Kincaid Achieves Sustainable By Design Designation

Furniture World Magazine

The American Home Furnishings Alliance announced that Kincaid Furniture is the first casegoods manufacturer to achieve Sustainable by Design registration from the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA). The Hudson, N.C.-based company is part of the La-Z-Boy Casegoods Division. Among the first steps in Kincaid’s registration process was to have its casegoods operation in Lenior, N.C., and its upholstery operation in Taylorsville, N.C., complete AHFA’s environmental management system, called EFEC for “Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture.” Both locations completed EFEC in September 2008. “The EFEC program is an excellent first step for Sustainable by Design, because it required us to analyze the environmental impact of our processes, raw materials and finished products on a facility-by-facility basis,” says Steven Kincaid, president of Kincaid Furniture as well as president of La-Z-Boy’s Casegoods Division. Kincaid has been making measurable environmental improvements for several years, which helped facilitate its completion of the EFEC and Sustainable by Design programs. Approximately 13,000 tons of wood dust are recycled annually for use as boiler fuel. Energy use has been reduced about 18 percent per year since 2005. From 2007 to 2008, natural gas consumption was reduced by 50 percent. In addition, 87 percent of the company’s domestic lumber is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and another 10 percent is from forests within the Appalachian Hardwood Verified Sustainable Program. Of the company’s imported lumber for components, panels and dimension stock, 82 percent is FSC certified. To pass its Sustainable by Design audit, Kincaid was required to look beyond its domestic operations and conduct a rigorous evaluation of its corporate environmental footprint, as well as its global climate impact. For each key area on a checklist, Kincaid established numerical goals and a system for evaluating annual achievement and establishing new goals. These key areas include: • Supply chain management, including assisting suppliers worldwide in the development and implementation of sustainability programs; • Energy conservation, water conservation, recycling and solid/hazardous waste minimization; • Use of low VOC/low HAP coatings, certified lumber, low-emitting UF resins; Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint. In March, Kincaid’s documentation of all its systems and measures was audited by the Sustainable by Design Board of Examiners. The company will be subject to an annual maintenance audit in order to maintain its certification. AHFA’s first member company to achieve Sustainable by Design status was C.R. Laine of Hickory, N.C. The American Home Furnishings Alliance – located in High Point, N.C., and Washington, D.C. – is the largest association of home furnishings companies in the world and represents more than 240 leading furniture manufacturers and distributors, as well as nearly 200 suppliers to the furniture industry worldwide.