Page 27 - Green Builder July-August 2020 Issue
P. 27
Rheem
Manufacturing
rainin and education are settin t e tone for t e company s sustaina ility e orts
HERE’S NO ONE WAY TO GO NET ZERO —which is The company encouraged its customer service team to take a green
why Rheem Manufacturing is using three of them. zero-waste challenge, which led to the elimination of paper cups
The heating and cooling product manufacturer, from the oce. Workers at the Heat Transfer Products Group (HTPG)
under its “Greater Degree of Good” mantra, plans to facility in Scottsboro, Ariz., were provided with sustainability
T meet sustainability goals through innovation, initiatives and tips to help reduce the environmental impact and
eciency and leadership. cost of recycling waste there.
The overall goals are challenging but accomplishable, according to
company ocials. For innovation, it means launching a line of heating, Students may come in never having thought about
cooling and water heating products that boasts a percent reduction running a sustainable business, but when they leave,
in greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. Similarly, under eciency, the
plan is to reduce GHG emissions by percent and achieve zero t ey understand t e importance of it
waste to landll in its global manufacturing operations. Leadership
is charged with training , plumbers, contractors and key The company even educated itself when it polled new hires, and
inuencers on sustainable products or sustainable installation and percent answered “highly or very highly” that Rheem’s sustainability
recycling best practices. initiatives impacted their decision to join the company.
That last one is probably the most crucial, given that without “Our training message is not just ‘be green to save the planet,’”
the best-trained employees and contractors, the other two sets notes Mark Roach, manager of the water heating division’s product
of goals aren’t going to work. The company lays it out pretty training and content development. “We share practical benets
clearly on its website: “We hire and inspire our teams to be next- and real-life success stories. Students may come in never having
generation thinkers and responsible stewards of our industry, thought about running a sustainable business, but when they leave,
greater community and the environment. And, through training they understand the importance of it.”
and supporting our customers and partners, we strive to help them Benets of this training appear elsewhere, most prominently in
strengthen and grow their businesses. We also work to build a waste reduction and energy eciency: Pretreatment of metals at
thriving industry workforce—supporting the recruitment and Rheem’s Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, factory eliminates ¢, metric tons
empowerment of tomorrow’s plumbers and contractors, leading of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year. Packaging updates at
the way to a prosperous future, together.” the Fort Smith, Ark., facility have reduced cardboard usage, saving
Among the accomplishments: opening state-of-the-art Innovation trees. Reprocessing steel dust in the company’s Australian factories
Learning Centers worldwide that are designed to accelerate training prevents more than ¢ tons per year from ending up in landlls.
through hands-on and online education modules; sponsoring Using inated bags instead of foam for packing at the Waterbury,
contractor and plumber-focused trade groups, including the Air Conn., factory avoids ¤,¤ cubic feet of Styrofoam packing material
Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) and Plumbing per year. Switching tankless packaging from foam to honeycomb-
Heating Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC); sponsoring shaped cardboard signicantly reduced hard-to-recycle waste, while
the Energy & Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) National maintaining the same level of product protection. Replacing cooling
Summit Manufacturing Expo and hosting a panel session about towers and switching to LED lighting at the Nuevo Laredo facilities
how to create “utility ready” products and programs; and, providing resulted in a .¢ million kilowatt hour (kWh) reduction in electricity
on-the-go tools and resources for contractors via the innovative consumption per year. And, a solar array installed at the company’s
Rheem Contractor App. Rydalmere, Australia, facility has generated ¢¥¤. megawatt hours
“Our customers are becoming more climate conscious,” notes Philip (MWh) of electricity and reduced GHG emissions by ¢¢ tons.
Oglesby, manager of education and content development for Rheem’s “Sustainability is just a byproduct of being ecient,” notes Rheem
air conditioning division. “It’s imperative that we oer our plumbers Engineering Manager Dan Partin. “You have to be responsible in
and contractors sustainability training to better serve our customers’ manufacturing. I think we owe that not only to our own employees
growing demand for sustainable products.” and to the company, but to everybody in America and throughout
There are other more subtle, internal-oriented training eorts. the world.” GB
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