Vision
Since 1948, Bretford has been committed to producing high-quality products that add value to people's work and school experiences. From the start, we've worked to minimize waste throughout the product life cycle.
Bretford designs and manufactures products to provide long-lasting and environmentally safe operations. The following accomplishments and activities have helped Bretford create a culture of continual improvement to our environmental stewardship.
Leadership
- Bretford provides environmental education and resources for all departments and facilities to continually improve and participate in our environmental performance.
- Bretford has a cross-functional team dedicated to maintaining and improving our environmental management system. It is the team's responsibility to gather and process data for all corporate environmental performance metrics.
- Bretford uses environmental performance metrics as an informational support tool for day-to-day and long-term business decision-making.
- Recycling is embraced throughout Bretford's organization through the purchase of some recycled and recyclable materials, as well as the implementation of recycling programs for not only plant packaging materials but also the bottles, cans, and paper generated by office personnel.
- All paper that is purchased for use at Bretford is made from recycled content.
- Bretford actively recycles scrap paper, and blue recycling receptacles can be found at every work center in our facilities.
Product Design
Our product development is respectful to the environmental and health effects of a product. The areas that we concentrate on are: using the minimum amount of resources by making the most efficient use of materials, phasing out materials and chemical substances which can have a negative impact on people and/or the environment, and using renewable and recyclable materials whenever it is possible to do so without compromising product performance and quality standards.
Production Processes
- Bretford metal parts are painted using electrostatic powder coat paint. Bretford was one of the first manufacturers in the nation to switch from spray-on wet paint, high in VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), to electrostatic powder paint, eliminating all VOCs caused by wet painting. Powder paints are extremely durable and have negligible VOC content compared to traditional liquid paints. With the electrostatic process and special spray guns, little powder paint waste is generated. Some of our paint lines even reclaim the powder paint waste to use again on future products.
- Bretford uses packaging materials that can be easily recycled and/or reused, such as corrugated cardboard and wood crates/pallets.
- Bretford's packout teams ensure that product packaging is tight and sturdy so that the product makes it to the final destination in perfect condition with the least amount of freight cost possible. If our products are damaged during transportation, it takes 2-3 times as much materials, energy, and resources to replace or repair the damaged parts.
At Bretford, we strive to do it right the first time, on time, every time!
