Environment – Customer Focus

Areas of Focus

Our commitment to environmental stewardship is both Customer-Focused and Operations-Focused. This commitment is being realized through our 5 year sustainability plan, which began in 2009.

 

With regard to Customer-Focused environmental efforts, we have set our goals in three primary target areas:

 

• Material reduction
• Packaging reduction
• Distribution mileage management

 

Material Reduction

GOAL:  In customer applications, reduce 3,500 tons of gram weight each year.

STATUS:  With 2 of 5 years completed, we have reduced 7,044 tons of gram weight.

 

 

 

In the first two years of our 5 year plan, we have surpassed our annual goal each year, and, with new products now in the late stages of testing, we expect to exceed our annual goal by even larger margins in the years to come. Today, Ring is the leader in lightweight packaging in a variety of categories, including:

 

• Lightest peanut butter container line 
• Lightest grated cheese container
• Lightest 16 oz. snack nut container
• Lightest 35 lb. container for edible oil 

 

 

Packaging Reduction

GOAL:  Over 5 years, 500 ton reduction on packaging weight.

STATUS:  With 2 of 5 years completed, we have already achieved 99.6% of our 5 year goal.

 

 

 

With out-of-the-box thinking and steadfast determination, our operations team has attacked this goal. In just two years, we have eliminated 498 tons of packaging weight from our customer applications. So far, we’ve:

 

• Eliminated 170.4 tons of stretch film (1.3MM palletized units) 
• Eliminated 79 tons of corrugated
• Eliminated  775 pounds of Hot Melt

 

This means that in two years we’ve already eliminated 465 tons of CO² equivalent from our environment. But rest assured, even though our team has already reached our total 5 year goal, our efforts will continue in earnest.

 

 

Distribution Mileage Management

GOAL: Maintain shipping distances that are 10% shorter than industry average.

STATUS: With 2 of 5 years completed, Ring continues to far exceed our goal.

 

 

 

For decades, Ring’s business model has included the commitment to provide our customers with high-performance products that are nearby and ready to deliver quickly. Our goal is to maintain our industry leadership in this area, reducing fuel emissions and delivery times.

 

In the first two years of our 5 year plan, we are far ahead of our goal to maintain shipping distances that are 10% shorter than industry average. In fact, 62% of our shipping distances in the past two years have been less than 25 miles. So far, our efforts have eliminated 4,227 tons of CO² equivalent compared to the U.S. average³.

 

 

_{1 – U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Bureau of Labor Statistics – Commodity Flow Survey 2004}

_{2 – U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Bureau of Labor Statistics – Commodity Flow Survey 2004}

_{3 – U.S. Dept. of Transportation}