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From Home Furnishing Business

HSM Plant in Miss. Completes EFEC Registration

August 9, 2013  by in Bedding, Product   

The foam pouring and fabrication plant is the third HSM facility in EFEC (Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture). The 400,000-square-foot facility has more than 100 employees.

EFEC is the home furnishings industry’s environmental management system. The program was developed by AHFA in 1999 and is now in place at 81 different U.S. facilities, including manufacturing plants, warehouses and corporate headquarters buildings in 15 states and Mexico.

“The HSM Verona EFEC team and their leader, Robert Aycock , have done an outstanding job in the reuse of materials, recycling of solid wastes and energy conservation,” said Randy Waibel , HSM corporate manager of environment and sustainability, who described the program as “a win-win situation for our employees, our customers, our profitability and the environment.

“The EFEC program has helped us to build momentum with our sustainability goals and has allowed us to reduce our operational environmental footprint by increasing our recycling and energy conservation programs, as well as to develop sustainable practices into our day-to-day operations.”

Waibel reports that the EFEC program helped the Verona location realize more than $24,000 in savings in one year. From February 2012 to February 2013, during implementation of the EFEC system, the plant reduced landfill solid waste by almost 40,000 pounds, diverted an additional 13,000 pounds of process waste from the landfill to a waste-to-energy facility, and reduced electricity use by almost 12 percent.

“The benefits of implementing EFEC at several of our locations have been significant, and I expect that we’ll continue to see additional cost savings and reduced environmental impacts as we move forward at Verona and throughout the company," Waibel said. "I’m personally very proud of what our employees have accomplished during this time and excited to see what they will accomplish in the future.”

Aycock said the EFEC registration process provided his facility with a structured management system that allowed the operation to successfully meet the guiding principles of HSM’s corporate environmental policy.

“From the very beginning of our EFEC journey, it was our goal to create a new culture within our facility to educate the employees on the importance of environmental stewardship. As a result, we have not only achieved this goal, but we have seen significant facility cost savings from the reduction of energy use and solid waste disposal fees,” Aycock said. “With the involvement of employees in our EFEC program, many of them have not only recognized the benefits to the company, but have taken the recycling and conservation practices home to save money and protect our environment.”