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LONDON, May 4, 2023 /3BL Media/ – International sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future has today announced that its Founder Director, Jonathon Porritt, is stepping down after almost 30 years of service.

Alongside sustainability campaigner Sara Parkin and sustainable economics academic Paul Ekins, Jonathon Porritt founded Forum in 1994 (launching two years later in 1996), aiming to create a sustainable future by inspiring business leaders and policymakers to take action on environmental and social challenges.

Since then, Forum has grown into one of the world’s leading sustainability organisations, with offices in the UK, US, India and Southeast Asia, and working with a wide range of businesses, governments, and civil society organisations to create solutions to the climate crisis, crashing biodiversity and social inequality.

Jonathon Porritt is recognised as one of the world’s leading environmentalists and authors. His leaving follows 30 years of providing strategic advice to leading UK and international companies to deepen their understanding of today’s converging environmental and social crises, and supporting them in developing solutions. He has convened and chaired leading advisory panels, as well as overseeing inquiries into controversial issues such as palm oil, aviation and bioenergy.

Commenting on stepping down from Forum, Jonathon Porritt said: “Thirty years on from co-founding Forum for the Future, our work (along with many others who’ve got involved in the world of corporate sustainability since 1996) has demonstrated the incredible potential of business and civil society joining forces to accelerate the solutions we need to today’s converging environmental and social crises. It’s been an astonishing privilege for me to work through the Forum with so many wonderful colleagues and Partners in pursuing that solutions agenda. The fact that the world today, unfortunately, is still in a wretched place is primarily down to an almost complete lack of political leadership throughout that time, and that’s a massive challenge we all need to confront.”

Dr Sally Uren, Forum’s Chief Executive, said: “I am extremely grateful to Jonathon for his vision and leadership over the years. He has been a tireless advocate for sustainability, and his work has inspired countless individuals and organisations to take action. Moreso, he has been an invaluable mentor to me and many others in the sustainability movement. Jonathon’s willingness to ask tough questions and challenge shortfalls have been instrumental in ensuring difficult but critical conversations are had on where we need to focus going forwards. We look forward to building on his legacy as we strive for a just and regenerative future.”

Rita Clifton, Forum’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, said: “Jonathon’s contributions to the sustainability movement have been immeasurable and I want to thank him for his tireless efforts and friendship. In 1994, he, Sara and Paul had an idea to create something that was then almost unheard of: an independent sustainability non-profit working not against, but with businesses to tackle the defining challenges of our time. Almost 30 years later, enabling business as a force for good, and working with all stakeholders, remains central to our mission.”

Jonathon Porritt will next be focusing on campaigning activities with the Green Party, anti-nuclear organisations, electoral reform, population and family planning, supporting young climate campaigners, and continuing work with corporate sustainability partners.

– ENDS –

For media enquiries, please email:

Amy Langridge

Head, Marketing and Communications

a.langridge@forumforthefuture.org

Tanya Grueneberger

Digital & PR Executive

t.grueneberger@forumforthefuture.org

About Jonathon Porritt

Jonathon Porritt is one of the world’s leading environmentalists and sustainability advocates. He has been instrumental in driving forward the sustainability agenda, working with businesses, governments, and civil society to create a more sustainable future. In addition to his work as Founder Director of Forum for the Future, Jonathan Porritt has also served as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, and as a co-founder of the Prince of Wales’s Business and Sustainability Programme. He has authored numerous books on sustainability, including his most recent publication, “Hope in Hell: A Decade to Confront the Climate Emergency”. Porritt has been recognised for his work with numerous awards and honours, including a CBE for services to environmental protection.

About Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability non-profit. For more than 25 years we’ve been working in partnership with business, governments and civil society to accelerate the shift towards a just and regenerative future in which both people and the planet thrive. As our environmental, social and economic crises intensify, the world is rapidly changing, with multiple transitions already reshaping how we all live and work. But will we go far enough, and fast enough?

Forum is focused on enabling deep transformation in three game-changing areas: how we think about, produce, consume and value both food and energy, and the purpose of business in society and the economy.

TORONTO, May 4, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Leading global enterprise Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) software provider Cority, announced today the acquisition of Greenstone, a UK-headquartered software company with a suite of sustainability solutions for enterprises and asset managers. This marks the third sustainability-focused acquisition for Cority in the past two years, including WeSustain and Reporting 21.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to have the Greenstone team and its award-winning solutions come under the Cority umbrella,” said Mark Wallace CEO of Cority. “Our mission is to empower organizations to make better decisions that drive higher levels of operational and sustainable performance through people-first software solutions. The acquisition of Greenstone aligns perfectly, enabling us to deepen our capabilities and offer a more comprehensive toolset to our customers.”

Founded in 2006 as a carbon accounting software business, Greenstone has evolved to offer comprehensive SaaS-based (Software-as-a-Service) solutions to enable a full range of sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting across the entire value chain, including suppliers and investments. Driven by its brand promise of “data that talks to you,” the 51-person organization aims to simplify and facilitate the gathering, analyzing, and sharing of sustainability data through guided workflows, configurable questionnaires, data collection wizards, comprehensive emission and frameworks libraries, as well as advisory and data management services and support. With offices in London and New York, Greenstone serves over 75 customers in 106 countries across 15 industries.

“We are excited to be joining forces with Cority, a company that shares our mission to help our clients make better sustainability and ESG decisions through data-driven insights,” said Matthew de Villiers, CEO of Greenstone. “Our combined strengths will equip us to deliver a comprehensive suite of sustainability solutions that enable customers to measure, manage, and report sustainability and ESG information and performance throughout their organizations, supply chains, and investment portfolios.”

Businesses are facing mounting pressure from regulators, investors, and shareholders to prioritize sustainability. This has resulted in a global surge of interest in ESG data and practices. With mandatory reporting becoming more extensive, and the range of sustainability frameworks continuously evolving and expanding, there is a growing need for digital solutions to gather, track, and report sustainability performance accurately. Organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with these changes and need expert guidance to navigate the landscape successfully. The acquisition of Greenstone allows Cority to not only deepen the company’s sustainability & ESG expertise, but also expand its related offerings to better support existing and future customers in their responsible business decisions.

Ted Kail, chief product officer for Cority, shared, “We recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainability and ESG initiatives. Reporting frameworks, market maturity, and complexity of operational impacts vary dramatically across geo-regions, industries, and company size. We want to be able to meet our customers wherever they are; whether that is at the beginning of their sustainability journey with simple reporting needs, or extremely complex GHG (Greenhouse Gas) calculations for organizations that have been monitoring their global footprint for decades. The acquisition of Greenstone will enable us to better support customers across this broad spectrum, building upon our existing set of robust sustainability and ESG reporting solutions and expertise.”

Following Cority’s established acquisition processes, within the first 90 days product and market leaders from across the combined organization will come together to evaluate all existing relevant solutions and develop a combined roadmap for the company’s sustainability and ESG solutions that best serves its customers and the market. The Greenstone solutions will be incorporated into Cority’s Sustainability Cloud to better support customers in managing, reporting, and actioning their sustainability and ESG initiatives. As part of Cority’s integrated responsible business platform, CorityOne, the Sustainability Cloud benefits from datasets throughout an organization being aggregated and fed into one central location to uncover key insights and create a single, accurate, and holistic view of EHS and sustainability performance.

Recently recognized as a leader in the Verdantix EHS Green Quadrant benchmark study, the independent research firm highlighted Cority’s “laser-focus on building an end-to-end EHSQ and sustainability solution [resulting] in a comprehensive offering” for organizations looking to “future-proof their EHS ecosystems.” The acquisition of Greenstone further solidifies the company’s market leadership with the broadest ESG offering within the EHS space, making the company more competitive across all EHS & ESG solutions. With its expanded global footprint, Cority will now have over 600 employees serving more than 1,600 customers worldwide.

Media Contact: Meredith Schweitzer//mschweitzer@66and.co // 347-698-9196

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About Cority

Cority gives every employee from the field to the boardroom the power to make a difference, reducing risks and creating a safer, healthier, and more sustainable world. For over 35 years, Cority’s people-first software solutions have been built by EHS and sustainability experts who know the pressures businesses face. Time-tested, scalable, and configurable, CorityOne is the responsible business platform that combines datasets from across the organization to enable improved efficiencies, actionable insights, data-driven decisions, and more accurate reporting on performance. Trusted by over 1,400 organizations worldwide, Cority deeply cares about helping people work toward a better future for everyone. To learn more, visit  www.cority.com.

About Greenstone

Greenstone provides software and services that enable its clients to advance their sustainability strategies and become responsible businesses. Greenstone delivers its brand promise ‘data that talks to you’ through its award-winning sustainability reporting software and its externally recognized best-of-class customer service. Used by 75,000+ users globally, Greenstone’s solutions enable its clients to gather, manage, analyze and report the data required to fulfil their sustainability and ESG ambitions and goals. For more information, visit www.greenstoneplus.com

Originally published by View the VIBE

Bombay Sapphire is known for its smooth gin and iconic blue bottle. But the popular spirit has also made a name for itself on the sustainability front, with a mission to become the world’s most sustainable global gin. Bombay Sapphire’s commitment to sustainability is reflected from botanical to bottle, bar, and beyond. Every drop of the famed, high-quality gin – which dates back to 1761 – is produced at Laverstoke Mill in Laverstoke, England. It opened for business in 2014 when the brand relocated operations from northern England.

With an agenda to discover more about the beloved gin brand straight from the source, I journeyed across the pond to check out the celebrated facility. Located about 87 kilometres from London, the distillery sits on the sprawling site of a former paper mill. It features beautifully restored brick Victorian and Edwardian buildings, with the trout-filled River Test flowing through them. These are juxtaposed by new modern elements, including two botanical-filled glass houses (more on those later).

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Chet Kitchen had no idea how his battle with cancer would affect his work. The Merck employee of 23 years and director of global regulatory policy wasn’t used to missing big meetings and presentations for hospital visits and oncology appointments.

“It’s a constant balance between trying to focus on work and trying to focus on your health,” said Kitchen. “That’s where having a good company to support you and colleagues who appreciate you and look out for you can make the difference.”

Kitchen is a head and neck cancer survivor. After following his doctor’s treatment plan for stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil, he was told there was no evidence of disease. But a year later, the cancer returned, and he was put on a new treatment plan.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck makes up about 90% of all cases of head and neck cancer. Head and neck cancer can begin in or around the throat, voice box, sinuses, mouth and salivary glands. Symptoms may include a lump in the neck or sore in the mouth or throat that does not heal or may be painful, a sore throat that does not go away, difficulty swallowing, and a change or hoarseness in the voice.

Impact of cancer on careers

“One of the most important things a company can do to support a colleague living with cancer is to listen and understand their needs,” Kitchen said.

“To have the opportunity to take time off was so important,” he said. “My company gave me the flexibility to take care of my emotional needs by allowing me to focus on my health when I needed to, but also to focus on work when I didn’t want to think about cancer.”

Ongoing employment and return to work may help promote a sense of normalcy and control for cancer patients.

“Being diagnosed with cancer may hurt your career or make it more challenging,” Kitchen said.

“But working for our company really invigorated me. I can really appreciate the work that we do and how it impacts patients.”

Why we support the Working with Cancer pledge

Merck is dedicated to supporting people living and working with cancer around the world. The company is proud to be an accredited CEO Cancer Gold Standard employer and a founding member of the Working with Cancer pledge to help provide a more open, supportive and recovery-forward culture at work for cancer patients like Kitchen.

Today, Kitchen’s cancer is in remission, but that doesn’t mean his patient journey is over.

“Even though you’re not physically battling cancer, it never really leaves you because it’s always somewhere in your mind,” he said. “But one of the things that’s really helped me emotionally through my survivorship is sharing my story.”

Learn more about Merck’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) approach by visiting merck.com/company-overview/esg.

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EMERYVILLE, Calif., May 3, 2023 /3BL Media/ – SCS Standards is pleased to announce publication of the new Annex A to the existing SCS-103 Certification Standard for Recycled Content. Annex A focuses on the electrical and electronic equipment sectors.

The Annex was developed by a diverse multi-stakeholder group that includes: Amazon, the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, De’Longhi, Dell Technologies, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, HP, Microsoft, Logitech, Phillips, and The Recycling Partnership.

SCS-103 Annex A: Supplemental Criteria for Electrical and Electronic Equipment raises the bar for recycled content in consumer electronics products. Current recycled content claims in the sector are focused on component materials. This comprehensive addition to the SCS Recycled Content Standard sets a minimum threshold for recycled content for each product sub-category and requires multiple recycled material inputs.

Certification will allow for a product-level claim and will back up manufacturers’ recycled content claims, reinforcing customer confidence, and supporting purchases of products with higher levels of recycled content. Additionally, certification will support the industry’s goal of stimulating increased use of recycled materials in products, and promoting innovation in material collection and recycling processes to minimize waste to landfills.

“SCS 103 Annex A goes beyond the current practice of certifying individual material inputs for these complex electrical and electronic products, providing consumers with a much more accessible and understandable claim,” comments Victoria Norman, Executive Director of SCS Standards.

To download a copy of the standard please visit the SCS Standards website.

About SCS Standards

SCS Standards is a non-profit organization committed to the development of standards that advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Standards are developed in alignment with best practices and guidelines provided by internationally recognized bodies to ensure a robust, transparent and collaborative approach. SCS Standards is an affiliate of Scientific Certification Systems, Inc., and is its official affiliate standards development body.

Media Contact

Victoria Norman 
Executive Director 
Email: standards@scsstandards.org

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CINCINNATI, May 3, 2023 /3BL Media/ – Fifth Third Bank, National Association’s nearly 20,000 employees will celebrate Fifth Third Day XXXII by fighting food insecurity in the communities where they live and work. In honor of the companywide celebration on May 3, the Bank will provide 10 million meals across its 11-state retail footprint through a combination of volunteerism, donations and fundraising efforts.

“Fifth Third Day reminds us that we have a special responsibility to the communities where we live and work. I’m proud our employees volunteered nearly 118,000 hours last year to a wide range of causes,” said Tim Spence, president and CEO of Fifth Third. “On Fifth Third Day we choose to focus on hunger to support those most in need. Thank you to all our employees and customers who are helping us achieve our goal of 10 million meals.”

The Bank has recognized 5/3 on the calendar as Fifth Third Day since 1991, and since 2012 the Bank and its employees have worked toward a common goal to fight hunger. This year’s theme is tackling food insecurity one community at a time. Of the 10 million meals that will be provided, 2.9 million meals* will go directly to Feeding America®. The remaining meals will be provided to local hunger relief organizations throughout the Bank’s footprint. Customers will also have an opportunity to support hunger relief by purchasing a $1 shield of recognition at all Fifth Third locations. Along with volunteer activities, Fifth Third Day will feature other key events with local celebrities in Cincinnati, Charlotte, Chicago, Indianapolis, Detroit, Tampa, Nashville, and Ft. Myers.

For the last four years, Fifth Third has collaborated with Feeding America and partner food banks to serve communities. Feeding America estimates at least 60 million people turned to food banks, food pantries and other private food assistance programs in 2020 during the health and economic crisis. Amid record unemployment and instability, the Feeding America network has continued to provide food for families across the country.

“Hunger is an issue that impacts every community in the United States. Feeding America is grateful to Fifth Third for helping to provide more meals to our neighbors in need,” said Lauren Biedron, vice president of corporate partnerships at Feeding America. “Large-scale initiatives such as Fifth Third Day help ensure that food banks can secure enough meals, which are equitably distributed to help achieve food security for the people we serve.”

For more information about how Fifth Third is helping its customers and communities please visit here.

* $1 helps to provide at least ten meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local partner food banks.

About Fifth Third

Fifth Third is a bank that’s as long on innovation as it is on history. Since 1858, we’ve been helping individuals, families, businesses and communities grow through smart financial services that improve lives. Our list of firsts is extensive, and it’s one that continues to expand as we explore the intersection of tech-driven innovation, dedicated people and focused community impact. Fifth Third is one of the few U.S.-based banks to have been named among Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies® for several years. With a commitment to taking care of our customers, employees, communities and shareholders, our goal is not only to be the nation’s highest performing regional bank, but to be the bank people most value and trust.

Fifth Third Bank, National Association is a federally chartered institution. Fifth Third Bancorp is the indirect parent company of Fifth Third Bank and its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB.” Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com.

Tiffaney Hardy (Media Relations)
Tiffaney.Hardy@53.com | 513-534-8039

​Sustainability skills are needed in positions far beyond the C-suite. 

ESG concerns are impacting how consumers, investors and executives make decisions in business and their everyday lives. And just as we have seen a wave of resource commitments toward chief sustainability officer hires at financial firms in previous years, now we will start to see the trickle-down effect. 

Meaning sustainability skills are no longer contained within the C-Suite. Sustainability skills are becoming more integrated across all functions, every position and at every level. Risk, compliance and finance professionals will likely need expanded skills and a deeper familiarity with climate data, for example. 

Part of understanding and strengthening ever-evolving talent needs means unpacking what is driving some of the changes, including pending regulation. 

Following investor demand, the timeline for the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has confirmed required global climate and sustainability disclosure rules to take effect next year (January 2024). 

The rules, which will be issued by the end of June 2023, will provide a general framework for reporting material on sustainability-related issues and specific rules for climate, including extreme weather events and greenhouse gas emissions, according to the board’s announcement. 

Companies will be required to disclose the risks and opportunities they face related to climate, including the implications for the company’s financial position, performance, prospects, business model and strategy. 

The SEC has also proposed new reporting requirements that will require transparency. Under the new requirements, companies must measure and publish their scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions beginning in 2024. And for larger companies, required reporting on scope 3 emissions – carbon emissions from customers and the supply chain – may be enforced next year. 

Climate change is also calling into question the traditional role of corporate sustainability, a company’s leadership initiatives and how their business practices impact society and the planet. 

Investor perception also continues to be an important driver toward leading the push to more sustainable business practices early on, with investors increasingly looking for ways to interrogate and drive business strategy. 

In early 2021, nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP26 summit to improve their emissions-cutting pledges in time for COP27, but only two dozen countries had done so by the time the next summit commenced. 

What we saw was ambitious commitments from companies unable to deliver in time, which spurred mounting pressure from investors for companies to ramp up efforts and action. 

ESG investing, which considers nonfinancial factors like social accountability, can ban investments in gun and fossil fuel companies, for example. ESG fund inflow in the U.S. reached $70 billion in 2021 before falling to $3.1 billion by year 2022, according to Morningstar research. However, it is important to note that inflow to sustainable funds still far outpaced the rest, according to the research. 

That decrease in investments took place against the backdrop of an increasingly political and contentious ESG landscape. This showed that public and shareholder perception holds great sway with financial firms and investors – both favorably and otherwise. 

This means that, in today’s boardrooms, sustainability is becoming a much more vital aspect of an organization’s brand strategy. 

Consumers are increasingly demanding sustainable practices from the companies they interact with and products they purchase. Leaders will be increasingly tasked to go beyond just meeting regulatory standards and net-zero commitments to actions that focus on innovation, healing the environment and having meaningful societal impact. 

For example, Adidas has been increasing their sustainability and usage of recycled materials. The brand aims to only use recycled polyester from 2024 onward to decrease their effect on the environment. Adidas is also set on reducing water consumption in production, using renewable energy and adhering to fair labor practices. 

Sustainability is in constant transformation, but success should be quantifiable. Companies need to set clear goals to drive the direction of the business. 

The need for qualified employees trained in sustainability has led to a war for talent. However, we are running out of time. Companies that set environmental goals for 2030 are starting to realize that’s not that far away anymore. 

Climate change and societal fractures require immediate action. Sustainable goals have to start at the top with buy-in from leadership. From there, the most success will come from companies that invest in training their existing workforce, rather than hiring a select few. 

Gloria Mirrione is Executive Director and Head of Sustainable Finance & Impact Investing, Americas, at Acre. 

Original Source: Directors & Boards | Written by Gloria Mirrione | Published on 28/03/23

About Acre

At Acre, we work with the most aspirational businesses with potential to make real change; from those who are just starting out to those who are well on the journey to crafting a legacy.

Our 18 years’ experience in sustainability recruitment, combined with our extensive global network, enables us to provide talent solutions that are designed to deliver this change.

Through our unique behavioural assessment technology, we understand the types of people, skills and behaviours required to create impact. We can develop these qualities within your existing teams too.

We find talented people and develop their skills to ensure they make a true impact in ambitious, progressive organisations.

Acre. Making companies ready for tomorrow.

Automation, employee amenities, and sustainability are just a few considerations for achieving longevity and efficiency from your food processing plant design.

Companies don’t tackle the architectural design and layout of their food processing plants every year—or even every ten years. Facility design requires a long-lens approach: How might the industry change over time? How will consumer trends drive production? What concerns and challenges lay ahead?

Having insight to those questions is key to creating a cost-effective design that’s relevant for decades to come. Based on what we’re seeing in the field, here are seven areas we think will play a significant role in the future of food and beverage facility design.

Safe, cleanable spaces that protect against cross-contamination

Protecting food processing plants against cross-contamination is, and will remain, a top concern for manufacturers—regardless of whether they’re upfitting facilities or building from the ground up. The continuing dominance of fresh food will up the ante as companies sharpen their focus on what’s considered ready-to-eat versus raw. 
These two components play a vital role in that process.

Segregation of spaces: Design features must meet FSMA compliance and guard against cross-contamination. Segregation is holistic and distinct. A plant segregates allergens: raw vs. cooked and clean vs. “dirty.” Essentially, clean spaces should be barricaded from contaminants. There are obvious ways to do this—with physical barriers—but there are other, more intricate, aspects to consider: the proper amount of space between air inlets and exhaust, even room pressurization strategies. Insulated metal panels go a long way when it comes to space segregation. They’re also excellent thermal and vapor barriers.Cleanability: There are many enemies of sterility: condensation, foot traffic, hygiene of the plant and its employees, and breached protocols, among other things. All invite bacteria and pathogens to clean areas, which can lead to contamination, introducing major problems in multiple areas. Special attention must be given to design layouts to ensure employees can access hard-to-reach areas for cleaning, including behind equipment and inside it. Designs with sloping floors and drains ensure ease of frequent cleaning.Tourability for visitors and walk-throughs

Food processing plants often make frequent changes to product lines—switching vendors and suppliers—and inviting potential investors to tour. Touring protocols have always been in place, but we’re seeing new facilities featuring separate touring channels. The pandemic only underscored the need for protection through separation.

Case Study: In 2019, we designed elevated touring corridors for Tuffy’s Treat Company in Delano, Minnesota by combining them with mechanical access areas. It was a double-duty design move—segregating touring for the plant but also freeing up valuable space on the floor, an innovative way to provide flexibility, segregation, and Green Globes certification for its 174,000-square-foot facility.

Sustainability beyond just lip service

We’ve been hearing about sustainability for years, but now it’s a driver of revenue and viability. Consumers wield sustainability as a purchasing criterion, prioritizing retailers who ensure their suppliers have aggressive and transparent goals toward reducing a plant’s carbon footprint.

The EY (Ernst Young) Future Consumer Index in 2022 reported a majority of U.S. consumers believed a company’s behavior is just as important as its products. And 17% said “Planet First” is the first consideration of purchase while another 17% ranked “Society First” as number one. That’s nearing 40 percent of respondents, a big change from a decade ago.

In a recent study, NielsenIQ and FMI – The Food Industry Association, reported 72% of shoppers consider transparency from brands and manufacturers to be “important” or “extremely important.”

Designing a facility with LEED, Green Globes, or Zero Waste guidelines is a win-win, providing well-known accolades that companies can market in relation to how their products are produced. As demonstrated by two projects CRB designed, sustainability is a selling point.

Case Studies: 

For Mars Chocolate North America, CRB designed a number of sustainable features, including a state-of-the-art heat recovery system and rain-harvesting for irrigation and sewage transfer, all while reusing and recycling building materials, helping the 500,000-square-foot Topeka facility achieve its “zero waste to landfill” goal. Food Engineering magazine named it 2015’s Sustainable Plant of the Year.For Mycotechnology, an 86,000-square-foot mushroom fermentation plant in Aurora, Colorado, vertical building decreased the plant’s gas and water consumption, saving over one million gallons of water a year and reducing natural gas usage by 40%. Those bragging rights earned the company Food Engineering magazine’s Sustainable Plant of the Year in 2020.

Flexibility with modular designs

The COVID pandemic launched the term “pivot” for manufacturers in every industry—whether for changing lines mid-production, adapting to supply chain disruption, or operating with fewer employees.

Now that we know it can be done, future designs will require built-in adaptability to circumvent shut-downs and costly delays. Prefabrication, preassembly, modularization, and offsite fabrication—called PPMOF, a process we use in our ONEsolution integrated project delivery method—is one way to ensure food processing plants can customize without losing efficiency. At Mycotechnology, some lines can be switched in less than 10 minutes.

Large rooms with open floorplans gave the same boost to Tuffy’s Treat Company:

Allowing for spaces to be quickly renovated to accommodate new product lines (even for smaller, private labels)Consolidating space so the company could store its own fresh proteins, instead of relying on a third-party contractor to produce shelf-stable productsOffering customizable options tailored for specific equipment and FSMA compliance.

Problem-solving with automation and technology 

Although automation requires less square footage in a food processing plant—sometimes considerably less–it’s more expensive due to technology and equipment costs.

Higher equipment costs for automation must be balanced with lower operational costs. In addition to smaller footprints for production, fewer employees lead to smaller amenity spaces like breakrooms and parking.

For some facilities, automation is so prevalent that they’ve moved toward a “dark warehouse” that hosts mostly robots and materials stored in racks. Automation is not only efficient in process, but in space, requiring a smaller footprint through consolidation.

It’s important to right-size the design of a food processing plant. While companies want the flexibility and efficiency automation brings, the budget often allows the bare minimum. If the design plan exceeds the capital cost budget, designers can modify plans to rein in costs and find a middle ground that satisfies both budget and the need for future flexibility.

Data-driven design borrowed from life sciences

Designing a new facility or upfitting an existing facility doesn’t require a crystal ball. The food and beverage manufacturing industry is increasingly mirroring the biopharma industry when it comes to implementing design changes in real-time.

Today’s technology allows for a shared digital environment that fosters collaboration among the design, architecture, and construction teams.

Contracts, budgets, drawings, and timelines extend the building information modeling (BIM) data, adding another layer of input to propel the project step by step, all while keeping an eye on the target value of the project. Value and cost are constantly assessed to ensure there are no overruns or surprises.

Employee amenities to address the manufacturing labor shortage

A 2021 study by Deloitte and The National Association of Manufacturers estimated more than 2 million manufacturing jobs could be unfulfilled by 2030, costing the industry nearly $1 trillion in 2030 alone.

Furthermore, in the survey, more than 75% of manufacturers said they’d have trouble attracting and retaining workers in 2021 and beyond, with executives reporting they were already struggling to fill higher-paying entry-level positions, let alone recruiting and retaining skilled workers. And close to 50% reported they’d turned away business due to a lack of qualified workers.

Plant amenities and design play a big role in employee attraction and retention—from creating open spaces with natural light to designing comfortable breakrooms. Manufacturers are getting creative on improving the employee experience, outfitting breakrooms with napping spots, foosball tables, and comfortable seating.

Designing for the future

A food processing plant’s design or upfit will directly affect its viability, both as a production facility and a place of employment that will attract a stable labor force. It’s a big decision that requires careful planning, designing, and costing.

At CRB, we help companies design food processing facilities for the future, knowing these facilities play an integral role in providing the nation’s food supply. We recognize that each facility—and company—presents specific challenges, needs, and expectations. We design with careful precision and client input for every step of the process. From inception to completion, we’re listening. We’d love to hear about your project; contact us.

Medtronic climbed to No. 2 on DiversityInc’s 2023 Top 50 Companies for Diversity, up 8 spots from last year’s ranking of 10. This is our highest-ever ranking on the prestigious list.

A commitment to inclusion, diversity, and equity (ID&E) accelerates innovation, improves the wellbeing of our employees, and creates more opportunities to bring our life-saving technologies to more patients around the world.

“Being recognized in this way and steadily moving up the list is a huge accomplishment,” said Dr. Sally Saba, Medtronic Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer and President of the Medtronic Foundation. “It’s another proof point of the progress we continue to make together to better serve all patients around the world through a diverse and inclusive employee community.”

Medtronic was also named a top company for executive women (#1), Latino executives (#1), Native American/Pacific Islander executives (#1), mentoring (#2), talent acquisition for women of color (#3), Asian American executives (#4), environmental, social & governance – ESG (#5), sponsorship (#6), supplier diversity (#7), employee resource groups (#7), LGBTQ employees (#9), people with disabilities (#13), Black executives (#19), and executive diversity councils (#22).

This year’s rankings and specialty lists were unveiled during the annual DiversityInc Top 50 event. Medtronic Chairman and CEO Geoff Martha helped kick off the event during a fireside chat, “Navigating the Evolving Challenges of ESG,” facilitated by DiversityInc CEO Carolynn Johnson.

The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity is the leading assessment of diversity management in corporate America and benchmarks organizations’ programs, practices, policies, and outcomes to hire, retain, develop, and promote women, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, and veteran employees.

 Our unwavering commitment to ID&E means zero barriers to opportunity within Medtronic and a culture where all employees belong, are respected, and feel valued for who they are and the life experiences they contribute. Learn more about our commitment to ID&E in the Global Inclusion, Diversity & Equity 2022 Annual Report.

Each year, April 22nd marks an important day for our planet – Earth Day – a day dedicated to honoring the achievements of the environmental movement and raising awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations. As a global technology powerhouse operating across the globe, Lenovo understands the role we have in raising awareness and taking action to protect our planet.

Lenovo’s investments in sustainable materials and use of biofuels for shipments align with this year’s “Invest in our planet”. In January 2023, Lenovo announced its commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with science-based targets validated through the Science Based Targets initiative’s Net-Zero Standard. To know more about our Journey to Net-Zero, visit our Net-Zero page here

Happy Earth Day!