Month: June 2024

Leidos is an innovation company rapidly addressing the world’s most vexing challenges. With a deep legacy of engaging its employees and communities on important issues, Leidos has prioritized taking a leadership role addressing the various challenges surrounding mental health. Since 2018, Leidos has worked with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) National Capital Area Chapter (NCAC) in support of our mission to save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide. Over the years, their engagement with the AFSP has grown from its beginnings here in the D.C. Metro Area to an international level.

Throughout 2023, Leidos and the AFSP have sought out ways to engage and educate Leidos employees. AFSP-NCAC Executive Director Ellen Shannon has shared with Leidos executives about AFSP’s lifesaving mission and, during Mental Health Awareness Month in May, presented AFSP’s educational program “Safe Reporting on Suicide” for Leidos’ international communications team. The presentation took place at Leidos Global Headquarters in Reston, VA and was streamed to Leidos communication team employees worldwide.

When it came to be AFSP’s Walk Season, not only did Leidos return as the Presenting Sponsor for all four of the NCAC’s Out of the Darkness Community Walks (Prince William, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Washington, D.C.) for its 5th year in a row, but they expanded their support of the AFSP Out of the Darkness Community Walks to a national level, and worked with NCAC to develop afsp.org/Leidos. This website is a one-stop-shop where all Leidos employees can learn about the AFSP, find their local Out of the Darkness Walk, form or join a Walk team, and give a financial contribution to support Leidos’ fundraising efforts for the AFSP.

As part of their support and awareness-raising campaign for the Walks, in August, Leidos and the NCAC hosted a virtual Out of the Darkness kickoff presentation for to all Leidos employees. This event was led by Leidos Corporate Responsibility Specialist Janelle Hunter and covered everything from how funds raised support the AFSP’s mission to awareness-raising tips for teams and participants.

In September, Leidos’s News Rooms published the article Breaking the Silence to Prevent Suicide, exemplifying their leadership’s support for the AFSP’s mission and providing lifesaving information and resources as well as ways their employees can take action to fight suicide.

Throughout September and October, 11 Leidos Out of the Darkness Walk Teams across the United States recruited 225 participants and raised $174,766, and that doesn’t even include funds raised through their sponsorships of the San Diego and Northern Alabama Walks!

The NCAC is so grateful for Leidos and their outstanding support in the DMV and across the globe. We look forward to continuing our work together to save lives as their leadership and dedication to bringing suicide Out of the Darkness provides a shining beacon of hope to all!

New panels bring solar capacity to 3MW, enough to power an electric car to drive from London to SydneyGlobal Innovation Centre can run entirely on solar power, fuelling High Performance Computing (HPC) testing and a customer experience with sustainability in mind

BUDAPEST, Hungary, June 3, 2024 /3BL/ – Lenovo has unveiled new solar panels at its in-house manufacturing facility in Budapest, Hungary, powering High Performance Computing (HPC) innovation. Lenovo’s newest Global Innovation Centre, unveiled in October 2023 and operating on-site at the facility, now has the capacity for customers to test HPC workloads on 100% solar energy.

Lenovo’s manufacturing facility in Budapest was built from the ground up with sustainability in mind and the new solar panels bring the total solar energy capacity onsite up to 3 megawatts (MW), enough to power an electric car to drive 10,800 miles. The completed installation, now totalling 5,072 solar panels across two buildings, form part of an ambitious global plan to reduce Lenovo’s Scope 2 emissions by expanding the use of solar energy worldwide, with 17MW of solar electric currently operational, and Lenovo investigating additional opportunities for solar installations in Brazil, Mexico, and China.

“With the focus on sustainability efforts a prominent part of the executive suite’s decision-making process, we see customers making significant shifts in their purchasing behaviour towards being more sustainable. At Lenovo, from our supply chain to our services, we offer customers significant support when it comes to helping reach their sustainability goals. Our European customers are now able to test HPC proof of concepts in our innovation centre which can be run off 100% renewable energy. They can then have their systems manufactured in a more sustainable factory and shipped within region using more sustainable modes of transport and bulk packaging services, collectively helping to minimise freight miles and emissions.” said Stefan Brechling Larsen, Global Sustainability Services Engagement Leader at Lenovo.

“Our customers also have the ability to purchase carbon offset credits to help offset the estimated CO2 emissions associated with the average lifecycle of their technology purchases by purchasing credits to support verified Climate Action Project, and with Lenovo Premier Support Plus and our Asset and Value Recovery Services, they can extend device life as well as more responsibly manage outdated technology.”

Sustainability in Innovation and Services

Lenovo technology is designed to help support customers sustainability goals once installed on premise too. For example, Lenovo Neptune™ direct liquid cooling technology has the ability to deliver 95% heat removal efficiency and lower power consumption up to 40%. The onsite Global Innovation Centre in Budapest, specializing in HPC and Artificial Intelligence (AI), houses Lenovo’s first European testing and demonstration centre for this sustainable liquid cooling, enabling customers to experience these efficiencies before purchasing.

Also on site in Hungary is Lenovo’s Value Recovery Service European facility where Lenovo equipment is returned, refurbished, and recertified as a sustainability service to support a more circular economy that helps to reduce e-waste and enables the purchase of enterprise hardware at an affordable price.

Sustainable Manufacturing in Europe

The facility in Budapest has implemented many sustainability measures including boosting heating isolation, adding new lighting sensors, and reusing heat from air compressors. Heat from the production house is used to keep the manufacturing space warm, while in winter, cold outside air is used for cooling, which helps reduce energy costs.

The physical manufacturing of Lenovo solutions on site is done using the patented Low Temperature Solder (LTS) process that was developed by Lenovo in 2017. With LTS, soldering heat is applied at maximum temperatures of 180 degrees Celsius, a reduction of 70 degrees from the previous method resulting in reduced carbon emissions during manufacturing. Beyond the processes, Lenovo also helps mitigate its employees’ environmental impact too by offering factory workers a free shuttle bus within the local area to reduce the number of cars driving to and from the facility.

“From day one we have worked tirelessly to boost the sustainability across the site in Budapest. Adding increased solar generation capacity has been an ongoing project and it is an exciting moment to now have the ability to run our Global Innovation Centre on 100% solar energy.” said Szabolcs Zolyomi, GSC (Global Supply Chain) Factory Site Leader at Lenovo.

“The new solar panels move us towards our goal of 4MW solar capacity at the site, equal to the power generated by 12 fuel tankers of natural gas. Being located in Europe, with the ability to reduce freight miles and this additional solar energy capacity, we are supporting Lenovo’s sustainability goals in a very tangible way. The European factory will only grow in importance as a part of Lenovo’s worldwide supply chain.”

Since the facility became operational, the Budapest factory has shipped 1.5 million workstations and servers to over 2,500 customers in 70 markets across EMEA.

The new solar panels were officially switched on by Szabolcs Zolyomi and Stefan Brechling Larsen on 24 April 2024, in front of media.

Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery partnered with Bay Area Habitat for Humanity Houston to fulfill the dream of a single mother who wanted to purchase her own home.In addition to sponsoring the habitat build, employee volunteers from Marathon Petroleum took part in building the three-bedroom home in Texas City.This marked the 172nd home built through the non-profit and its community partners since the program launched in 1991.

Born and raised in Galveston County, Texas, April Laijas had always dreamed of owning her own home. On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, that dream came true for the single mother of two when she received the keys to her brand-new house in Texas City.

“As a single mom watching home prices always going up, I wasn’t sure if this day would ever be possible,” Laijas said. “I am beyond excited to start making memories with my girls that we will cherish for years to come.”

The path to her new reality was made possible through the Bay Area Habitat for Humanity in Houston (BAHFH), with support from local businesses like Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay refinery, a sponsor of the project. Families interested in purchasing a home through BAHFH must meet certain criteria. Members of the household are required to give 300 hours of “sweat equity” toward building the home as well as other Habitat homes and attend specific financial budgeting and homeownership courses.

“From start to finish, this has been such a rewarding process to be involved in,” said Vice President of Refining Dave Leaver. “It’s an incredible feeling to know our people played a role in helping to make this family’s dream come true.”

About a dozen employee volunteers from Marathon Petroleum took part in construction of the three-bedroom home, which broke ground in late 2023. Refinery Maintenance Foreman Cory Bush took it a step farther by donating a washer and dryer to April and her family.

“So many people in our community came together to support this deserving mom and her two girls,” Bush said. “To see the smiles on their faces at the dedication event was such a powerful moment to witness and something I will never forget.”

This marked the 172nd home dedicated by BAHFH since the non-profit was founded in 1991.

“We are so grateful to all who came together to build this beautiful home,” said Megan Scheffer, Executive Director of Bay Area Habitat for Humanity Houston. “Every nail, every hand and every dollar helped turn April’s dream of homeownership into reality, and we could not have done this without you.”