Accelerating the Green Innovation Ecosystem

What Is Sbd’s Role In Innovation And Sustainability?

As our Chairman Sir George Buckley and our CEO Jim Loree say, Stanley Black & Decker aims to be “a force for good”. A part of our broader social responsibility mission, we passionately pursue extreme innovation across the globe in both new and first of kind products and services to enhance security, safety and sustainability. For example, our cordless tools can increase efficiency and safety on construction sites, our novel light weight composite fasteners can increase the efficiency of electric vehicles, andour fall and health predictive analytics can enable aging in place by providing adverse event alerts weeks in advance.

To surge our progress, Vice President Deb Geyer, head of Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and I work closely with our innovators across our internal and external ecosystem to advance safe and sustainable solutions. Through Deb’s leadership, in 2018 SBD was included in the Dow Jones World Leader’s Sustainability Index and was designated a global leader by the Carbon Disclosure Project for six consecutive years, and recently listed on the ‘Climate A’ list for both climate change and water security.

Can You Give A Specific Example Of Where Sbd Is Contributing To Sustainability In Its Operations?

Our 176-year-old company has a legacy of environmental focus and sustainability. For example, in 1925 the Stanley Works built the Farmington River Power Plant that’s still in operation today, annually feeding 32 million kilowatts of clean, renewable energy directly into the grid, enough to power 2000 homes. In our global operations, by 2020 we are aiming for a 20% reduction in energy and water consumption, waste generation, and carbon emissions. By 2030 we plan to be carbon positive (carbon capture > carbon emissions), achieve zero waste to landfill and sustainable water use across our operations positively contributing to communities and our world. We support U.N. sustainable development goals with certification from the Science Based Targets initiative. For example, as a result of ongoing ECOSMARTTM projects, in 2018 we reduced 8,840 metric tons of CO2 and in 2019 we are targeting an additional 4,000 metric tons of reduced CO2. Today, 35 of our manufacturing and distribution centers around the world are zero waste to landfill (ZWTL) with an addition 8 targeted by the end of 2019 diverting already 14,000 metric tons of waste away from landfill over the past 5 years.

How Does Sbd Accelerate Environmental Innovation Ecosystems?

We aim to inspire makers and innovators to create a more sustainable world in a variety of ways. For example, each year we select ten advanced manufacturing startups from around the world to join our STANLEY+Techstars Accelerator at our Manufactory in Hartford, CT. Reflecting our commitment to diversity and inclusion, our 2019 graduating class was 50% women (co)founded, represented 3 countries and 4 states, and included ecofriendly packaging and bio-lubricant companies. These eco[1]companies are exciting and revolutionary. For example, Boxologic (www.boxologic. com) provides robotic, instant, right-size packaging for e-commerce fulfillment, reducing packaging material(up to 15%), empty space (up to 40%), and CO2 emissions (up to 20%). CRASTE (craste.co) builds sustainable products for packaging from waste crop residue such as creating packing paper from mustard seeds or manufacturing particle board from crop residue which no longer needs to be burned. Shockingly, each year 150 million tons of CO2 is released in India from burning 16% of crops and each 8X4 foot Crasteparticle board panel reduces 30kg of CO2 emissions. Another consumer goods startup, OCCO (www.occospice.com), provides molecularly fresher ingredients in zero oxygen, recyclable aluminum blister packaging helping limit the 40% waste of current food. Finally, NVEarth (www.nvearth.com) has invented bio[1]based lubricants, cleaners and absorbents. I was so inspired by their natural products, I personally purchased a life time supply of biodegradable bar chain oil from NVEarth to use with my DeWalt power tools. In addition to dozens of internal mentors at Stanley Techstars, we encourage others to join our open approach to innovation which includes a mentorship network that has extended to external corporates, accelerators (e.g., Greentown Labs, New Labs), corporations, VCs and universities (e.g., MIT, UConn).

If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together

We have just initiated an engagement with Greentown Labs in Somerville and one of our suppliers BASF to accelerate sustainability startups including American Battery Metals (recycling for 12-18% of original battery price for the batteries at End of Life), Circularise (a digital tool that turns materials, parts and finished goods into a digital twin and allows tracking of important information through the supply chain) and Coramat (cost competitive PLA parts via a process to microengineer structure that allows for reduction of material).

Over The Past Few Years Sbd Has Accelerated Its External Innovation Ecosystem … How Does This Contribute To Sustainability And Social Responsibility?

Innovation is in our DNA. Our culture accelerates innovation with internal core innovation and revolutionary breakthrough teams, as well as by connecting to and accelerating external innovators. For example, our Stanley Ventures currently invests in 28 disruptive startups. Our first investment was in Prieto Batteries which builds batteries using sustainable materials such copper, electricity, and lemon juice. Our Stanleyorganization based in Silicon Valley employs exponential methods to rapidly incubate disruptive businesses and ecosystems. They recently launched the NADI Smart Solar Water Pump for Agriculture Irrigation through our social innovation and purpose driven brand, STANLEY Earth (stanleyearth. com). The NADI Smart Solar Pump employs our Brushless Technology integrated with Smart IOT Connectivity. Each 5 HP/3.73 kW brushless direct current (BLDC) pump can deliver 100,000 liters/ day of water every day, irrigate 5 acres of land, produce up to 3 crops a year, and sell surplus solar power to the grid. Since its launch it has positively impacted 900 lives and negated 10 Tons of Co2 emissions by eliminating the need for polluting diesel engines.

In another socially relevant example, Stanley Healthcare’s Foresite Predictive Health and Fall Management product uses under-bed and wall-mounted sensors and deep machine learning to continuously monitor and provide predictive alerts that enable clinicians to anticipate to falls and underlying medical conditions of health decline up to 40 days prior to hospitalization for UTI, pneumonia, congestive heart failure, delirium, low blood sugar, depression, dementia and more.

How Does Human Talent Play Into Your Strategy?

There is now empirical data that more diverse and inclusive companies have higher revenue and better total shareholder return. I have been fortunate to serve as Executive Sponsor of our newly launched Abilities Employee Resource Group which grew to over 600 global members in year one, championing an environment of neuro diversity including engagement with the National Organization on Disability (NOD), Autism Speaks and the Franklin Academy for students on the spectrum. We have learned that more diverse teams create more innovation and more sustainable solutions. To solve some of the world’s greatest challenges such as climate change, we will need collaborative innovation. As captured in the African proverb: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”