Table of Contents
AirBoss Engineered Products (AEP) understands the value of investing in local cities and communities.
Local Manufacturing Success Means Supporting Local Families and Charities. It’s through our application of corporate social responsibility—to improve the environments and societies in which the company operates—that we build lasting and better relationships.
AEP incorporates basic corporate social responsibility tenets into day-to-day operations. This, in turn, helps bolster employee confidence in the company and fosters growth within local communities.
AirBoss and its sister companies not only provide jobs to local communities, we also build community networks around which our employees can thrive.
AirBoss Believes Corporate Social Responsibility is Invaluable
The misconception that local manufacturing is doomed to fail is one that focuses on financial factors more than anything. Things like low wages and lower operating costs are arguments many manufacturers make for moving plants overseas.
Since AirBoss began mixing rubber compounds in the early 1990s, the company has been one that knows success is more nuanced than profits and budgets. Company leadership understands that it’s easier to achieve a big-picture view of success when you factor in community impact, quality of living, and all of the industries supported by local manufacturers like AirBoss.
“Every time you build a plant, it’s not just the plant that you’re building,” says AirBoss Executive Vice President Chris Figel. “It’s all of the industries around that plant that support that plant, [and] we’ve been emphasizing that for the last several years.”
Manufacturing jobs may form the hub around which countless other industries revolve, but there’s more to corporate social responsibility than just providing jobs. Often, large manufacturers like AirBoss also contribute to local charities, provide mentorship and training opportunities, and create lasting community impacts.
Charity Events and Donation Drives Support Local Organizations
“Above and beyond [employment],” says AirBoss President and COO Chris Bitsakakis, “we also interact with a variety of charities that live and work in the communities that we are in.”
One way AirBoss Engineered Products puts corporate social responsibility into practice is through various charity events and annual donation drives. Over the last few years, AEP has increased its efforts to support local families and organizations in order to better serve the communities where we have offices and manufacturing plants.
Through AEP’s donation efforts, we’re able to:
- Annually donate hundreds of pounds of food to Gleaner’s Community Food Bank and the Michigan Humane Society
- Sponsor an “Auction to End MS” event
- “Adopt” multiple local families each year and provide clothing, toys, and other essentials
- Raise money for the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association
It’s through local charity events and donation drives that AirBoss proves to its employees that we’re invested in more than just their labor. We understand that a happier, healthier community means a happier, healthier local manufacturing economy.
“First and foremost, we are relatively large employers in all the communities that we serve,” says Bitsakakis. “We take great pride and responsibility in keeping [our factories] running and growing.”
That growth, when paired with a genuine desire to make a local impact, gives AirBoss leadership and employees a sense of pride and a clear purpose.
“People are recognizing,” explains Morris Eddy, Vice President of Human Resources at AirBoss, “that they’re part of a bigger organization that’s really making a significant contribution.”
