We were honored to have the opportunity to speak at the B2B Sustainability Forum 2020, hosted by EcoVadis. Since 2007, EcoVadis has grown to become the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, creating a global network of more than 65,00 rated companies. During the forum, we had the chance to speak about why sustainability is so important to us, and how we are doing our part to embed it into our company.
At this Forum, our CEO, Philip Ochtman, was joined by Lotte Mastwijk, the manager of communications and sustainability at LC Packaging International. and Joy Puor, Sustainability Manager, Xindao, all sharing their experiences of sustainability measures their companies have taken and sharing best practices.
What is sustainability all about?
Being involved in sustainability is at the forefront of Firebolt. Simply defined, sustainability focuses on avoiding the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance. As a company, we believe it is our responsibility to be a leader of sustainability and focus our efforts on ensuring we are protecting resources today for a better tomorrow. Part of this effort is to invest in sustainable partnerships with customers and vendors.. Not only is sustainability a crucial component of any corporate strategy, many customers consider it a must-have when choosing a vendor.
How Firebolt manages sustainability
As a mid-sized corporation, the key message for us is that every little bit of effort can make a big difference. While we focus on major changes, we never lose sight that small changes every day by everyone in our organization has an impact. Making sure that the companies we partner with practice sustainability is to us is a deciding factor on who we work with. One of our significant early sustainability efforts was when we switched from neon lighting to faux neon, which has a huge impact on the environment. One thing that we are extremely proud of is the use of LED strips in all of our illuminated signs. We use LED because it uses up to 85% less electricity than traditional fluorescent lighting. Our signs also require less maintenance and replacements than other traditional sign materials. We have improved our packaging so that we can ship products safely, but with less waste. Our efforts to date have earned us the prestigious platinum sustainability rating with EcoVadis.
Sustainability amid a Pandemic
Even during times of crisis, sustainability remains at the forefront of our decisions, which Philip outlined on the Forum. Firebolt switched gears at the beginning of the COVID19 Pandemic. We pivoted and used our factories and warehouse space to not only capitalize on our advanced technology to make signage that we are known for, but to expand into new service lines that focused on those two goals – our nation’s safety and our nation’s economy. We expanded our offering to include PPE and social distancing tech applications to help with protection and social distancing. And when Ford and GE Health began production of 50,000 ventilators, Firebolt offered assistance in the effort by providing necessary side plate CNC fabrication.
Firebolt Group’s Sustainability Impact
Here at Firebolt, we are continuously working to decrease our carbon footprint and lower our energy usage. Some ways in which we do this are through keeping a close eye on our electricity and energy consumption at all of our locations. We allow all of our employees the option to work from home when possible to reduce carbon emissions through transportation and commuting efforts; something that has become vital during the pandemic for all companies.
Future Steps
This is only the beginning of our efforts to lower our carbon footprint. We continue to conduct a life cycle analysis to understand the impact of our products on the environment and make adjustments where necessary. We hope these actions will motivate our customers and future companies we collaborate and work with, to consider the ways they too can lower their impact. Right now, we are investigating other exciting ways to make sure we do our part with a dedicated team focused on these efforts.
Stay tuned for more of our sustainability efforts.
