In October, SVAM honored Southwest Virginia manufacturers with awards for manufacturing companies who go above and beyond in various categories. Through this blog series, we would like for you to get to know the award winners and learn more about their accomplishments.
Tempur Sealy in Duffield, VA received the Manufacturer of the Year Award. To learn more about the company and the impact of the award, we interviewed Tabetha Church, Human Resources Manager at Tempur Sealy.
Tell us about your company.
Our facility, Tempur Production USA, LLC is located in Duffield, Virginia which is in Scott County. We are a part of Tempur Sealy International. Tempur Production began operations in Duffield in 2000. We produce Tempur-Pedic mattresses, toppers, and pillows for customers in North America, as well as products and components for our sister brands, Sealy and Sterns & Foster.
Tell us about the program(s) you have implemented that led you to win this award.
The Duffield facility maintains excellent Quality, Environmental, and Safety management programs, as witnessed by the ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications. We are also pursuing the Environmental Protection Agency’s EnergyStar certification, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2019. For several years, we have been working to change our environmental culture and have focused on recycling, waste streams and reducing our carbon footprint. We not only want our employees to be environmentally friendly at the facility but to take the idea back to their homes and community. The Duffield facility has been a zero-landfill facility since June 2014. We partnered with a waste-to-energy company which incinerates the “trash” and converts to useful energy. This also allows us to include our non-hazardous waste, which allows us to cut cost at this waste stream.
How do you feel your company was set apart from other companies who might apply for this award?
We are proud of our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that affords our employees a safe, clean, well lit, climate-controlled environment to work in each day. With our current safety culture, effective on-boarding, training of employees, and ergonomically designed manufacturing lines that minimize risks – our safety recordable case rate is world class for our industry. Everyone in the building knows that they are empowered to stop a production line if there are safety or quality issues. This is not just encouraged, but expected.
We even provide on-site physical therapists twice per week to assist any employees with any physical needs they might have. We provide training and opportunity for growth to all employees and strive to promote from within the organization whenever possible.
Where do you see the future of your company in regard to the programs for which you won?
In addition to new product introductions this year, the Duffield plant also implemented new manufacturing processes. The plant installed two state-of the art production lines in order to in-source certain manufacturing functions that were previously outsourced. The new production lines resulted in significant cost reductions, faster response time to customer demand, and creation of new jobs. Our investment in our facility in both capital equipment and workforce development has been substantial. Our 2019 capital investment alone is $11.7 million. These things have set us up for future success.
What has winning this award meant to your company? Have there been internal or community impacts of winning the award?
We have over three hundred employees who embrace the notion that its all of our jobs to ensure that the products we produce are top-notch and meet our high quality standards. We are proud to have a part in making a product that affords our customers a better night’s sleep. The impact of that, to know that we have played a part in someone’s life with the products we manufacture, is not ever taken for granted.
As a team, we have always felt what we have at our plant is special because of the passion and dedication of our workforce. Having that recognized by the SVAM Awards Committee was truly a great honor for the entire Tempur Production family.
To learn more about Tempur Sealy visit their website www.tempursealy.com.
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