’s […]
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MUSCATINE, Iowa – What does it mean to be one of America’s Most Responsible Companies?
“Every day our members build upon our culture of being a great place to work and a responsible corporate citizen,” said Jeff Lorenger, chairman, president, and CEO of HNI Corporation, which was recognized in December as No. 6 on Newsweek’s 2023 list of America’s Most Responsible Companies.
“Important components in our daily efforts include a commitment to reducing our environmental impact, making a positive social impact, and practicing good corporate governance,” he said in a HNI news release announcing Newsweek’s Most Responsible Companies ranking.
“Talking the talk is easy, but walking the walk is hard,” writes Nancy Cooper, Newsweek’s Global editor in chief, in this year’s rankings. Newsweek teamed up with the global research and data firm Statista to highlight those corporations that are “actually serious about trying to be good guys.”
HNI, headquartered in Muscatine, is one of only four Iowa companies and the only eastern Iowa firm on the list. Moline-based Deere & Co. joins the list at No. 99.
According to Newsweek, America’s Most Responsible Companies ranking focuses on a holistic view of corporate responsibility that considers all three pillars of ESG: Environment, Social and Corporate Governance.
So, what does that really mean to HNI Corp., its members (employees), and to the region?
Last October, the workplace furnishings and residential building products manufacturer implemented a Wood Waste to Energy initiative that now diverts 350 tons of manufacturing wood waste per month from the Scott County landfill. Much of the material is transported to an ethanol plant in South Dakota to fuel its process heat operation. HNI engineers are looking to also turn some of this wood waste into usable product parts.
“For a number of years now, we’ve been trying to find alternative solutions to dispose of our wood waste,” Tony Cline, HNI technical services engineer, said in an interview with the QCBJ. “Up until fairly recently, a vast majority of the material was unfortunately going to the landfill.”
Achieving zero waste to landfill for all facilities by 2030 is one of HNI Corporation’s long-term ESG goals.
“We established our goals in 2020, but we really had to operationalize major initiatives,” said Lisa Brunie-McDermott, HNI’s director, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). “Now we’re trying to systematize what we’re doing like energy reduction and waste improvement across all of our facilities.”
HNI Corp. employs 7,600 members worldwide – nearly half of whom live and work in eastern Iowa.
Ms. Brunie-McDermott told the QCBJ that HNI has put in place many efforts to help its people see how ESG and sustainability can fit into the company’s strategic planning.
Quarterly communications, CSR training programs, Sustainability Green Teams, My Idea Competitions, and setting ‘Sustainability’ as a category in the company’s Lean Manufacturing Culture are some of the foundational tactics HNI is using to fully engage its people.
“We are asking how do we embed this (ESG/CSR) into what we do? Not only do we want to do this from the corporate goal perspective – these things that we’ve publicly committed to, but how do we actually drive it into the fabric and into the actual work and into the actual product,” Ms. Brunie-McDermott added.
Over the course of 2022, Ms. Brunie-McDermott explained, the company ran My Idea competitions across multiple plants and divisions within the company. More than 1,500 ideas were proposed with a third of those since completed and many others still being evaluated to see what type of corporate, capital, or member resources are needed to put them into practice. Ideas covered many and varied topics – everything from paper-use efficiency to energy savings, recycling stations and product development.
“We’re trying to get to things that members tangibly touch and feel … like ‘what is sustainability to you on your line?’,” said Ms. Brunie-McDermott.
Many different members pointed out through My Idea that garage doors are frequently open letting heating and cooling energy escape out the doors. The company realized a simple process change and the addition of a garage door sensor might save massive amounts of energy.
Another long-term ESG corporate goal states: Reduce energy intensity 50% by 2035 from a 2018 baseline.
One such specific and simple initiative is already in the works to tackle this goal.
Todd Bermel, facilities manager for HNI Technical Services, told the QCBJ an idea for a simple control box sprang from an RCI (Rapid Continuous Improvement) Treasure Hunt Event in Muscatine in 2022 that will go global over the next few years.
“The RCI team noticed a lot of machines were running 100% of the time. The hydraulic motor on the machine was running while they went on break, or for an hour or two in between shifts, and sometimes even on the weekend when people went home,” said Mr. Bermel. “During the week we prototyped a very small control box with a push button on it that can be put on to each of those machines.”
Each of these control boxes has a timer circuit that will shut down the machine (or the major energy using components) at a predetermined time. When the operator returns, a quick push of the button starts the machine again for production to resume. The control box functions much like a computer screen saver.
Designed and fabricated in house, Mr. Bermel explained each little control box costs about $400 but is expected to save from $500 to as much as $2,000 per year per machine in energy costs.
This particular project is being rolled out at the HON Oak Steel plant in Muscatine. Currently 11 machines have had the new control installed. Oak Steel has 57 machines that will get the control box by the end of the year. Other Muscatine manufacturing facilities will begin to install the control boxes on machines this year, too.
Mr. Bermel said there are about 15 HNI manufacturing plants across the world, each with a similar number of machines. He hopes control boxes will be installed on these machines over the next two years.
HNI Technical Services engineers also explained how a company-wide factory lighting change is addressing long-term energy reduction goals. Since 2018, HNI manufacturing facilities have been converting their lighting from fluorescent to LED – an endeavor that includes thousands of light fixtures. The Allsteel plant on Highway 61 in Muscatine has more than 1,000 light fixtures alone.
“We’re over 90% complete to LED transition in manufacturing facilities company wide,” said Mr. Bermel.
For HNI, landing in the Top 10 of America’s Most Responsible Companies certainly is a manifestation of its corporate ESG goals. Efforts like its wood waste initiative, lighting changes, and energy-saving control switches are practical examples of how the company ‘walks the walk’ of its CSR talk.
“How people within the company think about sustainability varies across the business greatly,” said Ms. Brunie-McDermott. “We often look at what we can do in the factories, but members in office settings offer many ideas too.”
She added the company believes acting on its ESG goals is simply the right thing to do.
HNI Corporation Sustainability Goals:
- Sourcing 100% renewable energy annually for global operations.
- By 2025 – Reduce Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 35%.
- By 2025 – Eliminate styrofoam and have 100% of its packaging be recyclable.
- By 2025 – Evaluate 100% of materials and chemical substances in products for human and ecosystem impacts and attempt to minimize through Design for the Environment.
- By 2030 – Achieve zero waste to landfill for all facilities.
- By 2035 – Reduce Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 40%.
- By 2035 – Reduce energy intensity 50%.
