kdd - sustainability report 2014...sustainable packaging solutions. our most recent project has led...

Sustainability Report 2014

1 | Sustainability Report

Kevin Dempsey

MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR

With 30 years of experience in the window furnishing market, KDD is a well-established, trusted and innovative supplier offering superior quality, design and service.

We have a great sense of pride and have won many awards for customer service (Marketing Institute of Ireland) and our management processes (Deloitte best managed company).

At KDD we are committed to developing our products and processes through investment in people and innovation. Above all else we are committed to continuous improvement in everything that we do. We take sustainability very seriously, having a strong environment focus is extremely important to us and we are continually reviewing and updating our environmental and sustainability policies and processes.

We work hard to minimise our carbon footprint by using natural, renewable resources such as natural cotton and by recycling 100% of our waste and packaging materials. But hey, nobody is perfect, we are only human and inevitably every business has some impact on the environment. For example whilst we ship as much as possible by sea, occasionally we may have to ship some goods by air, although we try to limit this as much as we can.

Here at KDD we continue to make improvements and work towards achieving our goal of becoming a truly sustainable business. We will be undertaking the Green Start Initiative with the support of Enterprise Ireland in 2015.

2014 was a great year which saw the acquisition of a company close by that was facing liquidation. We managed to retain a lot of the wealth of its expertise in the MD and staff. We have plans to expand our operations in 2015.

Kevin DempseyManaging Director


Our showroom

“it’s a pioneering initiative in our market in terms of its

design and operation”

KDD WHAT WE DO

Kevin Dempsey Distributors Ltd. (KDD) is a market-leading distributor of soft furnishing fabrics and window blinds to the retail home furnishings market in Ireland and the UK. Renowned for our innovative approach to every aspect of our business, our key brands include: Prestigious Textiles furnishing fabrics, SLX – Styleline Express window blinds, curtains, and linings.

Our fantastic showroom facility is a pioneering initiative in our market in terms of its design and operation, based on the award winning ‘Chelsea Harbour Design Centre’. Designed to facilitate the ease of use by our customers and their clients, our elegant and spacious showroom presents a unique opportunity to sample the KDD/Prestigious Textiles product portfolio at leisure under one roof, whilst benefiting from a dedicated personal service and expertise.

The showroom is open Monday to Thursday 8.30am – 5.00pm, and Friday 8.30 – 4.00pm, and is open to our trade customers and their clients.

Block O, Ballymount Drive, Ballymount Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12

T. 01 456 8280, F. 01 456 8278, E. [email protected],

Visit us at : www.kdd.ie, www.prestigious.ie, www.slx.ie


KDD HOW WE DO ITVISION

To be the leading supplier of products and services that meet the aspirational and lifestyle needs of our end customers, the consumer.

VALUES

At the heart of everything we do are our company values. We firmly believe in:

• Trust, integrity and respect in everything that we do

• Individual development for our staff, helping them to grow and develop

• Commitment, resilience and ambition in pursuit of our goals

• Continuous improvement in everything that we do


VALUES

Workplace Environment

CommunityMarketplace

Our CSR practices and policies are centred

on the values by which we work, and themed into these categories

LAYOUT OFTHIS REPORT

This report has been created to communicate our responsible business practices and policies. It’s laid out in the following sections:

• Workplace - p6

• Environment - p9

• Marketplace - p12

• Community - p15

6 | Sustainability Report6 | Sustainability Report

Workplace


Michael O’CallaghanCustomer Services Manager

John RoeCustomer Services

Geraldine O’NeillCustomer Services

Lyndsey GahanCustomer Services

Stefan GalvinCustomer Services

Daragh CollierFinancial Controller

Fiona TullyCredit Controller

Jane HeathAccounts Assistant

Stephen FurlongSales Representative

Carl O’BrienSales Representative

Michael MaitlandSales Representative

WORKPLACE

“we invest in our people,encouraging them to grow both personally and professionally within the business”

Employee and workplace policies

Our employee and workplace policies are guided by our core values:

• Individual development for our staff, helping them to grow and develop

• Continuous improvement in everything that we do

Training and development

We have a yearly appraisal process for all employees from our top sales team to the teams in every area of the business. We use a three step framework linking the company objectives to individual goals: 1) employees take time out from their role to think about their own objectives; 2) employees feedback their own goals; 3) a development dialogue identifies skills, training and mentoring opportunities.


WORKPLACE

Diversity in the workplace

Ireland has become a very diverse society over the past decade or so - the 2011 Census showed that 12% of our population were immigrants who had come to work, live or study here.

Here at KDD, we are proud to have a diverse multicultural workforce, and in recent years have helped ensure a smooth integration in Irish society for our migrant workers through English classes, housing support and professional skills development.

Communications

We operate an honest, open, working environment in which our employees feel they are able to discuss any issues that arise, and are comfortable that these are dealt with appropriately.

By holding regular team meetings to discuss current issues, and operational performances, our employees are kept on the loop, there ensuring efficient output within the business.

Work-life balance

Family life is very important to everyone, and this is something we give careful consideration to. We provide flexibility to working hours when required and where possible. We appreciate that personal issues can suddenly arise, and time off and time in lieu can be arranged.

A work life balance is important to us here at KDD, we also organise fun family days out within the company.

Benefits

We operate a ‘Good Attendance Policy’, where employees who have full attendance for the year, are rewarded with an additional three days annual leave.

We also have a maternity support policy in place.


Environment


On their bikes

Our staff get up to speed with their new transport

ENVIRONMENT

“our building has been designed to maximise natural light”

Energy management

Our office has been designed to allow maximum absorption of natural light into the building therefore minimizing our use of interior lighting throughout the working day. We are not a high energy user, and we ensure that all of our fixtures are equipped with low energy low impact fittings.

Waste

Our operational excellence ensures we use resources efficiently, which allows us to prevent waste. These practices are applied to our fabric cutting, and blind manufacturing. For the minimal amount of waste we do produce, we recycle as much as possible, such as our fabric, timber and plastic. In fact, 95% of our factory waste is recycled.

Transport

We try to keep the balance between customer requirements, costs and competitiveness. For efficiency we outsource this function to FastWay Couriers and we consolidate our shipments where possible.

Greener and more responsible products

We have not seen a huge demand for greener products in our industry, but our strong ethical policy guides our product development process, such as:

• Product development in our fabrics supply chain – leveraging best practice elsewhere to provide a more ethical product

The fabric and garment industries’ global supply chain can be a difficult place to navigate for a small company like us. To maximise our efforts in this area, we build on the efforts of other leading companies in ethical sourcing by researching their supply chains.


ENVIRONMENT

We provide high value, quality products for our customers. We source most of our products in Asia, and we operate a rigorous product selection process with our suppliers. We do not buy blindly, and we visit all of our suppliers at source to review the quality of their products, their working standards and environment.

• Wood Blind Packaging Redesign - working towards a circular economy

We are working with our suppliers and customers to deliver more sustainable packaging solutions. Our most recent project has led to a complete redesign of how we deal with packaging for our blinds. This has allowed for the complete recovery of packaging through re-use and take-back by our suppliers, closing the loop.

Future plans to improve

We are always keen to improve our sustainability credentials, which is clear in the way we value continuous improvement. However, we are not environmental specialists. Therefore, we have recently been successfully awarded support from Enterprise Ireland’s Green Start Programme. This is due to commence in March 2015.

Enterprise Ireland’s Green Start Programme

This is a programme designed to support SMEs like us. It aims to increase the level of environmental awareness and support the development of a basic management system. This will allow us to improve our environmental performance, with the aim of gaining competitive advantage through greater resource efficiency and greater market share. This support will involve a specialist consultant to: • Review our current practices and activities• Provide advice and improvement opportunities• Help with the creation of an Environmental Policy Statement• Help with the preparation of a basic Environmental Management System• Do a baseline assessment to identify possible savings and suitable KPIs• Provide training for staff• Assist with access to other tools and resources to maintain performance and improve resource efficiency


Marketplace


Giving back

Our supportive culture and desire to give something back

led to a successful social responsibility initiative

MARKETPLACE

“KDD are an official Pink Partner of the Irish Cancer Society. Together with our retail customers we have raised over €200,000 to date”

Sales and advertising

We always display clear and concise information about our products, including after-sales. Terms and conditions are provided during the sales process. Our advertising is always honest. We do not make false claims.

Transparent payment policy

Around 25% of small and medium enterprises in Europe go out of business due to late payments, so having a payment policy is important to us. For general sundry suppliers, we have a 30 day payment policy. Otherwise, our goods for resale is covered in the terms of agreement at time of purchase.

Investment in supplier relationships

We believe it is best practice to build good relationships with our suppliers in order to deliver the best and most innovative products for our customers.

Working with our customers

Customer satisfaction is our number one priority. Our excellent sales team works closely with all of our customers. We actively seek out issues that our customers may be experiencing. If in the unusual instance that a complaint arises, we have a formal process in place to correct the issue.


MARKETPLACE

Integrating social responsibility into our products

Our key initiative is our fundraising programme for Action Breast Cancer with the Irish Cancer Society. Born out of our supportive culture and desire to ‘give something back’ we give two percent of all purchases of soft furnishing and window blind products to the Irish Cancer Society. Our retailer customers very kindly agree to support a 1% Action Breast Cancer Support Levy, and we match that contribution from our own resources. To date this highly successful initiative has raised in excess of €200,000. We are an official Pink Partner of the Irish Cancer Society.

Our networks

We are very active in and contribute to many different networks, including Plato - an organisation dedicated to the successful development of small and medium enterprises. We formed a partnership as a mentor company to offer a confidential support service, group learning, specialist expertise and advice, networking opportunities and business development training.

We recently teamed up with Business in the Community Ireland, whose mission is to make Ireland the most responsible place to do business.

We are part of the Small Business Advisory Council, supported by Bord Gáis. This group aims to support entrepreneurs in Dublin from the start-up stage, offering strategy development and operational support.

Our awards

Here at KDD we like to benchmark ourselves against best practice in management and people development to service and customer care. We want to be as good as we can be, and strive to be better all the time. We look at our achievements as our corporate CV and believe this is testament to our culture of continuous improvement. We are proud to be recognised as an indigenous Irish company performing at the highest levels. Some of our most recent accolades include:• Winner, Deloitte’s ‘Best Managed Company’ (2009 to 2015) - Platinium Status Winners for winning this award in seven consecutive years • Finalist, Aim Marketing Awards’ ‘Small Business Award’ (2014) • Winner, National Small Business Awards ‘Best in HR Development’ (2009, Finalist - 2008) • Winner, Aim Marketing Awards’ ‘Customer Care Award’ (2009)

• Finalist, Aim Marketing Awards’ ‘CSR Award’ (2007)


Community


We’re behind this

Our staff taking Action for Breast Cancer

“2% of all purchases of soft furnishing and window blind products goes to the Irish Cancer Society”

COMMUNITY

Local jobs

We continue to run, manage and develop our business to ensure it is a sustainable economic entity. We are part of the 99% of SMEs in Ireland, collectively fuelling our economic recovery. Our award-winning well-managed business practices have allowed us to proudly provide employment in the local area. We consciously focus our recruitment efforts - where possible and suitable - on people from the ‘live register’ of unemployment. In 2013 and 2014, 10 of the 13 new people employed had been unemployed prior to joining KDD.

Inspiring the next generation

Every summer we welcome two students or recent graduates into the business for work experience. We take a very hands on approach, enabling them to gain quality experience and to develop business skills.

Local engagement and community relations

We actively connect with employees around community engagement. One of our annual events is the the Dublin Staff Relay Run, which many employees take part in for our charity of choice.

Our local charity of choice – Action Breast Cancer

We are aware that 1,700 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in Ireland each year and one in 12 Irish women have a chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. We are an official Pink Partner of the Irish Cancer Society. We work through all of our customers, staff & friends to support Action Breast Cancer by donating 2% of all purchases of soft furnishing and window blind products to the Irish Cancer Society. To date this highly successful initiative has raised in excess of €200,000.


ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING

Small is biggerSMEs are the 99% of Irish business. In raw numbers, they dominate Irish life: more people work in them than in multinationals and more do business with them. This makes SMEs uniquely placed to maximise the positive impact of business on Irish society and the environment. By communicating their good practices, they can reap big rewards because of their visibility in the regions, towns, villages in which they work and their proximity to the impact.

Small is betterAround half of all SMEs are engaged in various activities within their communities. These can include charitable donations to community projects, sponsorship for local football teams, working with non-profit organisations, and pro-bono work.

Many are already reducing their environmental impact by greening their products and supply chain, changing behaviour to reduce resource consumption and waste, supporting conservation initiatives and NGOs, planting trees, etc. Some are developing sustainable supply chains, for example by putting sustainability criteria into purchasing policies. Many are investing in their workforce by developing a good company culture and supportive internal policies and practices.

Small is beautifulThe actions a company takes in an effort towards sustainable and responsible business are unique to that company and directly dependent on its operations, size, location and internal capacity. By reflecting on what it is doing and the tools at hand, a sustainability report can help Irish businesses to identify opportunities for improvement that are within reach.

...so why are we keeping it quiet?Very few SMEs seek competitive advantage for their responsible business practices by reporting on and communicating their efforts. By inspiring and supporting them to do this, BITC wants to help Irish businesses get the message out. Whether or not they use the term CSR, customers, employees and government bodies have an expectation for responsible and sustainable business practice, and competitors may already be doing it. Sustainability reporting meets this expectation by clearly setting out a company’s achievements and ambitions. While it’s not an accredited standard or certification, sustainability reporting has an important role to play in helping small and medium-size enterprises to share their sustainability story and do better business.

For further information on creating a sustainability report, contact Responsible Business for SMEs - [email protected]

This sustainability report was supported by Business in the Community. We want to help Irish Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) to do better business by sharing their responsible and sustainable practices with customers, suppliers, employees, and the wider community.

Responsible Business for SMEs

32 Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 T. +353 1 874 7232

[email protected]

www.rbsmes.ie

www.facebook.com/BITCIreland

www.twitter.com/bitcireland

www.linkedin.com/company/business-in-the-community-ireland

www.youtube.com/user/BITCIreland

KDDSustainability report: Highlights

l Winner, Deloitte’s ‘Best Managed Company’ seven years running (2009 to 2015) - Platinum Status Winners

l We have raised over €200,000 for the Irish Cancer Society, with our unique fundraising initiative

l We are part of the Small Business Advisory Council and work with Plato, an organisation dedicated to the successful development of small and medium enterprises

l We are supported by Enterprise Ireland’s Green Start Programme

l We support our diverse staff with English classes, help with naturalisation, and skills development

kdd - sustainability report 2014...sustainable packaging solutions. our most recent project has led...

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