Reduce.

Company-wide, Hobart is actively looking at ways to reduce packaging, either through redesign, reuse or elimination. Some recent examples include:

• Using the shipping base to weld and assemble mini rack ovens at our Orting, Washington, plant, replacing the need for additional wood skids. This same plant also introduced reusable carts/bins to transport parts during the manufacturing process.
• Eliminating master cartons for select components at our Ohio and Texas plants. Not only did this reduce cardboard usage, but it also realized significant labor saving.
• Working with vendors to reduce the amount of packaging needed to safely ship products, as well as investing in research and development of eco-friendly materials.
• Upgrading our Troy steam production system to reduce natural gas usage by 18%.
• Going paperless with just one of our product-line manuals, Traulsen, to make the case for the rest of our manuals. This process reduced paper consumption by nearly 6,000 pounds a year, the equivalent of 50-plus trees and 20,748 gallons of water. We’re also looking at other ways to replace paper usage, including adding increased digital response to our internal, customer and vendor order processes.

Reuse.

We are also looking to our vendors to help us reuse packaging materials. By working with just one vendor for one facility to reuse Styrofoam packing blocks, we’re able to save approximately 400 cubic feet per year of landfill space—or roughly the equivalent of an SUV. As a single step, it’s admittedly quite small. But when added to all of our efforts company-wide, it adds up to a big change. In thinking and in action.

Other key initiatives include contracting with Special Waste Systems, Inc. at our Troy campus to collect and recycle waste oils, paints and solvents into an alternative fuel source for incinerators and electricity-producing boilers.

Recycle.

Many Hobart product lines are made with stainless steel. In addition to offering the quality our customers have come to expect, stainless steel is 100% recyclable. In fact, more than 60% of new stainless steel is made from melted or recycled scrap, or both. In our Traulsen plant alone, we recycle nearly 2 million pounds of metal products.

We are also looking to recycling as a way of giving back to the communities in which we live and work. At our Troy campus—a 25-year veteran of the green movement—a full 85% of the solid-waste stream is recycled or directed into beneficial reuse programs. And at our Hillbsoro, Ohio, plant, we partnered with the Chamber of Commerce and HighCo., an adult handicap workshop, to donate compacted cardboard and plastic packaging. The workshop sells the materials to recyclers, with the profit going to local HighCo. efforts.