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How Interface innovates with suppliers to create sustainability solutions
Author(s) -
Nelson Eric
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
global business and organizational excellence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.227
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1932-2062
pISSN - 1932-2054
DOI - 10.1002/joe.20285
Subject(s) - sustainability , general partnership , business , interface (matter) , production (economics) , industrial organization , focus (optics) , process management , computer science , economics , finance , ecology , macroeconomics , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing , optics , biology , physics
Becoming a sustainable and restorative company can mean rethinking the basic components of your products. This leading carpet manufacturer's innovations, including those developed in collaboration with key suppliers, have changed the industry and moved the company closer to its sustainability goals. The author explains the company's seven areas of sustainability focus, and the role innovation plays in reducing its negative impact on the environment. He then describes Interface's approach for building supplier commitment and participation in these goals, and examines the firm's partnership with Universal Fibers, which led to the first commercially viable processes for incorporating postindustrial and postconsumer nylon in carpet facing and for salvaging old carpet from end‐of‐life disposal and recycling it into materials for new carpet production. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.