We are looking to add 2 important internship positions at Gearedforgreen. The persons chosen for this position will work directly with the CEO, so no coffee making. You will have a big hand in marketing, business development, research, and connecting our industry to introduce 360 Degrees of Sustainability services. Although this is a non-salary internship, we provide a very solid commission compensation plan, plus there is a strong chance this internship can lead to a full time position once you’ve graduated school.
Retail trends overwhelmingly show consumers seek to buy green. That’s less of a debate these days. If given the alternative between relatively equal product, 70% or more consumers buy “products with purpose” from brands they trust are positive for people and planet. Retailers and distributors are aggressively looking to buy green products too, but not solely for obvious environmental reasons or because consumers shop green products. Retailers also want their supply chain to be successful and they recognize sustainability leads to innovation and more efficient effective supply chains.
Plastic Product Manufacturers have heard this all before, yet many manufacturers still haven’t fully jumped into the sustainable ocean. Before we condemn manufacturers making plastic products for not wearing there green hats all the time, we have to put ourselves in the hot seats of executives making products and running manufacturing and distribution operations to understand their concerns. Spending money on sustainability isn’t overly sustainable if it’s costing the company more money and not increasing revenue or ROI. Businesses today are increasingly searching for ways to reduce costs and increase revenue side by side. The challenge executives face is, how to connect (internal operational sustainability) with (external customer-consumer facing sustainability) to obtain bottom line savings, top line added revenue, and increased brand value? After all, businesses are in business to make profit TODAY.
That is our focus at gearedforGreen. Helping plastic product manufacturers operate sustainably from the inside-out, to make their products more sustainably and then leverage that sustainability in the market. We believe if you aren’t leveraging your sustainability to connect better with customers, consumers, and trading partners, you are missing the next Big Win Opportunity and may very well face the next Big Loss. Having spent years ourselves with our hands on both sides of the sustainability equation, we learned valuable lessons.
1st, on the manufacturing-operations-plastics recycling side of our businesses operating factories and managing production, we had to put on our operations hat and reach out to vendors throughout our supply chain to find ways to improve product quality, reduce operational costs, and gain efficiencies. We conducted Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), measured our carbon footprint, and identified best practices to make improvements that yielded efficiency & reduced cost and waste. We recycled our plastic waste, used recycled plastic resins more resourcefully to make our products, we optimized our packaging and developed reuse programs for used packaging, we made sure we used sustainable plastic products in our own everyday operations, and we implemented water, lighting, and energy efficiencies into our operations to reduce cost and environmental impact. We even changed out our corporate logo uniforms from 100% cotton to sustainable uniforms made from 100% recycled plastics to show our commitment to sustainability to our employees, and we created an end-of-use recycling program for our customers to help recycle our products after their useful life. We were proud of all these incredible initiatives but in the end, they didn’t seem to move the needle in our business P&L quite enough for us to shout from the ceiling.
2nd, on the product-sales-marketing side of our business selling plastic products at major retail and through distributors, we put on our sales hat to identify opportunities to leverage our sustainability in the market. We hired expert vendors to develop corporate strategy and to package and communicate our sustainability to consumers, retailers and our team, and to differentiate our products and our companies purpose from our competitors.
Our strategy focusing on 360 degrees of our Sustainability from the inside-out connecting our internal sustainability efforts with external sales marketing efforts together paid dividends and MOVED OUR NEEDLE. Our sales and profitability increased year after year and our products gained significant traction in the market as a valued trusted and sustainable brand.
Fast forward a couple years after selling our business, we launched Gearedforgreen in 2012 to use our expertise and supply chain resources to help other manufactures along with the supply chains that serve them to all succeed greener.
Today Gearedforgreen helps plastic product manufacturing clients operate more sustainably providing 360 Degrees of Sustainability solutions from the inside-out, and instead of carrying the work load all ourselves, we partnered with industry leading providers to form Eco-supply chains™ for our clients, all working connected, transparent, and towards our clients goal, to help clients reduce bottom line cost, improve top line revenue, and increase brand value. We provide a number of services, offered as either full 360 or a la carte.
We are looking to add 2 interns, focused on Business Development, Supply Chain Development, and Market Research to identify best practices in helping our clients succeed greener. Although there is no salary for this internship, we do provide a very strong commission compensation plan and there is a very strong possibility this internship will lead to a full time position with Gearedforgreen after you’ve graduated school.
If interested email Dan Schrager: danny@gearedforgreen.com
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