Herman Miller
| Industry:furniture & fittings | ISIN:US6005441000 | Country:US | CRR:B |
Company Profile:
Herman Miller researches, designs, manufactures and distributes interior furnishings for use in various environments, including office, healthcare, educational and residential settings.
Strengths/weaknesses profile:
Strengths:
- comprehensive and binding supplier standards regarding labour/health and safety issues
- comprehensive measures implemented to improve customer safety aspects of products
- comprehensive social and environmental reporting
- group-wide environmental management system implemented
- comprehensive measures to facilitate 'design for the environment' and recycling of products
Weaknesses:
- no human rights policy implemented, especially with regards to activities in China
Reasons for inclusion in the Index:
The major impact of the furniture industry on the global challenges lies in its consumption of renewable (wood) and non-renewable (metal, plastic) resources. Herman Miller is facing up to this challenge by setting itself the goal of achieving a zero environmental footprint by the year 2020 in all its operations. Measures which it has adopted to this end include the use of “design for the environment” principles and the “cradle-to-cradle” certification of products. Furthermore, in the business year 2007, 27% of the energy used by the company was already being obtained from renewable sources. In addition, the company is involved in the area of environmentally-friendly building.