Exploring New Belgium’s Sustainable Business Model

have become more formal and professional. The brewery has enlisted production managers and experts in continuous improvement from outside the craft-brewing industry.

While reshaping fabrication patterns and prioritizing undertakings with high impact, New Belgium Brewery remains mindful of maintaining staff engagement. Originating as a small company in their cellar, they prioritized the quality of beer over quantity. They diligently monitor plant operations to ensure quality is closely looked after. From the initial inputs to the final product, every step of the fabrication process undergoes examination to maintain top-notch quality. Quality assurance plays a pivotal role in their operations management, yet sustaining consistency poses challenges.

Regardless of a company's size, prioritizing the quality of its merchandise is essential. This becomes particularly critical for larger companies serving a bigger customer base. New Belgium Brewery acknowledges this and meticulously oversees every aspect of their process – from hop selection to brewing and bottling – to uphold the highest quality product. They are dedicated to ensuring consistency in quality, even when dealing with different inputs. Additionally, they utilize technology to enhance productivity.

Implementing a compassionate concern theoretical account that aims to conserve environmental resources and nurture its employees, New Belgium has also been successful in maintaining healthy financials. Sustainable production is not simply a feel-good effort; it's a pocketbook issue for NBBC's 350 workers: After one year of employment with the company, the employees become employee-owners. All employees are considered country leaders, and everyone is responsible for ensuring that the quality remains high. The employees of New Belgium own 43% of the company through their "Employee Stock Ownership Plan" or ESOP. While giving employees ownership in the company sets the foundation for

an engaged workforce, the real connections occur beyond the Share Statements. The reasons for New Belgium's success are the companies Purpose and Core Values; Beliefs Coupled with the structure and support at the executive level, employee engagement is the key ingredient in High Involvement Culture. With their employees connected to the key functions of the business, they solicit ideas from over 300 unique perspectives. This helps the brewery to operate more intelligently while acknowledging everyone's unique gifts. These are the practices they have used to build New Belgium's distinctive culture.

New Belgium promotes transparency and financial education among its employees. They hold monthly All-Staff meetings where the financials are reviewed, and employees can ask questions and give feedback. Each employee's decisions, whether it's about a big project or conserving water while washing their hands, have an impact on the company's profitability. By understanding the financial outcomes of their actions and being connected to the company's higher purpose, employees are empowered to make decisions that benefit the business as a whole. This level of trust and detail also fosters a sense of appreciation, empowerment, and fulfillment among coworkers. These practices encourage engagement in New Belgium and alignment with the company's Core Values and Beliefs, which emphasize environmental responsibility as vital for business success.

The text highlights the company's commitment to preserving resources and encourages employees to engage in environmental stewardship. Initially, the brewery introduced Fat Tire and Abbey beers, which remain available for purchase today. The upcoming construction will involve the installation of a high-speed bottling line with the capacity to produce 700 bottles per minute. Currently, the brewery produces 400,000 barrels annually; however, this expansion is projected

to double that quantity. Since 2008, distribution has expanded into seven additional states: Georgia, North Carolina, North Dakota, Indiana, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee. With distribution now spanning a total of 26 states overall, the company receives daily inquiries about availability in other regions. All beer production exclusively occurs at their Fort Collins location in Colorado.

In 1995, New Belgium Brewing implemented the Philanthropy plan, where they donated $1 for each barrel of beer produced to non-profit organizations in their operating communities. Through this initiative, they have contributed over $2.5 million. Furthermore, employees have volunteered their time for non-profit organizations and are rewarded with one hour of paid time off for every two hours volunteered.

The importance of involving employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency

In today's competitive brewing industry, maintaining consistent production of high-quality beer and establishing a strong brand reputation are challenging tasks. Achieving consistency and excellence across all bottles is dependent on dedicated staff members who contribute to efficient operations while striving to exceed consumer expectations.

New Belgium Brewery has found a straightforward solution to meet all of these requirements. After one year of employment, New Belgium upgrades its employees to employee-owners and grants them company shares. By transforming their employees into owners, New Belgium has discovered numerous advantages. This incentive guarantees that employees are motivated to perform their assigned duties to the best of their capacities and fosters a more productive work environment where everyone is dedicated to achieving identical objectives. The potential for increased pay if the business prospers serves as a reward for their diligent efforts.

By offering this incentive, employees are motivated to ensure that the beer's quality surpasses expectations

and strives to exceed standards. This not only helps uphold the company's vision of producing higher quality brews but also gives New Belgium a competitive advantage by improving its quality. Additionally, it aids in employee retention, leading to reduced costs associated with hiring and training new employees. As a result, New Belgium now has dedicated and hardworking employees as well as a large workforce focused on improving the business.

As part owners, all employees have the opportunity to present innovative ideas for increasing sales, production, or addressing any issues within the company. Regardless of which department they work in, they can share their ideas with senior management. For instance, if the marketing team overlooked that their label could be misinterpreted as a crude image for a new ale with rich and smooth taste that is not selling as expected; employees who are not familiar with marketing can arrange a meeting and shed light on this issue.

We believe there is another reason why New Belgium has made this decision. One major challenge companies face is creating a unified workforce where employee issues are promptly addressed. New Belgium has achieved this by introducing employee-owners, ensuring the safety and continuity of daily operations and the happiness of employees. This also eliminates the need for costly measures such as walk-outs or union representation for employees to be heard by management. Many businesses wonder why they should give employees partial ownership, but New Belgium proves that it is necessary to avoid hindering the company's growth.

What does "instead empowered" mean to you?

After analyzing the information on the New Belgium Brewery website, I understand "instead empowered" as a way of giving back to

the environment through prioritizing conservation and incorporating environmental responsibility in the strategic planning process. In today's industrial society, larger companies often harm the environment as they grow, as the costs of environmental stewardship increase in parallel.

On the other hand, New Belgium Breweries continues to expand rapidly in the US Beer industry. Their ranking has been improving as they age, while their growth surpasses other trade brewing companies by at least 1%. Despite this growth, they maintain a low carbon footprint, showcasing their empowerment.

Comment on New Belgium's Beliefs regarding "Environmental Stewards"

The New Belgium Beliefs consist of eight guidelines that define the concept of "environmental stewardship" for the company. These guidelines outline what New Belgium believes it must do to be considered environmental stewards. This includes caring for the environment, minimizing waste, using the least amount of natural resources, and reducing reliance on non-environmentally friendly methods of electricity. They achieve this by self-generating power and purchasing clean wind power. Additionally, they ensure the careful use of rocky mountain water resources. New Belgium aims to maximize conservation and efficiency through the adoption of new technologies.

New Belgium Brewery is striving to meet these guidelines through their innovative "sustainable" approach. They have implemented nine initiatives that align with these guidelines. These initiatives include improving efficiency by utilizing advanced technologies like Steinecker's Merlin, which recycles energy from the previous batch as heat for the next one. They aim to minimize the need for lighting by making use of 360 days of sunshine and three hundred days of clear skies. Additionally, they satisfy their cooling requirements through evaporative cooling instead of power-hungry compressors. Moreover, they employ wastewater treatment methods to reduce environmental

impact and produce sustainable products.

This procedure additionally provides them with a source of electricity. By making environmental decisions only with the consensus of the employees, they ensure that no one feels coerced into doing something they don't want to do (New Belgium Brewery, 2010). In the section titled "Alternatively Empowered Attempts," choose two of the efforts and discuss how they contribute to the overall sustainability empowerment of the company as outlined in the 2007 sustainability report's "Letters from the Sustainability Director." One key point mentioned in the directors' letter is that while they previously claimed to use 100% wind-generated energy, it is actually less than half, but this will change through their efforts.

The two attempts most closely linked to this authorization are as follows: On-site Energy Production Nowadays, every industry requires a significant amount of electricity to function. However, obtaining all of it from wind-generated sources is challenging and costly. On-site energy production would decrease the reliance on external electricity sources and allow the company to meet more of its energy needs from wind power. This method reduces electricity consumption by 15% [ 2 ] and increases the level of wind power to over 50%, which could potentially be raised further with improvements. Wind-Powered Electricity since 1999 A crucial factor is the agreement signed with the Colorado government in 1998, which ensured that the company would receive as much power as possible from wind generation, despite the higher cost. This agreement facilitated the installation of additional wind turbines, thus increasing the availability of wind-generated power—a significant step towards the authorization provided by the manager.( Orgolini, 2007 ) Is

New Belgium's focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process a significant cost or a beneficial factor that improves the company's profits? The New Belgium brewery website states that they are "profitable not in spite of our social and environmental efforts but because of them" (New Belgium Brewery, 2010); this paper aims to illustrate this statement by describing how their conservation efforts have enhanced the profits and brand image of the company.

New Belgium is the third largest regional trade brewery, and their production has been steadily increasing since 2005. Despite this growth, they have maintained a strong focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility in their strategic planning process. They have implemented a sustainability management system to approach environmental and conservation efforts in a structured way. By accurately assessing and addressing the negative impact of their manufacturing process on the environment, New Belgium has been able to target specific areas for improvement.

In order to put this commitment into action, New Belgium has invested in efficient equipment, such as the Steinecker Merlin brew kettle. This kettle heats thin sheets of wort instead of the entire boiler, storing steam and vapor that allows for faster heating and reduces the amount of primary energy used. However, their energy conservation efforts do not stop there. New Belgium believes that the most sustainable water is the water that is never used. They have introduced initiatives such as utilizing natural light with light tubes and shelves, as well as switching to HVAC evaporative coolers that require less energy.

By designing their manufacturing process with preservation in mind, New Belgium has increased efficiency and reduced the energy needed for production.The ultimate result

is a positive impact on both their net incomes and public image.

New Belgium Brewery also utilizes a closed loop system where methane gas produced from their waste treatment facility is pumped to a 292Kw co-gen engine, which generates up to 15% of their energy needs. Despite previous malfunctions, a partnership with Woodward resulted in the installation of new controls, leading to increased efficiency. This demonstrates New Belgium's commitment to the environment by actively seeking support to optimize their equipment, reducing their environmental impact and fostering beneficial relationships with various business and government-sponsored conservation programs. This commitment is also evident in New Belgium's use of external advisors for their SMS system development. In 2010, New Belgium constructed a solar array on top of their packaging hall, which at the time was the largest private solar array in Colorado. This showcases New Belgium's innovative efforts to harness sustainable energy. The solar array currently supplies over 3% of New Belgium's energy needs and will continue to do so in the future.

In 1999, all New Belgium employee-owners unanimously voted to completely switch their purchased energy to wind power. This decision, although it came with a 2.5 cent premium on every kilowatt-hour produced, effectively reduced the employee-owner bonus pool. However, the unanimous vote demonstrated that everyone in the company supported New Belgium's efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Despite the initial decrease in profits, the unified ballot and the positive impact on employee morale (as employees appreciate having a say in their workplace) could ultimately offset the loss through increased efficiency and employee retention. Additionally, New Belgium's transition to wind power had a ripple effect through derived demand, leading Fort

Collins Utilities to become the first utilities company in Colorado to offer wind power.

In conclusion, New Belgium's efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and their strong commitment to sustainable production have been advantageous to the company. This is evident through the decrease in inputs to their manufacturing process and improvement in brand image.

Conclusion

Based on our group's research, we have determined that New Belgium's focus on environmental sustainability and corporate responsibility has not only successfully reduced their negative impact on the environment, but also fostered a united and dedicated team of employees. Additionally, these efforts have been accompanied by continued growth in profits.