Believing in Better

From turning to more solar power to building toilet facilities in schools, we continued our Believing In Better journey in 2016. And now, for the first time, our accomplishments are being released to the public in Kohler's latest Sustainability and Stewardship Report. The report showcases our progress toward Net Zero 2035 and highlights success stories from around the world.

"It's important that people understand what companies are doing to reduce their environmental footprint and be better corporate citizens," said Rob Zimmerman, Director – Sustainability & Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH). "We're telling Kohler's story publicly to not only be transparent about our successes and areas of opportunity, but to show leadership in this area."

The report is being distributed to media, posted on Kohler's social channels, and shared with select partners and nonprofits working on sustainability and WaSH issues.

How many gallons of water does it take to flush a bag of frozen carrots?

Over 80 Kohler associates found out when they met at Camp Evelyn in Plymouth, Wisconsin, for an Innovation for Good (IfG) retreat unlike any other.

"We wanted to spark ideas for new products and services to improve the lives of those in the developing world or facing a natural disaster," said Matthew Meyer, Manager – Kohler IfG Steering Committee member. .

The team inspired new ways of thinking by immersing attendees into experiences that required collecting enough water to drink, cook and flush the family's toilet, scraping together funds for supplies and being ever vigilant against intruders.

"Our goal was to make people uncomfortable," Meyer said, chuckling. "I think we met that goal, and I know we generated ideas for new ways Kohler can help those in need."

The experience was designed to give attendees a taste of the challenges facing the 1.8 billion people without access to safe water. Each team was given objects that needed to be flushed as well as an assigned amount of water to collect for cooking and drinking. 

In partnership with Water Mission, Kohler Co. is showcasing its commitment to addressing the global water and sanitation crisis in front of more than 3,000 people from more than 135 countries attending the World Water Week conference in Stockholm.

All around the world Kohler associates are using endurance and a lot of heart to help provide safe water to those in need. It's all part of our very first companywide Stewardship event called Run for Clarity.

From August to October, Run for Clarity walk/run races will take place in communities near Kohler locations. The goal is for at least 5,000 associates racing at least 5 kilometers each to accumulate a total of 40,075 kilometers, equaling the circumference of the Earth. If we reach this goal, Kohler Co. will donate 5,000 KOHLER Clarity water filters to nonprofit organizations to areas of the world challenged with clean water availability.

"Together we can help empower people to take water treatment into their own hands—bring health, happiness and hope to everyone through the fundamental force of water," said Larry Yuen, Group President ​– Kitchen & Bath.

Disruptive Innovation for a Social Good

Ratish Namboothiry had just finished helping his new product development team launch the KOHLER® Touchless toilet when he was invited to manage a project unlike any Kohler had ever taken on before.

“The Touchless toilet was a challenge for the product development team,” Ratish said. “Unique from other new product launches, the toilet project involved brilliant minds from across Kohler coming together to use technology to tackle the ever-growing need for personal cleanliness in the bathroom.”

This kind of innovation is what drew Ratish to Kohler as a young engineer, and soon he would take his first-world clean sanitation experience and apply it where it is needed the most. The company was applying for a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to design and build a sewage treatment system for field testing in India, and it needed a team leader.

Ratish said it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up: “What excited me about this project was the opportunity to apply innovation for social good. This project certainly stretched our business and technical expertise.”

Ratish quickly got to work, helping his team submit a grant proposal and researching the global sanitation issue—and it was eye opening. According to the World Health Organization, 2.4 billion people worldwide lack access to toilets and 90 percent of wastewater is released untreated. Approximately 630,000 children die each year from diarrheal diseases. Improved sanitation reduces that death rate by 37.5 percent.

“Though I grew up in India,” Ratish said. “I had never internalized the scale and severity of sanitation issues facing many in the country. When I travel to India now, I see it through a different lens.”

Ratish’s team built five stand-alone units that take in wastewater, treat and disinfect it to be reused for toilet flushing. The prototypes are undergoing field testing at apartment buildings in India.

“This process was like getting dropped from a plane into the ocean, then the plane leaves,” Ratish described. “We just had to keep trying different tactics to find the shore.”

Those tactics truly make a difference. Through work with the Gates Foundation and its partner organizations, Ratish learned that making a small dent in this global problem has a ripple effect. It can be that source of inspiration that recruits other like-minded people to maintain the momentum.

“We’ve learned to stay open-minded about possible solutions to the sanitation issue,” he said. “And not to be naïve enough to think that Kohler can solve this problem by ourselves. There’s an entire sanitation ecosystem, and it’s on us to find partners that complement our skills.”

Designing For A Product’s Lifetime

Niels Eilmus, Manager – Design Studio, Kitchens, for Kohler Co. calls himself a terrible consumer.

“I love beautiful, useful things,” said Eilmus. “But I rarely buy anything.”

According to Eilmus, his tendency toward minimalism stems from his upbringing by ecologically sensitive parents. They instilled in Eilmus a respect for his environment that makes him carefully consider each purchase and the waste that will result from that purchase.

“My parents were composting before composting was cool,” Eilmus said. “I try to instill the same values in my children, teaching them about things like composting and reuse.”

Sustainable living doesn’t stop at home for Eilmus. As a designer for Kohler, he implements Design for Environment principles throughout the new product development process. In his 14 years with the company, Eilmus has seen sustainability grow from a foreign concept to a daily way of thinking.

“I see in my team and my colleagues a desire to do things better, to have less of an impact,” Eilmus said. “Kohler allows and encourages us to explore ways to design sustainable products.”

Five years ago, Eilmus and his team were challenged to examine the production of the KOHLER Undertone sink.

“The first thing that came to my mind was packaging,” Eilmus said. “I was ready to start looking for new ways to protect the sinks on the way to the consumer.”

Analysis of Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)—the product’s environmental impact from raw materials to end of life—revealed the key to a more sustainable stainless steel sink was not in packaging but in the elimination of a coating sprayed on the outside of each sink. Designed to reduce condensation, the spray coating proved to have the largest environmental impact.

“LCIs can really be eye opening,” Eilmus said. “We all go into a project with assumptions. We have to be willing to check them at the door and look at the analysis with an open mind.”

That single LCI analysis led to Kohler eliminating the spray coating from all KOHLER® stainless steel sinks in favor of a more environmentally friendly sound absorption system.

Eilmus is tackling kitchen accessories next with DfE, looking for opportunities to use recycled materials or source renewable materials.

“It’s the passionate, smart people at Kohler that make sustainability work,” he said. “Having experts to turn to for advice, to get teams thinking, is what will make us better at having less of an impact on our world.”

Engineering a Sustainable Future

Kohler environmental engineer Olivia Fritz was studying civil engineering when a study-abroad opportunity took her to China.

“I was always passionate about the environment,” Olivia said. “But when I traveled to China, I saw firsthand the issues facing our environment. I knew at that moment that I wanted to find a job that allowed me to combine my engineering background with my passion for sustainability.”

As a cooperative at Kohler Co., Olivia worked with Theresa Millard on a side project: the Kohler Innovation for Good Waste Lab.

“I really enjoyed studying waste streams and rethinking reuse,” Olivia said. “When I applied for a full time position at Kohler, I made sure I could stay involved with that project and sustainability in general.”

Olivia now leads the sustainability team for Kohler’s cast iron facilities, monitoring energy and water use, waste-to-landfill and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the projects Olivia is most proud of involves monitoring nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.

Combustion processes from large boilers, power plants and transportation is the primary source of NOx in the atmosphere. In Kohler’s case, NOx is associated with the melting process used to create the enamel for cast iron products. 

Through the installation of a new emission control system, Kohler has reduced NOx emissions by 95 percent. Olivia is part of a small team responsible for monitoring emissions and reacting to any changes.

In addition to her work with cast iron and the waste lab, Olivia’s goal is to get more Kohler associates involved in the sustainability movement. In fact, she worked with the cast iron sustainability team to pilot a program directed to employees working in Kohler factories.

“I love listening to our associates’ sustainability ideas and researching ways to implement them,” Olivia said. “We knew those on the floor would have the best suggestions for improving sustainability practices. We just had to find a way to get them talking about it.”

The program started with 500 associates working in cast iron. Sustainability training was followed up with a request for ideas from the floor.

“At first people were hesitant to share their ideas,” Olivia said. “But once they understood the importance of Kohler’s Net Zero 2035 goal, people started opening up.”

Since the training, the team has followed up on several ideas from the factory associates and more employees are coming to Olivia with ideas.

Feathered Friend Helps Launch Green Career

It was 1983 when an engineer from Michigan met a Yellow-Naped parrot from Honduras. Little did Joe Azzarello know that “Otis” would be a part of the family for 33 years (and counting) and would affect not only his personal life but his career as well.

“I’ll admit I had very little environmental sensitivity before I adopted Otis,” said Joe, shaking his head.

Kohler’s resident green-building guru is well-known in the industry, but his career started out on a very different path. Joe was working as a mechanical engineer for a power company when Otis came into his life. It was while researching parrots at his local library that Joe became aware of the plight of the bird’s natural habitat.

“I wanted to make sure I knew how best to take care of him,” Joe remarked. “While doing that, I learned of the devastation of the Amazon rainforest. That was the turning point in my life.”

Joe jumped immediately into what was then known as the green movement. “I thought someone ought to do something to help better protect the environment. Then I thought that ‘someone’ may as well be me,” he said.

Joe initiated a recycling program where he was working and began educating his colleagues about environmental sustainability. In the evenings, Joe worked toward a master’s degree in environmental engineering with Otis perched on his shoulder as he studied.

In 1992, Joe was featured in TIME magazine in an article titled, “How Green Is My Business?” That’s when the calls started coming in—from companies who wanted to hire him, people who wanted to learn from him and three environmental enthusiasts with an idea.

David Gottfried, Rick Fedrizzi and Mike Italiano approached Joe with a proposal to help start what eventually became the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). After a bit of internal convincing Joe brought the second paying member into the USGBC.

“When the USGBC was founded, we had no idea what it would become or the difference it could make in the world,” Joe said.

Today, the USGBC has more than 12,000 member organizations and a global network of more than 200,000 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) professionals. Joe served on the USGBC’s first board of directors and helped pave the way for LEED, the most widely recognized and used green-building certification program in the world.

In 2008, after spending several years as an independent consultant, Joe was approached by Kohler Co. Company leaders were committed to sustainability but knew they needed a great deal of expert guidance and a partner to extend sustainability beyond Kohler’s walls.

“I’m very lucky to work for a company that allows me to take what I’m passionate about on the road,” said Joe, who as a USGBC Faculty travels extensively and provides LEED training in areas of the world that have never been exposed to it. “Being environmentally conscious when building any new structure is important around the world. Kohler has a great deal of experience in the green-building realm and offers many water-efficient products to help builders meet green-building requirements. It’s natural for us to share what we’ve learned with our associates, distributors, partners and customers.”

The green-building movement aims to offset climate change, improve human health, conserve water resources and protect the environment. Green buildings not only use less resources in construction, operations and maintenance but also foster a healthier lifestyle by promoting walking or biking to work, the use of alternative transportation and providing healthy spaces inside the buildings where people spend 90 percent of their time.

Working Together for a Sustainable Future

It’s been a year since the United Nations launched the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they hope to achieve by 2030. While progress has been made, with only 14 years to go, there is still a daunting task at hand, says Laura Kohler, Senior Vice President – Human Resources and Stewardship for Kohler Co. “Many say that 80 percent of the solutions already exist, but the difficulty is in connecting the dots and having all players understand their roles and how they fit into the overall puzzle,” according to Laura.

At Kohler Co, we are working to connect these dots — finding solutions and collaborating with others to ensure a sustainable future for our countries, cities, communities and people. One of the ways we are doing this is by viewing our stainability strategy through the lens of the SDGs that align with our core business, particularly:

Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

We also work to address the issues by understanding the challenges on the ground and partnering with others to explore solutions to address these complex issues.

The past year left a lasting impression on Laura as she traveled the world to meet with others working on water and sanitation issues, visiting regions affected most drastically by a lack of proper infrastructure and learning about the disproportional burden these challenges place on women and girls.

“I spent time in several urban neighborhoods and rural villages in India,” Laura says. “It was painfully clear how important clean water and proper sanitation are, particularly for young girls and women, and the impact the lack of these basic needs are having on the ability for these communities to grow and thrive.”

Laura recalls walking through streets littered with trash while small children played on the sidewalk next to a channel of human waste. Many homes had a squat toilet for the family, some a curtain for privacy, but no outlet for the waste, so it traveled through the village streets. This meant that the village was not only seriously compromised in terms of the health and well-being of its people, but was also significantly damaging the environment.

These experiences bring to life the need for creative solutions — and the right partnerships, in which both partners are able to innovate on parallel paths — to tackle systemic problems in water, sanitation and infrastructure. An example of Kohler’s contribution in this space is its partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where a team of experts is testing a Closed-Loop Advanced Sanitation System (CLASS). CLASS , stand-alone units that take in waste water, clean and reuse it for toilet flushing, are in use in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India.

“If there is one thing this past year has taught me, it is the importance of partnership and action,” says Laura. “I have seen that it’s more than just lack of toilets and facilities, it’s the need to come together. Governments, NGOs and business must all work with the people impacted to develop solutions to address these issues.”

For the role of business, in Laura’s view, this collaboration and co-creation should be built on common understanding and objectives, driving a standard for others to follow and support, as well as drawing from the company’s own associates who know the local considerations and have the knowledge and resources to bring these innovations to life.

“That local understanding is tremendously important,” says Laura. “We have to account for the local culture, to understand the issues facing specific locations, to solve their unique challenges.”

Another example Laura highlights are the KOHLER Clarity water filters, which are being deployed to areas without access to safe drinking water. The Clarity filters are an example of a compelling idea — a portable, sustainable water filter — that is only achievable by working across sectors to identify a need, develop a solution and deliver to those who would benefit most.

“However, products and relationships are not enough,” says Laura. “We also need clear distribution channels and metrics to track impact.”

Setting these metrics and measuring progress takes time, Laura concedes. “Measuring progress in terms of learning is as critical as profit and impact because, if you push too hard, people will take shortcuts.”

Extending Sustainability Beyond Kohler Co.

Purchasing Specialist and Kohler Sustainability Champion David Roosa works with purchased parts all day long. Now he puts his purchasing experience to work in helping the company meet its sustainability goals, one part at a time.

Many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), introduced in September 2015, align with the company’s existing sustainability strategy. Working toward No. 12: Responsible Consumption and Production extends beyond the company’s process to supplier partnerships.

“Kohler has made good progress toward reducing its footprint within the company’s manufacturing processes and the products we make,” Roosa said. “I saw an opportunity to help extend sustainability beyond our walls to our suppliers and the products and services that we buy.”

As a strategic buyer for Kohler fixtures manufacturing, David spends much of his time working with existing suppliers and evaluating potential new suppliers for Kohler.

“We’re beginning to have a dialogue around environmental impact with our suppliers,” Roosa said. “Just like cost and quality, sustainability is becoming a normal part of our daily discussion.”

And Roosa is seeing increased footprint awareness from Kohler’s partners. “Sustainability is not a flavor of the day. It is going to play a key role in the long term success of our products, company and suppliers,” he said.

Opportunities to improve manufacturing sustainability exist in unexpected places. Take the unassuming urinal strainer for example. Functioning as a barrier to prevent debris from entering the drain, the strainer is a necessary, though rarely thought of, component of any urinal.

Traditionally, Kohler urinal strainers are made of three separate parts: a strainer, a nut and a bolt. During a routine meeting, an associate tossed out the idea of a one-piece urinal strainer. Roosa and the team worked with several companies before finding a supplier that could manufacture the new part design that would meet Kohler’s standards.

The redesign reduced per-part weight by 72 percent, which results in 5000 pounds less steel per year while using 50 percent less energy during the manufacturing process. To add to the benefits, the new design is easier for customers to install because it requires no tools.

According to Roosa, this is the tip of the iceberg for Kohler’s supplier sustainability plans.

Father/Daughter Associates Bring Clean Water and Prosperity to Haiti 

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Over 80 percent of Haitian citizens live under the poverty line. Only 16 percent of rural Haiti has adequate sanitation and less than one-third have safe drinking water. 

Father-daughter missionaries and Kohler employees Art Stewart and Lisa Burrell travel to Haiti with the family’s mission organization S’MORES International. Though the family has been volunteering in Haiti since 2004, they say never get used to the conditions.

“I was especially struck this time by the lack of access to water,” says Lisa, a customer service agent for Kohler who recently returned from her fifth trip to the country. “To get water, Haitians have to walk long distances to streams, then carry the water back home. To get clean water — well, they don’t.” 

On their latest mission trip, Lisa and Art met with families to whom Art had delivered KOHLER Clarity water filters, donated by the company, during a February 2016 trip. The filters were making a difference, providing up to 40 liters per day of water free from bacteria and protozoa.

Art and Sandy, Lisa’s mother, traveled to Haiti in the early 2000’s and saw the need and potential in the country. Subsequently, Sandy established S’MORES International, a mission that focuses on providing loans to Haitian citizens so they can start their own businesses.

“The residents of Haiti are very determined to build better lives for themselves and their families,” Lisa said. “With an unemployment rate of 60 percent, starting a business is one of the only ways to earn a living.”

The microloans S’MORES offers are typically for around $125 and the recipients have one year to pay the money back, interest-free. Loans have been given for everything from starting a motorbike repair shop to expanding a chicken-raising operation.

Taking Sustainability From the Home Kitchen to the Cambodian Slums

Cambodia is home to 13 million people, 46 percent of whom live in poverty with 100,000 living in slums.

Jean Gong, Senior Manager – Internal Communications and Administration for Kohler Co.’s Asia Pacific region helps to oversee Kohler Co.’s donation of squat toilets to the Habitat for Humanity homes. This simple gesture makes a great impact in an area where 54 percent of the population is practicing open defecation.

“Cambodia residents have seen such turmoil,” Jean said. “But they are so committed to bettering themselves. We’re working with the sons and daughters of the generation who lived through the Cambodian Civil War. I see the bright future possible for this group of young people who are committed to getting an education and creating a better life for themselves and future generations. We want to do whatever we can to support them.”

The Habitat for Humanity homes give residents a fresh start and a chance to get out of the slums. Now one of Kohler Co.’s Global Sustainability Champions, Jean became serious about stewardship and sustainability seven years ago.

“When I learned that we would need three more planet Earths to sustain our current way of life,” Jean said, “that’s when I knew I had to do my part to bring about change.”

Jean carpools to get to her office in Shanghai, China, and uses public transportation or her bicycle as often as she can. She sorts waste at her home and uses grey water, water used for washing vegetables, fruits, etc. to water her flowers and clean her floors.

“I follow the philosophy of reduce, reuse and recycle in my daily life,” Jean remarked. “Because sustainability plays such a big role in my personal life, it’s important for me to bring sustainability to my work.”

Jean is responsible for fostering sustainability and stewardship in the company’s China headquarters. Her main role as manager of employee communication helps her understand the best ways to get employees involved in sustainable practices and stewardship projects.

“I not only manage Kohler China’s stewardship projects and volunteer programs internally but I work with external organizations on Kohler strategies,” Jean said.

Driving Sustainable Business Practices

Charlotte Gregory’s role with Kohler Mira has evolved greatly in the four years since she joined the team. A design engineer by trade, Charlotte said she has always had a vision for the work she wanted to do.

“I’ve always had a strong moral compass around what I want to do with my life,” Charlotte remarked. “I want to help make the world a better place –– and I believe I can do that.”

Her journey toward her current role as Sustainability Engineer for Kohler Mira began when she became part of the company’s Design for Environment, Stewardship and Innovation for Good teams alongside her job of supporting Mira Digital Shower engineering.

Charlotte’s focus now is on integrating sustainability and stewardship into day-to-day activities by delivering business value through cost savings, product innovation and associate action.

“I work closely with the Mira Stewardship and Design for Environment teams, as well as global sustainability associates, to develop a road map projecting how we move towards NetZero, and develop more environmentally friendly products,” Charlotte explained.

Charlotte’s favorite project of 2015 year was Mira’s EcoPledge, a company-wide challenge in which associates were tasked with finding £100,000 in sustainable savings. In the first six months of the challenge, the teams had doubled the target and were hard at work delivering on substantial sustainability projects including using air instead of water for product testing and switching to returnable packaging for product components. In 2015, the teams completed 24 projects for a savings of £325,677.

“Utilizing the familiar metric of monetary savings to illustrate how sustainability projects have been of financial benefit across the business has been brilliant,” Charlotte said. “The moment the lightbulb goes on for an associate and they make the connection between Sustainability and a project they are working on – that moment fills me with hope for the future.”

Charlotte is working with the Mira Environmental Stewardship team to identify £300,000 in sustainability savings for the 2016 EcoPledge.

The Addictive Nature of Helping Others

It all started when a coworker suggested running a four-mile race to support the American Cancer Society. Bob Lindorfer, Principal Engineer – Kohler Engines, then in his 40s, had run cross-country in high school to condition for hockey season but that was about it.

“Volunteering and raising funds for worthy causes has always been a passion of mine, and I’ve tried to stay active throughout my life,” Bob said. “I figured, why not combine the two? So, after two decades of not lacing up a pair of running shoes, I ran the four-mile race.”

That was in 1994 and Bob never looked back. In fact, he joined another Kohler coworker for daily runs.

“She was training for a marathon, and I needed a running buddy,” Bob said. “I had never considered running a marathon myself.  I never could understand why anyone would want to run that far.”

That was more than 20,000 miles and 35 marathons ago. Running marathons became a way for Bob to raise money for worthy causes, and having a cause in mind provided the motivation to keep running.

Inspired by a colleague's battle with leukemia, Bob joined more than 3,000 runner/fundraisers at the Leukemia Society of America's "Team in Training" marathon in Anchorage, Alaska.

"The greatest support I had for that marathon was from the people I work with in the Kohler Engines division," said Bob. "Their encouragement and moral support got me out the door every day for my lunchtime runs.”

When blood clots and a demanding work schedule made it impossible, it seemed that Bob’s running and fundraising days were over.

“It turns out that fundraising is almost as habit-forming as running,” Bob joked. “I decided I could raise as much or more money right here at Kohler than by training for a marathon.”

Bob turned his attention to an unlikely source of donations: a dunk tank at the company’s Wisconsin associate picnic where attendees pay for a chance to dunk a “lucky” volunteer. The first volunteer earned less than $200 in an hour, and Bob knew it was time to develop a better strategy.

Bob started working much further in advance of the June picnic. The company allows the fundraisers to combine funds raised before the event with the picnic donations, so Bob solicited volunteers early and let his coworkers vote with their dollars to get the candidate of their choice in the chair.

“The campaign aspect has really made a difference in getting people involved,” Bob said. “My volunteers have been really good sports, keeping the cause in mind. Between the campaign, donations during our team’s time in the dunk tank and my weekly donut sales, I’m hoping to pass the $10,000 mark this year.”