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BAKEWARE KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW n OCTOBER 2016 n www.kitchenwarenews.com 1 4 BY LORRIE BAUMANN Nordic Ware celebrated its 70th year of manufacturing in the United States this year, and the anniversary celebration is being brightened by recognition of the values that kept this manufacturer going strong in the U.S. while so many others fled offshore. Nordic Ware was awarded the Minnesota Business Magazine's 2015 Manufacturing Award for Sustainability. The magazine collected nominations for its annual awards over a two-month period, and all nominations were reviewed by an external judging panel of industry experts. Nordic Ware's award recognizes 25 years of effort that the company has put into complying with American environmental standards as they have evolved over time, says David Dalquist, Nordic Ware's President and Chief Executive Officer. The U.S. passed the original Clear Air Act in 1970 and the Clean Water Act in 1972. Both laws are the framework that supports a regulatory structure that has changed the way American manufacturers do their day-to-day business. That regulatory f ramework and the costs of compliance with the new rules have been part of the reason so many companies have taken their manufacturing offshore to countries where labor costs are cheaper and the environmental regulations are less strict. In contrast, privately-owned Nordic Ware has made a point of keeping its manufacturing at home in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park, where the company currently employs about 350 people. " Twenty five years ago, manufacturers were seen as polluters," said Dalquist, the son of Co-Founders Henry David and Dorothy Dalquist. "A lot of new or pending legislation required manufacturers to invest in their businesses, and many manufacturers chose to leave the U.S. rather than make the upgrades. That's where our story takes a little different direction.... We said no, that's not the right thing to do. We're committed to manufacturing here in America. We've got people who are committed to us and our business, and we're committed to them." In the face of new environmental rules, the company took a look around the factory, identified some problem areas in its processes that it could clean up and upgraded equipment to comply with the new standards. "It was a commitment to remain compliant to ever more restrictive legislation that was coming along in the U.S.," Dalquist says. The result was a plant that operates in full view of a major metropolitan area and meets environmental standards that are among the toughest in the world. " We're very proud of that," Dalquist says. "It wasn't just one or two things we did. It 's been a long-term commitment we made to remain in the U.S." One of the earliest changes in the plant was a switch to water-based paints rather than solvent-based paints that polluted the air with volatile organic compounds as they were sprayed onto the cookware. " That was a tough switch, because in the early days, those products were not well developed," Dalquist says. "In the end, we were able to reduce our air emissions significantly." That search for ways to reduce air pollutants continues today. Just in the past three years, Nordic Ware has reduced emissions by another 24 percent, according to Dalquist. "[This is]keeping us well below the permitted thresholds," he said. Nordic Ware's sustainability efforts also include recycling the processing water used in the plant so that only minimal amounts of it have to go into the local sanitary system, recycling solid waste so it doesn't end up in a landfill and conserving energy. "Energy has been a huge emphasis. We're on our fourth generation of lighting in this facility. You'd be amazed how much energy is used by lights," Dalquist says. "To me, the message there is that Nordic Ware lives in the U.S. We breathe the air and drink the water, and we're doing the right thing by doing things in as sustainable manner. When you're importing products f rom Nordic Ware Celebrates Sustainability elsewhere, it 's unlikely that they 're manufacturing as cleanly as we do here. The right thing to do is to buy American- made products, both for environmental reasons and just think of the jobs you're creating.... We take it very seriously. We have a person on staff who does nothing but manage this effort for us. It's not a part-time job; it 's a full-time job, just making sure that we keep moving in that direction, remaining efficient, compliant and sustainable." Retailers as well as consumers benefit f rom Nordic Ware's choice to upgrade its pollution control efforts in order to stay in the U.S., since the products' journey f rom factory to retailer and then home to the kitchen is much shorter than the journey taken by a product that's made in Asia and shipped to the U.S. That both shortens turnaround times on retailers' orders and uses less energy for transportation. "It is a fact of life that we're located in an ideal spot f rom a transportation standpoint," Dalquist says. "Source your kitchenware close to home, just like you do with your produce. Buy locally; it makes sense." "When you really get right down to it, the most environmentally f riendly product is the one that lasts the longest. People really lose sight of that. We design products that last," he continues. "They're durable, and they last, and in the end, that's probably the single biggest thing you can do for sustainability. And at the end of their useful lives, they can be recycled too." KN BY MICAH CHEEK David Dalquist, CEO of Nordic Ware in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is continuing the company's tradition of making the majority of its products in the United States and has seen a change in perception over the last few decades in how consumers respond to "Made In The USA" labeling. Dalquist became CEO of Nordic Ware in the late 1970s, just before American housewares manufacturers started offshoring their production. "Back in the '80s, there was this huge push to make goods offshore. The U.S. started exporting technology and getting Chinese factories up and running," says Dalquist. The reason for this shift was a greater cost of doing business in the US, combined with an increase in environmental and safety regulations. "U.S. manufacturers just gave up and said, 'I can go to China and not have all of these hassles,'" says Dalquist. "Nordic Ware had these options, but we decided, ' We're going to make the investment here; we're going to be compliant so we can continue to manufacture in the United States.' I would say at first, we had lots of doubts. Our competitors were able to gain some greater market share." Because the company wasn't able to lower its prices, it moved in another direction. " We found a niche where we were able to innovate," says Dalquist. "On uniqueness as opposed to price, that's our niche today: uniqueness and quality. When you're the higher-priced option, you have to also be the higher-quality and more unique option." "In the last decade, the popular thing has been to tout that you're made in the U.S. Customers are very aware that we make things right here. Because of the many regulations in the U.S.," manufacturers like us have to adhere to some stringent stringent and sustainable requirements," says Dalquist. "Moreover, today, with people making more purchases online, it adds that sense of trust: 'I can't touch it, so it's a leap of faith when I buy it, and being made in the USA means you can trust the quality.'" Dalquist adds that a recent survey suggested that 30 percent of consumers said they would pay up to a 10 percent premium for a product made in America, just based on the perception of quality. The difficult job market during the Great Recession has been part of the reason for that increased appeal too. "For somebody who's unemployed or underemployed, they're thinking we need good jobs in this country – that's a big factor," says Dalquist. " They 're underemployed right now: they probably don't want to buy something f rom the country that took their job." Imported products also come along with ordering lags due to the distance they have to be shipped. Dealing in high volumes with a foreign country limits the ability for retailers to adjust the flow of products based on demand. "We're nearby: we can turn the spigot off and on as they need it, but when they 're buying f rom halfway across the world, if they want to slow down, they can't. Whereas with Nordic Ware, if they ask, 'Can you speed it up?' we can usually say, 'No problem,'" says Dalquist. "Retailers have to add additional margin into overseas goods for those contingencies. Nordic Ware's Manufacturing History That's allowed us to be more competitive, as opposed to when you just look at the sticker price." The cost of raw materials matters too. "If you're looking at pure raw materials – where it's available, for the most part we're able to buy aluminum: it 's all made in America," says Dalquist. "There's generally an excess of capacity here for many raw materials like aluminum, steel and plastics. Ten years ago, it was different. U.S. factories were exporting raw materials overseas. Now that market has diminished, and U.S. companies are trying to sell as much as they can back home in America." With a built-in impression of quality and favorable prices, USA-produced kitchenware is drawing the attention of Millennial shoppers. "They're an active part of our business. The millennials are ver y health-conscious and looking at sustainability. Healthy eating and food preparation is top of their agenda, and that plays into products we make," says Dalquist. "Naturals Bakeware is one of our fastest growing product lines: this is a product that appeals to them. The success of that line is in large part to Millennials entering the marketplace." KN Produced by Meyer Corporation, U.S., Paula Deen® Riverbend Speckled Porcelain Enamel Cookware is a collection of colorful nonstick cookware featuring a retro-style, speckled design from the company's celebrity cookware brand. The cookware is offered in Gulf Blue, Red and Lavender. Paula Deen Riverbend Speckled Porcelain Enamel Cookware is crafted in fast and even- heating aluminum with a durable nonstick Paula Deen Riverbend Speckled Porcelain Enamel Cookware interior to release foods and make clean up easy. The cookware's retro-style design features a nostalgic bell shape and is further enhanced by its speckled colored porcelain exterior, which also makes the cookware stain-resistant and faster to clean. The collection's name and soft color palette get their design inspiration from style of the South, a region beloved by Paula Deen and her fans. The collection also includes tempered glass lids for easy monitoring of the cooking process without releasing heat and moisture, and soft-touch handles in matching colors for a secure and comfortable grip. Made for stovetop and oven use, all items are oven safe to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For further information on new Paula Deen Riverbend Speckled Porcelain Enamel Cookware and other Paula Deen kitchenware products, go to www.meyer.com. KN

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